Robert Boone is looking for a few good men and women.

As president and CEO of the Bowling Green-based South Central Workforce Development Board, Boone has the task of finding workers to fill what the JobsEQ labor market research firm says are more than 6,000 current job openings in the 10-county region served by the board.

As he demonstrated during Thursday’s WDB meeting at the Kentucky Advanced Technology Institute on the Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College campus, Boone is looking to serve local employers by recruiting those who have served.

Boone introduced members of the board, many of them human resources professionals, to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce program called Hiring Our Heroes that helps retiring military personnel make the transition to civilian careers.

The program out of Fort Campbell has helped many former soldiers become leaders at industries in Tennessee cities such as Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Portland. Now Boone wants to bring those veterans to Bowling Green and its environs.

“This is one tool in our toolbox that I’d like to use in our 10-county area,” Boone said.

He brought Christina Comer, program manager for Fort Campbell’s Corporate Fellowship Program, to Thursday’s meeting to introduce a program that could allow local employers to have transitioning veterans join their staff for 11 weeks at no cost to the company.

“This program is intended for those soldiers who are within six months of transition from the military,” Comer said. “If they are interested in working for corporate America, this is a good fit.”

Designed as a service to help those in the military, the program also has benefits for employers, according to Comer.

“It’s a great opportunity for employers in this area,” she said. “They (participating soldiers) are still employed by the Army, so the industry is not paying.

“They are able to see if the soldiers are a good fit. The goal is for them to receive a job offer, but we realize that isn’t always going to happen.”

Boone is high on the program, so much so that he has been making regular visits to Fort Campbell and is trying to arrange for a large group of the transitioning soldiers to tour some Bowling Green-area companies as an introduction.

The effort to tap into the potential of bringing military personnel into the local workforce is only one of the ways Boone is trying to expand the Workforce Development Board’s reach. He revealed Thursday that the board’s executive committee had entered into a $7,200 contract with Bowling Green’s Werkshop Branding to develop a new logo and brand and also develop a social media strategy for the WDB.

“A lot of people don’t know what the Workforce Development Board does,” Boone explained. “This will allow us to get the word out.”

This contract follows a similar contract with Werkshop Branding to develop an interactive website for the WDB. Boone said that website should be ready to launch in a few weeks.

With help from consultant Lori Strumpf, the WDB is also expanding its reach through a greater physical presence in the counties outside Bowling Green. The outreach to the 10-county region is in keeping with requirements of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Strumpf reported at Thursday’s meeting that the board now has nine affiliate sites in the outlying counties, places where job-seekers can be connected to resources. She said adult education offices in Barren and Simpson counties had been added recently. She is continuing to work on establishing satellite offices in Monroe, Metcalfe and Edmonson counties.

“We’re trying to expand our access points,” Strumpf said. “We have gone from zero affiliate sites to nine in less than three months.”

The ultimate goal, said Boone, is to “increase our footprint and provide greater access to our services.”