The Perry County JobSight did its part to ensure that CONSOL of Kentucky—one of the region’s major coal producers—finds the manpower it needs to keep up with the escalating demand for coal in today’s energy market.

Approximately 150 people vying for underground mining jobs with CONSOL gathered at the JobSight workforce center at the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council at Jeff to participate in a day-long job fair hosted there for the company.

Helping successfully meet an employer’s need for employees illustrates JobSight’s commitment to helping both sides of the workforce equation, according to Jack Duff, manager of the Perry County JobSight workforce center.

“When you help employers like this, you’re helping employees, too,” Duff said, noting CONSOL officials were extremely pleased with the turnout at the event. “JobSight helped CONSOL satisfy their need to find experienced and inexperienced miners, and those miners got the chance to apply for good jobs and have face-to-face contact with company officials. Everybody wins.”

The event was held to help CONSOL find miners for its Jones Fork Mine in Knott County and its Mill Creek Mine in Letcher County. CONSOL expects to hire at least 80 miners during the next eight months to staff its expanding underground mining operations in eastern Kentucky, according to Craig Campbell, CONSOL Human Resources director.

Duff said Campbell and other CONSOL officials personally interviewed a large number of the applicants during the job fair, and additional interviews were scheduled later.

Jobs to be filled through the JobSight job fair include all underground mining positions, including section foreman, maintenance foreman, and electrician. Campbell said CONSOL is looking primarily to hire experienced coal miners through the job fair, but persons interested in becoming coal miners were also interviewed at the event.

The CONSOL job fair was the fourth with triple-digit attendance in as many weeks hosted by Perry County JobSight for area employers. Another job fair attracted nearly 200 job seekers interested in coal mining careers with International Coal Group (ICG). The JobSight’s two recent job fairs for the Lowe’s home improvement corporation each brought in more than 100 people seeking job opportunities.

Based on the success of the job fair, Duff said CONSOL is examining the possibility of having a similar event at the Pike County JobSight workforce center in Pikeville to find miners for its operations in that area.

The Perry and Pike County JobSights are part of the JobSight network of workforce centers administered in 23 eastern Kentucky counties by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP). At JobSight’s one-stop workforce centers, job seekers and employers can access over a dozen state and federal employment and training programs and employer services in a single location. JobSight links employers with the right employees through EKCEP’s Business Solutions services and activities.

Crawford Blakeman, EKCEP’s Business Solutions manager, said JobSight prides itself on facilitating successful connections between workforce development and private businesses in a way that produces tangible results like those seen at JobSight job fairs.

“What CONSOL does is produce coal; what EKCEP does is help recruit a workforce,” Blakeman said. “We help business do business.” EKCEP’s Business Solutions services are open to any area employer, he added.

Employers interested in learning more about JobSight and EKCEP's Business Solutions Services can contact Crawford Blakeman at 606-436-5751.