People must be willing to push their limits, build new skills, and tackle challenging tasks in order to become experts in their chosen careers.

The 20 workforce professionals who recently became the latest graduates of the Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) program have proven they are willing to take those steps to meet the needs of the region’s job seekers and employers, according to Jeff Whitehead, executive director of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP).

“You are to be commended for striking out and becoming more and more of an expert in your field,” Whitehead said at the program’s graduation ceremony, held in May at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Lexington.

This year’s graduating class was the third to take advantage of GCDF training provided through EKCEP, a Hazard-based workforce development agency that administers the JobSight network of workforce centers in 23 eastern Kentucky counties.

To earn the globally recognized GCDF certification, graduates completed more than 120 hours of intensive training and personal study during a 10-month training course. That course was led by Carla Hunter and Caroline Francis, nationally certified career counselors and GCDF instructors with the Lexington-based training provider Career Span.

This year’s GCDF graduates included 14 career advisers in the JobSight network and six representatives of the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, a key JobSight partner.

Workforce professionals help people who are unemployed or underemployed develop and execute plans to get a job or to get the training necessary to get a job, using a wide array of services funded by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and other state and federal education and training programs. Professionals who have earned GCDF certification have received advanced training to successfully complete those tasks.

“It’s not only what we do, but it’s what we know that makes us valuable to the employers and job seekers in our communities,” Whitehead said. “Our expertise doesn’t really have a price tag. It’s beyond price. That, to me, is what the GCDF certification means.”

EKCEP plans to make a fourth round of GCDF training available to other eastern Kentucky career advisers beginning in July.

Carla Hunter, president of Career Span, said she attributes the dramatic increase in the number of Kentucky workforce professionals who are now certified GCDFs to the successful partnership between EKCEP and Career Span.

“In 2005, there were 16 GCDFs in Kentucky, and today there are 80,” Hunter said. “That’s a nearly 400-percent increase, and we’re very happy about that.”

Those GCDFs, she said, are utilizing their skills to have a lasting impact on people who need workforce services to help find jobs, train for new careers, and achieve a better quality of life.

“(Those people) are hurting, they’re afraid, and they’re in need of some hope,” Hunter told the graduates. “You have the privilege of passing on to them what you’ve been given. Tell them … to never give up, and to keep their eyes looking ahead to a better, brighter future.”

The newly certified GCDF workforce professionals include career advisers from the Big Sandy Area Community Action Program, Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency, Daniel Boone Community Action Agency, Harlan County Community Action Agency, and L.K.L.P. Community Action Council—all JobSight network partners who provide EKCEP-administered WIA programs in eastern Kentucky.

For more information on GCDF training in Kentucky, click here.