News Updates
July 24, 2008
TORQ™ Debuts at Workforce Innovations 2008
On July 15-17, 2008, Workforce Associates, Inc. unveiled TORQ™ in the Big Easy, at the annual Workforce Innovations Conference in New Orleans. This year, the conference attracted close to 3,000 participants from the world of workforce development around the country.
Workforce Associates President Jane M. Lommel, Senior Associate Patty Weddle, Rick Weddle, and CEO Richard “Dick” Judy (the creator of TORQ™) offered a TORQ™ Hospitality Suite to introduce WFA’s new comprehensive talent analysis system.
In spite of the steamy heat and temptations around the City, many professionals trekked to the hospitality suite to get a first look at TORQ™. There they were able to see live online demonstrations of TORQ™, and speak directly with Dick Judy about its capabilities and applications.
Visitors to the suite included workforce professionals from such widely spread states as Utah, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Louisiana, Hawaii, New Mexico, and California.
Most of these professionals, of course, have at least a passing acquaintance with O*NET™, but generally have found that it’s hard to tap into the massive treasure trove of material it contains. The discovery of a TORQ™-based “key” to unlock this storehouse of useful information was met with rousing interest.
Of course, each of these professionals also came with specific questions about jobs and skills in their own areas that have had no answers – before TORQ™. Some of these questions included:
- How can TORQ™ help us solve our area’s perennial shortage of welders?
- Can we use TORQ™ to help economic developers in our area choose more effective recruiting targets?
- What can TORQ™ do to help workers identify their training needs to move to a better job – for example, industrial maintenance technicians who need to upgrade their skills to become engineers?
- When a mass layoff occurs, how can TORQ™ help rapid response counselors handle an immediate need to find transferrable jobs?
- How can TORQ™ take the wealth of information in our state’s Labor Market Information shop and O*NET™ and make it usable to our general public?
TORQ™ handled these questions with answers that impressed these professionals. We think you will be impressed by TORQ, too. Even if you were not able to see TORQ™ at Workforce Innovation, you can get a free demonstration online anytime. Just email TORQ@WorkforceAssociates.com to set up an appointment, and you can discover TORQ™ live with us. We look forward to sharing this dynamic new product with you.