Work Ready, a new program in Durant that provides job training, had a remote work job fair last week and this week, there is a job workshop.
Shawn Young, program director for Work Ready Durant, said last week’s job fair was an opportunity for people to apply for three remote jobs.
“It’s also kind of an info session for our program, for our actual workshop,” Young said. “What we see is, a lot of the time, people will apply for these remote jobs and they just never seem to get their foot in the door and so we like to show them that going through this program is putting in additional work and you’re going the extra mile and you’re getting a new resume and so sometimes, it’s that extra work that actually gets your foot in the door.”
This week’s workshop lasted through Friday and it teaches people to learn more about themselves, according to Young.
“We do a personality assessment to determine what their personality style is as well as other people, so that they know how to work with others in the workplace,” Young said. “We do lots of communication. We’ll do mock interviewing. We have professional resume writers that will write a resume for them using all the key words that employers like to see as well as other things like learning what is their superpower, what they’re strengths are and what they bring to the table.”
Young said participants are also helped with verbiage during job interviews, especially tough questions such, “Tell me about yourself.”
“Well, most people are like, ‘I’m a mom and I have three cats and you know, we live on Third Street,’” Young said. “Well, employers don’t want to know that. They want to know that I bring 10-plus years of excellent customer service. Just those tough questions that no one really knows how to answer in an interview so that’s kind of what our workshop looks like.”
Young said that Work Ready’s Oklahoma City branch has contracts with companies that offer remote positions across the state that clients can apply for. She said many people ask about Work Ready and want to know what it is and how it differs from the Oklahoma Works program.
“While Oklahoma Works is able to give you resources for jobs, we’re able to give you week-long training on how to get into those positions,” she said.
Work Ready Durant was founded earlier this year after Youth Services of Bryan County announced a groundbreaking workforce development system with an investment of $6.1 million over five years.
The agency recently renovated and moved into a vacant building at 1001 W. Main St. A grand opening was held Nov. 1.
The Work Ready contract provides essential workforce development resources locally. Program participants will attend comprehensive workshops tailored for various populations, including lowincome individuals and families, historically unemployed or underemployed individuals, low-skilled workers, individuals with a criminal background or those reentering society after incarceration.
For more information, call (580) 404-9675 or visit www.workreadyoklahoma. com.