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REACH (Regional Employment Assessment Center for Hiring)

How to contact us -

The REACH Center is part of WorkOne West Central, but is not at the same location as the centers for job seekers.

The REACH Center in Kokomo is located at:  700 East Firmin, Suite 101, Kokomo, IN  46902 - Phone 765.854.1401 - For directions to the Kokomo REACH Center, click here.

The REACH Center in Lafayette is located at:  976 Mezzanine Drive, Suite B, Lafayette, IN 47905 - Phone 765.477.1906 - Come and visit at any time. For directions to the REACH Center, click here.

Staff

REACH Center services are delivered by business employment specialists and by regional business consultants. Both REACH Centers can be contacted at employerservices@workonewestcentral.org

Your employment specialists are:

  • Lorri Coulbern - Kokomo
  • Kara Webb - Lafayette

Your regional business consultants are:

  • Kathy Burns - Cass, Clinton, Fulton, Howard, Miami, Tipton and Wabash counties
  • John MacOwan - Benton, Carroll, Fountain, Montgomery, Warren and White counties
  • Sherry McLauchlan - Tippecanoe county

Services to employers -

WorkKeys testing - WorkKeys is a national standardized test from the American College Testing Service (ACT) for assessing the skill level of job seekers in standard areas that have been determined to be ciritcal to job performance. Employers in the area have frequently expressed the need for thoroughly screened and assessed workers. WorkKeys is a customized employability skills assessment tool designed to insure that you have the right people staffing your key business positons along with Career Readiness Certificates. Here are some tips to help with your WorkKeys assessment preparation. The evaluation of the skills and the level of performance is done by trained professional staff. Currently grants are available to pay for the cost of this evaluation and also for the cost of testing applicants.

Employment verification and background checks - We can provide verification of past employment (to the extent that the past employer will cooperate) and perform other background checks of education, driving record, and criminal background checks of both national registers and records that are available only at the county level. These verifications are done through Lexis Nexis, a national organization which specializes in these services and has a very short turnaround time. At this time, one employment verification is provided at NOT COST throught a grant, with other checks done at a drastically reduced rate.

Workplace readiness skills - Interacting with others, trainability, structuring work activing, listening skills and interpretation of information are effective workplace behaviors that improve an employee's success on the job. In the past, these have been difficult to assess before hiring.

We now have a reliable, accurate, nationally validated assessment system. This uniques tool uses job simulation, video, and computer technologies to capture the personal effectiveness skills needed to work in advance manufacturing, an office, or service environment.

Skills assessment - Employers want to know if an applicant has the specific skills necessary to do a job in the company. Over 900 ProveIt skills assessments are available to us through an agreement with a national testing organization, Kenexa.  The tests are an on-line series of about 20 questions in a specific area. Tests can be taken at our location, at your location, or even at the applicant's location. Results are immediate and are compared to national medians. You can receive the scores of all applicants, or use this as a screening tool so that only applicants that pass at a certain level are considered.

There are more than 900 validated assessments including the following job classifications: Accounting, Call Center, Financial Package, Clerical, Microsoft Office Products, Industrial, and Health Care.

Use by job applicants -

Test-taking - Applicants identified by employers and/or by WorkOne staff as meeting the preliminary qualifications for a job listed in Indiana Career Connect, may be asked to come to the REACH Center for further assessment for WorkKeys or other tests. Applicants may NOT show up to take these tests without an appointment or being called in.

Interviewing - Employers may use the REACH Center as a location for interviewing for jobs listed in Indiana Career Connect. Applicants may have to meet certain qualifications and be invited to these interviews, or may come at specific times listed in the job order. All applicants much register in Indiana Career Connect to interview.

Business Services FAQ and Quick Guide - Check out this guide that answers some of your most frequently asked questions.

NEWS - REACH helps in Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. hiring needs. Click here to read the full case study.