“Due to the nature of my business, the people that work for me can mean life or death to my business. When our Business Representative, Brenda Owens told me she was sold on the WorkReadyMissouri program, I trusted her judgment. Brenda explained that when the person works with you it updates their skills and helps make them more marketable, more hirable. I now have a second WorkReadyMissouri participant at my location and now I am sold too. This has proven to be a time saver for me and has taken the fear out of hiring the wrong person.” Greg Calhoun, Owner, FOODRITE Grocery: Poplar Bluff, Wappapello

"The basic concept of Show-Me Heroes is that businesses work with the Missouri Career Center veterans' representatives to connect veterans with open positions. The companies then interview and give the candidate a chance to demonstrate they are a good fit with the business. Hats off to the local businesses participating in this worthy goal. Our veterans deserve our utmost respect, and helping these men and women find gainful employment after helping keep our country safe is commendable." -- Southeast Missourian 

"The Missouri Economic Development Council (MEDC) represents nearly 400 professional economic developers and their respective business leaders in 146 communities in the Show-Me State. MEDC proudly endorses the Missouri Work Ready Communities initiative and Missouri’s plan to attract, retain and develop a workforce with the education and skills to succeed in the 21st Century economy. With this effort Missouri will be in a stronger position to attract new business and expand existing businesses. Missouri’s Work Ready Initiative will prove the value of investing in the Show-Me State."

"I just wanted to brag about the Missouri Career Source Team. I had the pleasure of working with them at our new store recruitment event and I am proud to say that it was a huge success. Over the two-day period we hired over 100 associates for our new store.  Not only was this team engaging and energetic, they also worked cohesively to ensure that we brought on top talent and set our new team up for success. We couldn’t have done it without them!" -- Kelly Lewis, Territory Field Recruiter-South, Burlington Coat Factory 

"I have been working with Donna Mantle, my Career Center Business Representative, for the last year. She has referred many candidates to our program and I was able to hire roughly 60 Mentors with her referrals. Without the Career Center we would not have a successful program. We have served over 300 students this year with the help of Mentors from the Social Science fields: teachers, counselors, criminology social workers and college students working on their Social Science degrees. Our plan is to grow by another 30% this year. I would like to thank Donna for the hard work and the top-notch customer service. She is truly a gem." -- Mark Grzeskowiak, Children's Foundation of Mid-America

"My company is not only famous for making quality, made-in-Missouri products, it brought jobs from an overseas location to our St James facility, expanding from a small company to one that now employs dozens of associates to meet the needs of a global market. We all know that it takes good people to make a good company, and right now, businesses need any edge or opportunity they can get to access quality employees, while reducing the costs of hiring and training. Your local Missouri Career Center Business Representative makes sure you get the right person for your business, plus they do all the paperwork and processing for you. The newhires I brought on have worked out great!" -- Nancy Montgomery, HR Director for Tacony Manufacturing, whose world headquarters is at Tacony Corporation in Fenton.

“Every business needs trained workers, but in times like these, nobody has spare money. That’s where WorkReadyMissouri can help. WorkReadyMissouri matched my business with an unemployed worker who wanted to learn new skills. We got a quality worker who helped us with critical projects—at no cost to our firm. Employers pay huge taxes and what better way to protect those dollars than to get people back to work. WorkReadyMissouri worked for us. It can help your business, too. — Kenneth Carp, Owner  Carp, Concannon & Gervich, LLC 

“My company, Trinity Architectural Products, is known throughout Kansas City and around the country for exceptional custom woodworking. Our growing business employs hard-working folks right here in Kansas City to serve our national clients. To meet that high demand, we need workers with the right skills and the right attitude. That’s why we turned to WorkReadyMissouri when we needed another set of hands. Quickly, and at no cost to my business, WorkReadyMissouri connected me with a trainee ready to work and ready to learn. Now, our trainee, Cameron, is helping my business run while building his skills in the process. Thank you WorkReadyMissouri!” — Phil Hernandez, CEO, Trinity Architectural Products Kansas City, MO

“At the Columbia Career Center’s focused Recruitment Fair, my company—MBS Textbook Exchange, Inc.—was able to provide job descriptions in advance to allow the staff to match candidates with the qualifications we were seeking. During the fair we were able to meet with several qualified candidates, offering second interviews to five, of which we were able to hire one very qualified candidate. This was an excellent approach to previous job fairs in that the candidates were pre-selected as to their qualifications and interests. The staff took the effort to review the necessary qualifications and match candidates, allowing a more focused interview process. We look forward to future focused Recruitment Fairs.” – Jerome Rader, VP Human Resources, MSB Textbook Exchange, Inc.

“There was absolutely no way for me to have achieved my hiring goals over the last couple of weeks had it not been for the massive effort the Washington Career Center expended on behalf of Graphic Packaging International! My personal thanks to center manager Diana Voelker and all of your staff for their timely, courteous and professional assistance! I am fortunate to have a business partner like the Missouri Career Center in close proximity to help me source, evaluate and hire qualified candidates with the necessary skill sets!” -- Mike Eschbacher, Human Resources/Purchasing Manager, Graphic Packaging International Inc.