MOULTRIE — Dislocated employees in Colquitt, Tift, Turner and Worth counties have a chance to earn money toward their job hunting expenses while the Moultrie Technical College (MTC) Adult Education Program earns money for books.
MTC Work Ready and Adult Education departments are poised to assess and train the unemployed through two governor-initiated programs that will assist workers in scoring higher on the Georgia Work Ready Assessment while they score extra cash to further their employment search.
Moultrie Tech’s Adult Education Department received one of 24 Work Ready Golden Opportunity grants to state agencies and organizations from Gov. Sonny Purdue’s office. The grants will reimburse the college for providing Work Ready skills gap training to help citizens improve their core job skills and earn higher level Work Ready certificates. In this case, the test-taker does not have to be unemployed but must score high enough to earn a certificate level.
“We won’t get funding unless we can perform,” Liz Carson Keith, executive director of Adult Education, noted. “If we produce results and the workers who go through gap training increase their certificate levels, MTC can be reimbursed by the state $200 per person up to $10,000.” This opportunity should ease state budget cuts impacting supply and materials.
Georgia’s Work Ready initiative is based on a skills assessment and certification for job seekers and a job profiling system for businesses. Moultrie Tech offers the skills assessments in Colquitt, Tift, Turner and Worth counties and provides the gap training for those who want to boost their scores.
By identifying both the needs of business and the available skills of Georgia’s workforce, the state can more effectively generate the right talent for the right jobs.
Since testing began in 2007, of the more than 2,500 Work Ready assessment-takers in these counties, 363 received no certificate — showing a need for gap training. This computer-based training prepares individuals to take the assessment or improve their certificate level levels.
In another initiative targeting dislocated workers, assessment-takers earning a certificate can put money in their own pocket. Following testing they can apply online for a $100 pre-paid VISA gift card from the state to help defray expenses associated with job hunting. For some jobseekers, the cost of resume paper, postage and interview clothing may be beyond their current means.
Better yet, unemployed workers can score big by improving their level through gap training and retaking the assessment. Those who raise their scores to silver, gold or platinum levels qualify for a $200 pre-paid VISA gift card for more help with their job hunt.
“Because we use targeted instruction, our students advance quickly in their skill level. Each student who is attending for gap training receives a Student Educational Plan which includes specific skill instruction and practice in deficient levels,” Keith said.
“This is a multi-faceted approach to instruction with classroom training that supports computer-assisted instruction and individualized assignments. We provide time in the afternoons to tutor students one-on-one in basic skill instruction,” Keith added.
“These grants will help Georgians reach their career goals,” said Debra Lyons, director, Governor’s Office of Workforce Development. “By helping more people improve their core job skills, we can help them get to work and achieve job success.”
For more information on the Work Ready assessment and gap training at Moultrie Tech, contact MTC’s Work Ready Director Cheryl Friedlander at (229) 217-4257.
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