Lowe’s home improvement officials are pleased with the Perry County JobSight after it once again produced a triple-digit turnout for an April job fair for the company.

The latest job fair at the JobSight attracted more than 100 people vying for job opportunities with Lowe’s stores in Hazard, Paintsville, Pikeville, and Wise, VA. Before the day-long event ended, Lowe’s officials were already declaring the job fair—JobSight’s second job fair for Lowe’s in a month—an overwhelming success, according to Sonya Roark, Human Resources manager for the Hazard store.

“Having the job fair at the JobSight helped us out tremendously because they had everything set up for us, had staff there to help administer our assessments, and had plenty of computers available for our on-line application,” Roark said. “Everything you need is right there. JobSight is terrific.”

Helping successfully meet an employer’s human resources needs illustrates JobSight’s commitment to helping both sides of the workforce equation, according to Jack Duff, manager of the Perry County JobSight workforce center located in the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council at Jeff.

“When you help employers like this, you’re helping employees, too,” Duff said. “JobSight helped Lowe’s speed up their hiring process, and they were able to interview almost all of the 103 applicants face-to-face here at the JobSight during the job fair.”

Of the 103 applicants, roughly 85 percent were seeking seasonal positions at the Hazard store, with the remainder seeking employment at either the Paintsville, Pikeville, or Wise, VA stores, Duff said.

Roark said the stores plan to select up to 50 seasonal employees from the 103 applicants who attended last week’s job fair at the JobSight. Those positions could turn into permanent full-time or part-time jobs depending on the employees’ performance and the store’s staffing needs, she said.

The Lowe’s event was the third with triple-digit attendance in as many weeks hosted by Perry County JobSight for area employers. The JobSight’s previous job fair for only the Hazard Lowe’s store brought in 102 people seeking job opportunities. Another recent job fair attracted nearly 200 job seekers interested in coal mining careers with International Coal Group (ICG).

The Perry County JobSight is 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.

Roark said having job fairs at the JobSight has greatly reduced the amount of time required to handle a large number of applicants. At most Lowe’s stores, only two applicants can complete the company’s on-line job application at any given time. The JobSight’s computer-equipped Resource Room allowed 10 people to work on applications simultaneously.

“Our goal was to have all or most of the process done at one time, in one day, and at one place, and we did that with JobSight,” Roark said. “We’ll definitely use JobSight again.”

Besides Roark, the managers from the various Lowe’s stores who participated in last week’s JobSight job fair included Teresa Johnson, Mark Stallard, Brandie Baker, Joy Amburgey, Tommy Adams, Carl Hampton, and Frankie Maggard. Lowe’s Human Resources assistant Linda Deaton also helped with the event.

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.

“JobSight is here to help eastern Kentucky’s employers find the right employees for the right jobs.” Blakeman said. EKCEP’s business services are open to any area employer, he added.

Employers interested in learning more about JobSight services can contact Crawford Blakeman at 606-436-5751, or Jack Duff at 606-436-3161.