A service of the Eastern Kentucky ConcentratedEmployment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), KentuckyTeleworks offers Eastern Kentuckians opportunitiesto compete in the global economy through jobswhere they can telework from home for companiesthat are across the nation, or even across theglobe using their home office, computer, high-speed internet access and phone.

By doing this, KentuckyTeleworks eliminates thebarriers of infrastructure andgeography that have hinderedeconomic development in the

mountains for years, according to KentuckyTeleworks Director Joshua Ball.

Through its website,www.kentuckyteleworks.com,the program also features a system wherejobseekers can register themselves and browsean up-to-date teleworks jobs list featuring more

As a foster mother and wife, Courtney Woodsalready had her hands full. But she was still

missing something: a job.Courtney felt she needed to better provide

for her family’s needs, but she wanted ajob that would not take her focus too

far from her family.

She had been out of work for closeto a year when

a friend told herabout a Kentucky

Teleworks job fairand screening to be

held at Daniel Boone Community ActionAgency in Clay County.

She attended the event, where she wasscreened and interviewed. Just two weeks later,

she was hired and now works full-time from anoffice inside her home for Ipsos, a global researchand public opinion polling firm with offices in67 countries.

EASTERN KENTUCKY’S WORKFORCE CONNECTIONS

SuccessS T O R I E S

EKCEP941 N. Main StreetHazard, KY 41701606-436-5751

©2013Eastern Kentucky C.E.P., Inc.

Courtney Woods: Wife, Mother, now Teleworker

• Courtney Woods caring for her family and advancing her career

• Ila Blair job club helped her make a perfect job connection

• Mike Howard job club helps him re-enter the workforce

i n t h i sEDITION

For more than 40 years,Eastern KentuckyConcentratedEmployment Program,Inc. has served 23mountain counties ineastern Kentucky withworkforce development,training, and employ-ment programs to meetthe region’s changingneeds.

EKCEP operates the

network of workforcecenters, where morethan a dozen state andfederal employment andtraining programs aregathered under one roofto meet the needs ofeastern Kentucky’s jobseekers and employers.

EKCEP also administersprograms that delivertiered levels ofservices–includingassistance with tuitionand books–to adults,dislocated workers, andeconomicallydisadvantaged youngpeople under theWorkforce InvestmentAct of 1998 (WIA).Delivered through theJobSight network, theseWIA programs use a widevariety of resources tohelp customers advancetheir careers.

For more information onwhat EKCEP’S WIAprograms can do for you,visit www.ekcep.org,contact your localJobSight location(www.jobsight.org), ore-mail EKCEP’scentral office atekcep@ekcep.org.

ISSU

E 1

30401

continued on next page

A great opportunityto work from home

and save the cost of commuting.

Courtney Woodson the job ... at home.

Courtney Woods (cont’d. from front page)

The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) is funded through the Kentucky Education and WorkforceDevelopment Cabinet with Workforce Investment Act (WIA) allocations provided by the U.S. Department of Labor. EKCEP is anequal opportunity employer with equal opportunity programs. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individualswith disabilities.

Kentucky Teleworks registration and job listings areavailable at www.kentuckyteleworks.com.

For more information about the program, contact Joshby email at jball@kyteleworks.com or by phone at(606) 435-8498.

Kentucky Teleworks is also on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/kentuckyteleworks.

SuccessfulT H O U G H T S

Some succeedbecause they are destined to,

but most succeedbecause they are determined to.

— Henry Van Dyke

than 1,000 legitimate, full-benefit, full-time work-from-home jobs.

“Once you’re entered in the Kentucky Teleworks systemthrough our website, we’ll keep looking for the best jobsfor you and let you know when the right fit comes along,”Joshua said. “If you’re willing to work, we’re willing toget you to work.”

Courtney now works evenings and weekends in hertelework job, allowing her the flexibility to managechildcare around her husband’s work schedule.

