This year’s coal mining and manufacturing layoffs have cost more than 2,200 Eastern Kentucky workers their jobs and pushed the region’s unemployment rate to 12 percent—nearly four points higher than the state’s current rate of 8.3 percent.

Kentucky Teleworks can offer access to rewarding, well-paid, and legitimate jobs that can get many of those people and even their spouses back to work right now. And they won’t have to move away from home for that employment.

Kentucky Teleworks will be hosting a Telework Job Fair on Thursday, Oct. 4 in Hazard to find workers for thousands of available work-from-home jobs with several well-known national companies, including DIRECTV, Amazon.com, T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell, and JPMorgan Chase.

The free event will take place from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Perry County JobSight at the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council’s offices at 412 Roy Campbell Drive, off Morton Boulevard just past Whayne Supply.

Applicants interested in being screened on-site for jobs should bring a current resume, valid identification card, and Social Security card.

They must also have a distraction-free space for a home office with high-speed Internet access.

“Working from home has become a reality for hundreds across Eastern Kentucky, and telework companies are seeking motivated and talented workers to fill jobs in a variety of fields,” said Joshua Ball, Kentucky Teleworks manager. “We feel Eastern Kentucky’s workforce is second to none, and many possess the necessary skills to work from their homes rather than an office building.”

In Hazard, potential applicants who may not yet have high-speed Internet or computer equipment at home also will have the option to telework at the upcoming new Kentucky Teleworks incubator at the Perry County JobSight. As many as 20 teleworkers will be able to work at that location at any given time.

At the Telework Job Fair, Kentucky Teleworks will screen and accept applications for customer service, Information Technology (IT) support, and sales jobs with starting pay at $9 per hour and health benefits for full-time employees. Also available are at-home interviewing jobs that start at $8 per hour with the potential to earn up to $11.35 per hour.

Additionally, Kentucky Teleworks recently entered into an agreement with a national cable, broadband, and phone sales provider to fill 100 telesales positions in 30 days. These jobs pay upwards of $9.55 per hour with full benefits, including commission and bonuses.

Currently, Kentucky Teleworks has agreements with six companies that seek to fill nearly 3,000 jobs by the end of the year.

These legitimate, rewarding job opportunities are the result of partnerships between the companies and Kentucky Teleworks, a service of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP). Kentucky Teleworks identifies and develops valid work-from-home opportunities and helps Eastern Kentuckians prepare for and land these jobs.

Participants at the Hazard job fair will learn about telework job opportunities currently available in a variety of different fields, including:

• Data Entry

• Medical Transcription and Coding

• IT Support

• Computer Programming

• Tutoring and Teaching

• Sales

• Management

Participants will also learn how Kentucky Teleworks can assist and advise in their finding, applying for, and obtaining these jobs.

Ball said some applicants will be hired on the spot at the Telework Job Fair. For those who aren’t, telework job opportunities may still be in the cards for them, and that’s added incentive to attend the events.

“Our job fairs really never end,” he said. “Once you’re entered in the Kentucky Teleworks system through our website, we’ll keep looking for the best jobs for you and let you know when the right fit comes along.

“If you’re willing to work, we’re willing to get you to work” Ball said.

For more information about Kentucky Teleworks, visit www.kentuckyteleworks.com, call (606) 435-8494, or email tnoble@ekcep.org. Find Kentucky Teleworks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kentuckyteleworks.