LEWISTON – “You’re on a roll. Don’t stop now.”

That was the advice to five graduates of a WorkReady program Friday morning from their instructor, Eva Giles, and it was a sentiment reflected in their enthusiast and confident attitudes.

WorkReady is a pilot program offering training to people that they couldn’t obtain easily elsewhere.

The graduates are Glenn Earle, Michael LaVoie, Josette Malacaria and Claudette Dion, all of Lewiston, and Connie Larose of Windham.

With enthusiastic smiles, they each stood at tables where they met and chatted with potential employers about their goals and skills.

Earle spoke of his hopes to advance in health care employment, eventually leading to an degree as a registered nurse. Dion also is aiming for career advancement in the health care field based on her experience as a licensed practical nurse, and Malacaria has ambitions to expand her part-time farm-related employment to a full-time status.

Larose and LaVoie also have goals for employment enhancement in fields that utilize computer and other skills.

Among companies talking with graduates about employment were Manpower, Kelly Services and The Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“Any employer can appreciate their investment of time,” said Carol Albert, who is manager of the Manpower Staffing Services office in Auburn. Albert served as a member of the WorkReady employer/advisory panel.

“I saw dramatic improvements,” she said of the trainees. “The program made a difference.”

Albert also was an instructor for some of the sessions throughout the 60-hour course in August. In half-day classes held at the B Street Community Center, Lewiston, she watched the trainees develop self-confidence and skills for interviewing.

Betty Gundersdorf, director of Lewiston Adult Education, and Rob Callahan, assistant director, were on hand for the graduation at the Colisee’s Shipyard Lounge.

“WorkReady is really about community collaboration,” Gundersdorf said. “It was endorsed locally by a dozen employers.” She explained how the curriculum was developed by a broad-based team. It resulted in a program that teaches “soft skills” such as proper dress, team and problem-solving skills and time management to augment the basic job skills that trainees might have.

Businesses such as Manpower and TD Banknorth reviewed and supported the curriculum for an initial pilot run in June. Friday’s graduation was the program’s second.

Bryant Hoffman, who is executive director of the Central and Western Maine Workforce Investment Board, said the curriculum and program were developed in response to the needs of local employers.

“Employers are willing to train new employees who show up on time, ready to work and whose ‘soft skills’ evidence an attitude that will make productive work possible.”

WorkReady funding is provided by the National Association of WorkForce Boards, The U.S. Department of Labor and locally by the Central/Western WorkForce Investment Board.

Eva Giles, Lewiston Adult Education community education coordinator and instructor for the WorkReady program, emphasized that the trainees put in 20 to 30 hours on top of the 60 hours of class time as they prepared resumes, research projects, portfolios and computer work. Attendance was mandatory for all classes, and six core competencies had to be met before graduating.

As she presented the certificates, she told the group, “The workplace has changed, and you have got to know how to change.”

Giles told the graduates that completion of the program earned them interviews with any of 12 local businesses that were on a list she gave them.

She said, “This is not the end. This is definitely the beginning.”