Quick Start

Workforce training in Georgia is provided through several initiatives, but the state’s signature program is Georgia Quick Start, a free program customized for companies in numerous industries. The oldest program of its kind in the U.S., Quick Start has updated the skill sets of nearly 1 million employees at 6,200 companies.

Quick Start helps companies maintain a competitive advantage by preparing workers for skill sets needed tomorrow as well as today. Some key facts:

• A Quick Start training regimen is shaped specifically for the skills that a company is looking to develop in its employees
• Training is conducted in classrooms, mobile labs or onsite at the company
• Quick Start is provided at no charge by the Technical College System of Georgia
• The program is versatile: Quick Start has prepared workers to assemble intricate aircraft components, grow bacteria for vaccines, manufacture plastic and metal products and field inquiries from customers, by phone or online

Area Development magazine ranks Quick Start no. 1 in the country, and “The CBS Evening News” profiled the program in late 2011. Watch ▶

Quick Start was also key to helping Kia Motors develop its manufacturing facility in West Point, Ga. According to former Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Chris Cummiskey:

“Our people went over to Korea to see how [Kia] runs a manufacturing plant. Then we replicated that, set up an onsite training center, sorted through 30,000 applications, found the best, and trained more than 1,000 people. On the first day, the company opened at 100 percent efficiency.”