LED FastStart: No. 1 State Workforce Training Program For Five Years

Beginning in 2008, Louisiana enhanced its reputation as a great place to do business by launching a bold workforce program, LED FastStart®. By assembling a team of dozens of experienced industry professionals, the program built a platform of highly customized employee recruitment, screening and training solutions for clients needing to rapidly ramp up their workforce in Louisiana.

The results were astounding. As LED FastStart prepared thousands of new workers for expansion and relocation projects in Louisiana, the state’s reputation for successful workforce training soared. For the past five years in a row, LED FastStart has ranked No. 1 in the U.S. as “the nation’s best state workforce training program,” according to Business Facilities magazine.

The program matches its experts with a company’s subject-matter experts to learn the company’s unique processes and culture. After determining the competencies required for each employee to be successful, the LED FastStart team recruits qualified talent to meet the company’s requirements. Unique training programs are crafted to ensure high-quality, flexible workers are prepared on day one and beyond.

Unlike other state workforce programs, LED FastStart is positioned under Louisiana’s department of economic development, allowing the organization to work closely with prospects and existing companies, and to develop truly customized workforce solutions.

“I don’t think there is any program we received from LED FastStart that you would describe as ‘off-the-shelf,’” says Ray Peters, vice president for human resources and marketing at wood products manufacturer, RoyOMartin. “Every time we went to them with a problem, we went through a problem-solving scenario with them and they, working with us, said, ‘These are some of the solutions we can offer.’”

LED FastStart has developed hundreds of customized workforce training programs for companies across multiple industry sectors, including Fortune 500 firms. Success stories include utilizing advanced technologies in social media recruiting for top IT companies, such as GE Capital, IBM, CSC, CGI and more, and also providing pre-employment training in a new 65,000-square-foot, advanced training center to support Benteler Steel/Tube’s $975 million manufacturing project in Shreveport.