Linda Hubbard, career advisor for Daniel Boone CommunityAction Agency, said she s pleased to see Courtney finda job that suits her needs.

“Courtney loves her job and the schedule it offers her,”Linda said. “It is a great opportunity to work from homeand save the cost of commuting back and forth to work.”

Before attending the telework job fair, Courtney wasskeptical about job fairs. But now she’s a believer in boththe process and Kentucky Teleworks.

“To be honest, I always thought of job fairs as kind ofcrazy,” Courtney said. “But don’t discredit them. Theyare a big help.”

Share your WIA, Job Clubs,Kentucky Teleworks or related

success stories in future issues ofEKCEP Success Stories ...

Michael CornettEKCEP

941 N. Main StreetHazard, KY 41701

Phone: 606-435-8482E-mail: mcornett@ekcep.org

We’d like to hear from YOU!

C O N T A C T

Ila Blair of Jackson is one of hundreds of EasternKentuckians who have learned that “people lead peopleto jobs” by attending Job Clubs of Eastern Kentucky.

When Ila Blair and her husband lost their home in PerryCounty, “God led us to Jackson,” she said.

The Breathitt County Job Club ultimately helped Ila finda job at Kentucky River Community Care uniquely suitedto her personality, skills and experience.

“I had always worked in some kind of community service,”she said, including jobs at Wal-Mart, a call center, a bank,and with AmeriCorps, where she worked with at-riskteens and children.

She tried retirement for a while, and she and her husbandstarted a wood-crafting business.

“We did festivals and fairs—it was good pocket money,but we couldn’t make a living on it.”

When Ila’s husband got really sick, she knew it was timeto seek another full-time job.

Her husband first learned of the Breathitt County JobClub, and they attended a few meetings together. Itwasn’t long before he was offered work at a familymember’s business, but Ila kept attending the clubmeetings.

A job club is a small group of job seekers who meetweekly with local career advising experts to improvetheir job searches. The group members provide supportfor each other while networking, sharing job leads, andlearning techniques for improving their job searches fromworkforce professionals, local businesspeople, and otherinvited guests.

The combination of support, networking, and job-searcheducation makes job club members much more successfulat getting a job than job seekers who search alone.

Ila Blair: Job Club Helped HerConnect with a PerfectJob Opportunity

continued on next page

Please visit us online at:

editorial direction:Michael Cornett

art direction:Barbara Logsdon Grause

facebook.com/ekcep

Ila Blair (cont’d. from previous page)

The free job club is sponsored by theEastern Kentucky ConcentratedEmployment Program, Inc. (EKCEP),Middle Kentucky Community ActionPartnership, and the Kentucky Officeof Employment and Training (OET).It draws on the sponsors expertiseand contacts to provide the job clubsmembers with information, job searchskills, job leads, networking, andchances to meet with and learn fromlocal employers.

At the Breathitt County Job Club, Ilamet Lisa M. Back, a career advisor atMiddle Kentucky Community ActionPartnership, and she began to meetwith her there every week, too.

Lisa personally coached Ila on howto research jobs so she’d know howmuch money to ask for, how toprofessionally pitch herself on aresume, and how to tweak resumesfor different jobs. She also workedwith Ila on developing her ownpersonal “branding statement.”

Additionally, Ila completed EKCEP’sFast Forward to Work program at thejob club, which helps participantslearn the exact skills, attitudes andattributes employers seek in idealemployees. It also teaches strategiesjob seekers can employ to makethemselves into job candidatesemployers can’t ignore.

“It really helps you to focus on whatkind of person you are,” said Ila. Shesaid the training also teaches how tointeract with others with differentpersonalitytypes.

Theyfrequentlypracticed one-on-one interviews, butLisa surprised Ila one day by pullingher aside for a panel interview shehad prearranged with some co-workers.

“She was nervous at first, but she gotbetter,” Lisa said.

