While
Mid-South Community College doesn’t generally function as an employment agency,
we are working diligently with area business and industry to develop relevant,
focused training designed to put people to work. Thanks to our cooperative
partnership with Southwest Tennessee Community College and the creation of the
Greater Memphis Workforce Development Institute, we have an enhanced level of
resources to meet the needs of our region.
On
April 17, we hosted an Employer’s Forum to solicit feedback from area
businesses and industries about services they would like to see us provide. We
were encouraged by the number of companies that participated, as well as the
insights they offered, and we are excited about the opportunities in front of
us. Most of what the Forum participants described to us is what we hear from
employers every day – they can’t find the kinds of employees they need to
sustain or grow their business. With this new partnership, we want employers to
look to us to fill those workforce voids.
We
have developed a process, still in the evolutionary stage, that can help
connect employers with people who have the appropriate work skills. We
understand, at least in a general sense, what companies require. For us to
succeed in this effort, however, we must first know exactly, or at least fairly
specifically, what businesses and industries need in an employee to help them
increase the profitability of their company. Our job then becomes the
identification of students that are already prepared for the workforce or
identifying those who could be ready with a minimum of specialized training.
We
have the capability of offering customized sessions that are a half-day in
length to three, four or more weeks long. During that time, we introduce
potential employees to the essentials of the workplace, and we basically become
a pre-screening agency that recommends only the folks we believe have the
skills to excel in a given employment situation. Our long-term plan revolves
around building a steady stream of people coming through our programs who have
had some exposure to the things that business and industry are seeking.
At
the moment, we’re working with a company that has great growth potential, but
the owner/manager is just about to pull his hair out because he can’t find
people to help him operate. We’ve made a commitment to his company that within
six weeks he’s not going to have a workforce issue anymore. We are confident
that through employer-led efforts we can provide access to a very different
level of employee.
At
the end of the day, we can’t have 200 different mini models working and must
generalize our training and instruction to some extent. On the other hand, if
employers have a large number of jobs to fill, we can certainly focus on those
particular skills sets. Our value to the business and industry side of the
equation is to take state and federal resources and do what employers would do
if they had their own money to get people trained. Our value to our students is
to help them pursue higher education our program and find a great job.
This
a new day, and we now have an entirely different level of resources to bring to
bear. I promise we can help employers find good workers, and I am committed to
helping our students find dream jobs. All we need is the opportunity.
- See more at:
http://www.midsouthcc.edu/blog/businessindustry-training-comes-to-forefront/#sthash.kzLa0D4V.dpuf
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