Georgia’s workforce training program wows industry with total, online-only hiring solution
Last summer, when Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc., began making plans for accepting applications for team members at the assembly plant being built in West Point, Ga., the executive team had some decisions to make. How could they make the selection process as sophisticated and efficient as possible? How could they attract the best candidates?
There was one answer: Turn to Quick Start, Georgia’s internationally acclaimed workforce training program.
“Quick Start said they had some new ideas for us,” said Randy Jackson, director of human resources for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. “We knew Quick Start had a great reputation, but we weren’t prepared for the level of service and performance they delivered.”
Working closely with the team at Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc., Quick Start outlined an innovative, 100 percent online-only, turnkey solution for the application process that was impressive in itself, according to company officials. But Quick Start also included a more comprehensive workforce development strategy that involved public outreach and education to guarantee that interested applicants would be prepared with the skills and information needed to participate fully in the new workforce selection process.
The new approach to workforce development paid off.
“The increase in efficiency is amazing,” Jackson said. Quick Start’s online solution eliminated the stacks of print applications to be read and sorted by hand. Plus, the applicant database is integrated with another Quick Start-designed, Web-based component for scheduling and tracking candidates though the entire pre-employment and selection process, all managed through one easy-to-use interface.
“Quick Start developed a totally customized piece of software for the application and all the administrative tools for processing the data,” Jackson explained. “In addition, they built and launched KiaJobsInGeorgia.com as the one-stop site on the Web where interested applicants could learn about Kia and this new workforce development process.”
The Web site KiaJobsInGeorgia.com was launched in March 2007, and by the time the application process began in January 2008, more than 40,000 visitors had come to the site to learn about the available jobs and how to apply.
“We knew that this approach was new, so preparing and supporting the workforce to participate fully in the process was critical,” said Jackie Rohosky, assistant commissioner with the Department of Technical and Adult Education and head of Quick Start. “In the end, this new, online-only approach benefits the entire workforce of Georgia, because it helps prepare our citizens for the challenges and opportunities available in 21st century business and industry.”
By making the application process online-only, Quick Start was able to guarantee to Kia that all the applicants had a familiarity and comfort level with the kind of technology many will work with once employed at the automotive assembly facility. To make sure all interested applicants could get online to apply, the Georgia Department of Labor provided computers and technical support at all 53 of its career centers, as well as a dedicated center at West Central Technical College in LaGrange, Ga. In addition, many of Georgia’s technical colleges assisted Kia by hosting a series of job fairs in several cities throughout the state.
With Quick Start’s online solution having passed the real-world stress-test with flying colors, Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc., is now reviewing and selecting candidates to join its Georgia team.
“Quick Start moved us to this point with impressive speed and efficiency,” Jackson said. “The result was more than 43,000 candidates to choose from, with 97 percent having a high school education. In my experience, attracting such a high-quality pool of applicants in such large numbers so quickly is unprecedented.
“Now it’s time to get to work selecting, training and building our team to turn out the best, high-quality products in the automotive world today,” he concluded.