Not long afterward, Ila was hired fora work-from-home position throughEKCEP’s Kentucky Teleworks initiative.But she discovered her outgoingnature made her miss in-personinteraction with people, so shereopened her job search.

When Lisa learned of a job openingat Kentucky River Community Care,she immediately thought of Ila.

“We want to help people find a job they will really like. We don’t want peopleto have to settle. If they do have to take an in-between job, we work onfinding them something else to match their interests,” Lisa said.

In late 2012, Ila was hired as a case manager for non-billable clients atKentucky River Community Care. She connects clients—most of whom havelittle to no income—to various community services and resources. Sometimesshe serves them by simply taking them to doctors’ appointments or thegrocery.

“I love it,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a job.”

Ila said her job has opened her eyes to the needs in her community.

“I feel very blessed to be in this position to help people because it’s a chanceto make a real difference in somebody’s life,” she said. “It’s a job where yougive ten percent and get back a hundred percent.”

For that, she is grateful for the help and career advising she received throughthe Breathitt County Job Club.

“They not only help you get a job, but I feel like I have found friends forlife,” said Ila. “This community feels like family.”

For more information about the Breathitt County Job Club, call 606-666-2369. Find Job Clubs of Eastern Kentucky on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/jobclubseky.

Ila Blair (right) andcareer advisor Lisa Back

We want to help peoplefind a job

they will really like.

www.ekcep.org – or – www.jobsight.org

They knew Mike wanted to return to driving, and there just so happened to be ajob opening at Daniel Boone Transit Transportation.

The fit was obvious. Mike needed a job. Mike wanted to drive. Daniel Boone TransitTransportation needed a driver.

So after eight weeks in the Clay County Job Club, Mikewas hired to drive a bus for Daniel Boone TransitTransportation.

“Mike came to us wanting to work and we noticed anopening that fit his skill set,” JoAnn said. “We foundsomething that Mike was not only qualified for, but alsoenjoyed.”

Mike was back driving again. In this case, though, his cargo was no longermerchandise, but people. The people he drives are those in Clay County who needtransportation to jobs or doctor’s appointments.

“Between my work gap and age, I presented a bit of a challenge,” Mike says,smiling. “But I’d be in the soup line if not for their help, so I’m very grateful.”

For more information about the ClayCounty Job Club call 606-598-5127.Find Job Clubs of Eastern Kentuckyon Facebook atwww.facebook.com/jobclubseky.

Mike Howard: Once a Driver, Always a DriverMike Howard had been aprofessional truck driver for 10years when his mother’s failinghealth required that he comeoff the road and come home tocare for her.

When that stay stretched to fiveyears, the resulting gap inemployment combined withMike’s being 69 years old poseda problem for him when hechose to try to re-enter theworkforce.

He worked in tobaccoperiodically to make ends meetand began submittingapplications to once again drivea truck. But he simply had beenout of the game too long andneeded additional training hecouldn’t afford.

Then the Clay County Job Clubchanged everything.

The job club is a 12-weekprogram that creates a localcommunity of job seekers whoprovide each otherencouragement, peer support,and share job leads. It alsooffers seminars and guestspeakers, including localbusiness owners who discussthe things they look for in apotential employee.

The combination of support,networking, and job-searcheducation makes job clubmembers much moresuccessful at getting ajob than jobseekers whosearch alone.

Led by Facilitator andCareer Advisor JoAnnNolan, the Clay County Job Clubis sponsored by the EasternKentucky ConcentratedEmployment Program (EKCEP)in collaboration with DanielBoone Community ActionAgency and the Kentucky Officeof Employment and Training(OET).

Mike’s original goal at the ClayCounty Job Club was to find ajob in either retail ormanufacturing. Then the careeradvisors at Daniel BooneCommunity Action Agencynoticed something interesting.

We found somethingthat Mike was not only

qualified for,but also enjoyed.

Mike Howard on duty at Daniel Boone Community Transit

FINDJOB CLUBSON FACEBOOK

facebook.com/jobclubseky