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WorkKeys® Comes to the Rescue for New Arkansas Manufacturer
Adam Ruple arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, a little nervous. He had moved there from Seattle to become the North America human resources director at LM Glasfiber, the world’s leading supplier of blades for wind turbines.
His first task? Finding 200 employees.
Adam Ruple
“I was in charge of building the company’s workforce and getting the facility full of people to train to make blades,” said Ruple. “I was concerned about where I would find qualified people.”
He was relieved to learn of the Arkansas workplace-readiness credential program powered by WorkKeys®. Workers can earn a certificate by successfully completing WorkKeys, which is offered at no charge to Arkansas residents. In addition, they may be eligible for a National Career Readiness Certificate by registering through the ACT system.
LM Glasfiber used WorkKeys to hire its first 100 employees. The company, which began production in late January, currently has about 250 hourly and salaried full-time employees. It plans to double that number by the end of the year and eventually employ 1,000 at full production.
A partnership between Pulaski Technical College, a two-year school in North Little Rock, and the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services (ADWS) in Little Rock is a vital part of LM Glasfiber’s extensive hiring process. The process can take up to three weeks and includes these steps:
- ADWS screens applicants for minimum requirements, including at least two years of manufacturing experience and a high school diploma or GED.
- ADWS administers KeyTrain, a targeted curriculum written specifically to help people master the applied workplace skills as defined by WorkKeys.
- After completing the KeyTrain coursework, applicants take three WorkKeys assessments—Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information—at Pulaski Technical College.
- Applicants with desired WorkKeys scores undergo a 20-hour pre-employment training program at LM Glasfiber. Coordinated through the college, the training includes company-specific assessments and sessions on company safety, company processes, working environment, and positions.
- The company conducts an interview once applicants complete training.
Without WorkKeys, hiring 40 to 50 people at a time would be much tougher, Ruple said. “From an employer perspective, WorkKeys is one more filtering and screening tool that helps ensure we get the right people through the door. It is good for the company, as it yields a much higher selection-to-hiring ratio than if we were hiring people without it.”
Next up for LM Glasfiber is to profile jobs. Many companies use the WorkKeys job profiling component to make hiring decisions. Job profiling identifies the WorkKeys skills and the skill levels an individual must have to perform a specific job. “We realize the value of job profiling, and it's in our budget to complete profiles by the end of the year,” said Ruple.
LM Glasfiber develops and manufactures blades for both small onshore wind turbines and the large wind turbines in offshore wind farms. In addition to Little Rock, the company has manufacturing facilities in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Gaspé, Québec, and a sales office in Chicago. It also has facilities and offices in eight locations in Europe and five in Asia.
