As we’ve seen this week with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, being prepared for what is to come is of the utmost importance. When we are not prepared, we are leaving matters to chance. Preparation means having a plan for success.  As our eyes are on the implementation of the Kentucky Career Center brand, we have been planning and making preparations over the past year for these changes that will improve our workforce development system and services in Kentucky.

From the introduction of the Brand Promise to the internal launch events, we have been preparing to externally launch the Kentucky Career Center brand. Because you are an important part of this process, I’d like to give you an update on our efforts to prepare our offices, staff and partners on becoming the Kentucky Career Center in 2013.

·        Website – We will move to www.kentuckycareercenter.com  as a new front door for all of our services in the workforce development system.  There is a sub-committee representative of all of our offices and partners working very hard behind the scenes to make sure that this new site will be user-friendly.  The final hurdle before the launch will be to take the website to our field offices and test it with our customers to get their feedback. 

·        Signage – We will get new external and internal signs at our locations. We will work with local staff to approve the sign plans for office to make sure we are meeting the needs of our customers.

·        Brochures – We are working on two brochure pieces that will focus on our services at the Kentucky Career Center.  One will focus on our Career and Training services while the other will focus on our Employer customers and the services we offer that group.

·        Business cards and letterhead – Once we are ready for the external launch, we have designed office supplies with the new logo ready to send out for your ordering.  The plan is to deplete your current stock of supplies before you order the new logo items.

·        Name tags – Name tags will be distributed to all our staff.

·        Logo wear – Shirts designed with the new logo will be available for purchase once we give the green light for the external launch.

·        Regional external launch events – We are planning to have regional external launch events throughout the state to get the word out about our Brand Promise and our new name.

While those are all important components leading up to the external launch, the most critical shift is in the way we do our business as staff each and every day. For the past two years, we have implemented new initiatives of the KWIB strategic plan, WORKSmart Kentucky, to transform the workforce development system through innovative practices.

Partners for Success laid out the foundational concepts behind One-Stop Certification standards; the self-assessment tools and technical assistance resources for One-Stop Certification have been available since January 2012 to meet our new individual, employer and managing our business standards; and the Workforce Academy training will be delivered to vast majority of field office staff and partners by the end of 2012 emphasizing a customer-centric service delivery model grounded in sector strategies.

We are working each day to make sure we give our staff and partners all the available resources to live up to the Brand Promise that will make the Kentucky Career Center the best in class asset in the growth of our regional and national economy.

Beth A. Brinly
Commissioner