More companies can TAP into hiring people

05.19.08

By Max Showalter • mshowalter@journalandcourier.com  April 19, 2008

 

TAP has the ability to test, train and identify the best people for jobs that are available in manufacturing and other industries in Tippecanoe and surrounding counties.

 

"What do you need? How do you want to get them right now? I've got the best deal in Lafayette - no charge," said coordinator Chris Waymire as he explained the Tecumseh Area Partnership's programs during Friday's monthly Industrial Luncheon, sponsored by the Lafayette-West Lafayette Chamber of Commerce.

 

"We work for employers. We don't work for job seekers. We help jobs find people."

Companies that have taken advantage of the programs offered by the so-called work force intermediary include Eli Lilly and Co., Endocyte Inc. Fairfield Manufacturing Co., Vanguard National Trailer Corp. and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., when it hired more than 1,200 people to build Toyota Camry vehicles -- from more than 22,000 online job applications.

"We (told Toyota) we not only had a work force in Lafayette, we had a skilled work force," Waymire said. "We provided empirical evidence that we had a lot of people with the skills necessary to build cars."

 

Operating from the Regional Employment Assessment Center for Hiring in Lafayette, TAP conducts WorkKeys skills assessment evaluations, employment verifications, business seminars, customized screening and intensive interview training.

 

"We can find the right person for the job. You want to put the best qualified person in the job where their skill sets can be best utilized," Waymire told the 30 people who attended the luncheon meeting at Lafayette Country Club.

 

John Howard, an associate with Keller Williams Realty of Lafayette stood and applauded when Waymire finished his presentation. "They've come in and stabilized our work force, which has always been a big problem in Indiana," Howard said. "Just having the quantitative and qualitative information to look at is going to beat what's…