WINSTON-SALEM—The Piedmont Triad continues to attract new jobs with the help of one of its community colleges.

Herbalife leaders say they could have expanded in one of the company's other locations, but chose Winston-Salem—in part—because of their success with Forsyth Tech's customized training program.

"The community college ensures we have the best employees on the planet,” said Vice President Dave Pezzullo. “It's a continual pipeline of employees as we continue to expand operations—from science, technical, engineering and manufacturing -- it's been fantastic across the board."

Forsyth Tech helps train Herbalife workers as part of NC Works, a state-funded customized workforce development program.

"Generally, Herbalife has already identified the new or incumbent workers that will be impacted by the training project,” said Jennifer Coulombe, dean of Business & Industry Services. “They bring us in after those folks have been identified to either upscale them to a new position or upscale them the next level in the position to prepare them for that next step in their career with Herbalife."

"They will be hiring more IT information workers, and it's great we have a great community college to help supply you with the IT personnel that you need,” Gov. Pat McCrory said.

That's what much of this round of training will focus on.

"The existing project we have going on really runs the gamut of training needs—anywhere from interpersonal skills, to technical skills,” Coulombe said. “The new project will have a heavier IT component."

Forsyth Tech does the majority of its training at Herbalife's manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem to make sure trainees get that hands-on experience. But if they need a classroom setting, they'll come to Forsyth Tech @ Innovation Quarter.

"It helps us to upscale our citizens right here in our area, and it's great for the business because it provides necessary training they might not otherwise have access to,” Coulombe said.

To be a part of the training program, you must first apply for one of the new jobs.

For information on that, just visit http://www.herbalife.com/career-opportunities.