The JobFit on-line job-matching service provided by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP) is nearing the milestone of having 10,000 job seekers enrolled, less than two and one-half years after the service was introduced.

JobFit continues to add an impressive average of about 500 new job seekers every month, according to EKCEP Business Solutions Manager Crawford Blakeman.

“Sometimes, we’ve heard employers say that there just aren’t any new employees out there right now,” Blakeman said. “But when I tell them that we have nearly 10,000 people in the JobFit system, it definitely piques their interest.”

EKCEP launched JobFit in July 2003 as a pilot project in only four counties. The free service has since expanded into all 23 eastern Kentucky counties that EKCEP serves. The list of area employers who use JobFit to place the right employees in the right jobs has grown from the original handful to 78 today.

“We’re also consistently adding four or five new employers per month,” Blakeman added.

Among the employers using JobFit are Perry County’s American Woodmark and Perry Manufacturing, Manchester Memorial Hospital, Letcher Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation, James River Coal, Middlesboro Health Care Facility, and Appalachian Wireless.

The internet-based JobFit system matches job seekers to the precise requirements of a specific job. Job seekers create a profile by taking an on-line survey that identifies their thinking styles, behavioral patterns, interests, and skills. The job seekers’ profiles are then compared to similar profiles of an employer’s best-performing workers. A close match in all aspects of the profile greatly improves the odds that the employee will enjoy and succeed on the job.

JobFit currently features profiles of 161 different jobs from participating employers, and 193 actual job postings.

EKCEP is currently offering JobFit free of charge to all interested job seekers and employers in its service area.

“We feel like we’re giving employers better employees, and employees are getting jobs that fit them better,” Blakeman said. “We’re delighted that JobFit is proving to be one of our region’s top tools to serve both sides of the workforce equation.”

For more information on JobFit, contact EKCEP Business Solutions Manager Crawford Blakeman at 606-436-5751.