Nearly 300 people flocked to the Perry County JobSight recently to apply for entry level underground mining jobs at Perry County Coal, a turnout that JobSight officials say is its best ever for a one-employer job fair.

“It was a total success,” said Jack Duff, manager of the Perry County JobSight on Roy Campbell Drive in Hazard. The JobSight is operated by L.K.L.P Community Action Council under contract with the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Inc.

Duff said 288 job seekers attended the weeklong job fair in early August, where they each filled out an application, took a mechanical aptitude test and filled out a pre-application for job seeker services that the Perry County JobSight provides.

Most of the applicants were hopefuls for 15 spots in a “red hat” class at Perry County Coal, a TECO Coal subsidiary.  A red hat class is a training program in which miners without underground mining experience learn about mining and mine safety procedures through classroom training, on-the-job training, and a period of work monitored and supervised by an experienced miner.

Teresa Blair, mine personnel manager for Perry County Coal, said the company typically schedules two or three red hat classes a year. It’s no surprise that there is such competition for this opportunity to get into the coal industry, she said.

“We pay very well and have an excellent fringe benefits package, so people want to work here,” she said.

Daniel Nance and Tracy Couch, two of the applicants, said the pay and benefits drew them to the fair.

“It’s where the money’s at,” said Couch, 19, who has no mining experience. Couch said he would like to get a better job to support his family.

Nance, 27, said he has worked at surface mines his entire adult life but would like to become an underground miner for better pay. He said he was happy with how he was greeted at the job fair.

“It was a welcoming experience,” he said.

Blair said the help of the JobSight partnership was invaluable in getting applicants for the red hat program processed at the job fair. The JobSight partners involved included the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs, the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, Kentucky Basic Adult Education, and L.K.L.P.

“I can’t brag on them enough,” she said of the JobSight staff, explaining that they went “above and beyond” to help meet her company’s needs, including following its guidelines to the letter about special requirements like the company’s affirmative action policy.

Blair said JobSight provided a valuable service because “there’s no possible way” that her company’s human resources department could have handled such a large and quick influx of applicants on its own.

“They provide a service that I would hate to try to do without,” she said.

The Perry County JobSight is part of the JobSight network of workforce centers administered in 23 eastern Kentucky counties by the 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.

For more information about Perry County JobSight services, call 436-3161 or visit www.jobsight.org or www.facebook.com/ekcep.