Work Experience Opportunity Leads to Full-Time Career in Tech Field for Jackson Countian Justin Peters

Justin Peters graduated from college in 2022 with a degree in computer information systems. A native of Jackson County, he wanted to start his career close to home but assumed his options there might be limited.  

“In terms of finding work in the local area, I didn’t have much confidence at all,” Peters said. “I was just throwing in contracts for at-home positions based in London, sometimes Lexington and places like that, that might benefit a lot more or that might be more in the market for an IT degree.”

Justin Peters

But a suggestion from a family member to visit the Kentucky Career Center JobSight at Daniel Boone Community Action in McKee changed things for Peters. At the career center he enrolled for employment services and was paired with an expert career advisor, Alesia Brewer, who helped connect him with a local company with a good opportunity available. 

A partner in the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, Daniel Boone Community Action Agency provides Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) services in Clay and Jackson counties under contract with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP). Those services include programs for unemployed adults, dislocated workers, and youth between the ages of 18 and 24 who may need assistance honing skills such as résumé building or networking with local employers, or who need assistance being retrained or going to school.

Peters was eligible for the career center’s out-of-school youth program. Since he didn’t have a work history at the time, Brewer contacted local employers that might fit his career interest and eventually connected him with a work experience opportunity with Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative (PRTC), a telecommunications company and internet provider headquartered in McKee.  

Brewer helped Peters prepare for his interview with PRTC, and he was soon offered a work experience position in the company’s engineering department. As part of his enrollment at Daniel Boone, the career center would help cover Peters’ wages for three months while he gained real-world experience on the jobsite for PRTC.

“I didn’t know PRTC was even hiring,” Peters said. ”Alesia told me they just do this part-time program, and I told her to go ahead and put me in for it. I figured, what have I got to lose?”

Peters’ enrollment in the work experience program worked so well that PRTC offered him a part-time position with the company after his initial three months. In May 2023, just one year after graduating college, PRTC hired him as a full-time engineering tech.

Peters has since moved to Owsley County and continuing his job with PRTC. It’s a career, he noted, that he likely would not have today had it not been for his decision to enroll at the Kentucky Career Center JobSight in the first place. 

“I probably wouldn’t have the job I do now if it wasn’t for the program,” he said. “It’s an easy way to sort of automate the process that’s very intimidating for a lot of people and get you help on that process.”

Peters encourages others in similar situations who may be looking for a new job or having a hard time finding something in their community to visit their local Kentucky Career Center and access the services available.  

“It’s a lot easier than you think,” he said. “I just went in there, handed them my résumé, and they helped me with everything else.”

If you’re interested in applying for career and employment services, visit jobsight.org/locations to find your nearest Kentucky Career Center JobSight and contact a career advisor to get started.

EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services and operates the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, which provide access to more than a dozen state and federal programs that offer employment and training assistance for jobseekers and employers all under one roof. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.