More than 160 Eastern Kentuckians are now newly employed and will soon be bringing in new wages to the area after attending a hiring event hosted by Teleworks USA with global telework company KellyConnect.

The three-day hiring event included three separate job fairs at the Annville, Harlan, and Hazard Teleworks Hubs. Officials with KellyConnect travelled to the Annville Teleworks Hub on Monday, April 30 to interview applicants, and then moved on to the Harlan and Hazard Hubs on May 1 and 2 respectively.

“We’re ecstatic that KellyConnect was willing to come back to the region this year to interview our people,” said Michael Cornett, EKCEP Director of Agency Expansion and Teleworks USA. “The turnout has been phenomenal, and I think it’s evident that the people in our region are hungry for the type of work that companies like Kelly are offering.”

Headquartered in Michigan, KellyConnect is a global leader in providing workforce solutions to multiple well-known companies.

The three job fairs drew in 209 prospective teleworkers, most of whom had completed a free Teleworks USA Tech Prep workshop prior to applying, giving them a better understanding of macOS and iOS operating systems and troubleshooting, Cornett explained.

KellyConnect PHRI Director Melissa Turansky said she could see the difference the newly instated workshop made in applicants.

“The quality of the candidates that we’ve met this year has been amazing. The tech support and customer service skills that they have have been wonderful,” she said at the event in Hazard on Wednesday. “We’ve had an almost 80 percent pass through rate at the interview stage, which is really really high.”

Turansky went on to say that the typical pass through rate for virtual interviews, which are the company’s usual method, are around the high 50s and lower 60s percentiles.

“The fact that the people that we’re meeting are as qualified in customer service and tech support as they are—it’s been great,” she added.

During the first leg of the event in Annville, Teleworks USA Operations Manager Betty Hays echoed Turansky’s sentiments about the hire rates.

“Here in Annville there were 60 people interviewed for positions, and 43 were hired,” Hays said. “That’s a 72 percent hire rate, which is absolutely amazing!”

Hays went on to say that each position offered a salary between $13 and $15 per hour. With 161 Eastern Kentuckians (43 out of 60 in Jackson County, 37 out of 47 in Harlan County, and 80 out of 102 in Perry County) offered those positions, the estimated annual economic impact for the area could be more than $4.3 million.

“We’re very excited at the turnout and for the area,” she added.

This week’s hiring events are the second multi-day events Teleworks USA has hosted in partnership with KellyConnect in the past year. The company hired 169 people after interviewing nearly 200 people in Hazard and Annville in 2017.

Turansky said since the event in 2017, Kelly has grown exponentially in Kentucky.

“We posted our positions, but (before last year) we didn’t have a whole lot of traction in Kentucky. They were few and far between,” she said. “Since our interactions with Teleworks, we’ve seen a lot of growth . . . and I think the work that we did here last year was a big part of that.”

If you were unable to attend the job fairs but are still interested in teleworking, contact Teleworks USA via Facebook at www.facebook.com/teleworksusa, or log on to teleworksusa.com, where you can open a free account and begin the search for a new job immediately!

Teleworks USA identifies and develops legitimate remote-work job opportunities with multiple national and global companies. Teleworks USA’s team of eight expert Teleworks Hub Managers also helps prepare people for the jobs by upskilling them in customer service and technical support workshops, helping them craft strong résumés and hone their interviewing skills, and assisting them in applying for available remote-work positions they can work within their homes or one of eight Teleworks Hubs in the region.

Since its inception in 2012, Teleworks USA has opened Teleworks Hubs in Hazard, Hyden, Annville, Beattyville, Booneville, Harlan, Louisa, and Pike County. Those Hubs have helped bring jobs to more than 1,400 Eastern Kentuckians, and those positions carry an estimated $30 million in economic impact in new annual wages to teleworkers across the Eastern Kentucky Coalfields.

To find out more information about Teleworks USA, go to www.TeleworksUSA.com.

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EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services, administers the Hiring Our Miners Everyday (H.O.M.E.) program for dislocated coal miners and their spouses, and is the White House-designated lead organization for the federal TechHire designation for Eastern Kentucky. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.