Natural State News

Arkansas has recently launched its “Ready for Life” website. The program is designed to offer resources for employment and job training.  

Director of Education Transformation Rick Neal approves of the initiative and believes it will help Arkansan residents restore essential in-demand skills, KATV reported. 

"Our employers need better-prepared employees,” Neal said. “We feel like learning prior, instead of on-site, will help them and support them in that work." 

Ready for Life works in collaboration with select schools, as well as the Department of Corrections, and other establishments that offer resume workshops and courses focused on certain skills. The site currently lists more than 8,800 jobs and 9,000 courses teaching career-related skills, offered free of charge, KATV reported.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is also in favor of the organization’s efforts to connect job seekers with employers, the Stuttgart Daily Leader reported. Hutchinson stated that the “initiative combines a gold mine of information about educational and employment opportunities that will make it easier for Arkansans to enhance their education or to change careers even and it will offer business leaders a quick snapshot of the state of the employee pool in Arkansas as they recruit talent.”

Hutchinson contributed $14.7 million to the program with the help of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the Division of Workforce Services, K-12 and higher education institutions, according to the Stuttgart Daily Leader.

"There are a lot of job platforms and a lot of different things out there,” Neal said. “But this is an opportunity to tailor the next employee to where they really want to be.”