West Virginia Economic Development Council Discusses Workforce Solutions at Oglebay
Photo by Derek Redd WHEELING – The jobs are out there for people that want them, economic development experts say. The challenge these days, though, is finding enough people to fill those open spots.
Attendees at this week's West Virginia Economic Development Council Fall Conference spent part of their Wednesday morning at Oglebay Park's Wilson Lodge discussing ways to find the right people to hire for those open positions. They also heard from a number of organizations whose job it is to help bolster that workforce.
Among the members of that panel on navigating workforce solutions were Education Alliance President/CEO Amelia Courts and Director of Strategic Engagement Olivia McCuskey, Jobs and Hope Transition Agent Kelly Coffin, David Rogers, Senior Manager of Training Programs for the West Virginia Department of Economic Development and Robert Yahn of Tecnocap of Glen Dale, which manufactures metal closures.
One important way to get young people on the right track to their desired profession is to give them hands-on experience in that profession. courts said that, according to studies, personal experience was the top factor in young people choosing a career path.
That opportunity must be equitable for all students, she said. Courts' two children are both in college and got a good head start on their future careers through job shadowing. The chance for job shadowing came with Courts and her husband making phone calls and letting her kids borrow the car to get to those businesses. But not all kids have that chance.
"How can we create experiences during a school day that are more accessible to all our students?" she asked.
McCuskey described the Educational Alliance's work-based learning program. It is a semester-long course that take internship components and puts them into a classroom setting, and also includes a capstone project. That eliminates barriers like lack of transportation, lack of broadband access at home or not living in a larger metropolitan area.
"This is really important because it gives then a wide variety of career experiences and career awareness," McCuskey said.
The West Virginia government also offers help to businesses that want to bolster their employees' training. The Governor's Guaranteed Workforce Program gives new or expanding companies funds and technical assistance to support effective employee training strategies. The program targets a business's total workforce, where they can train, re-train and upgrade their skills.
Rogers also said that any business interested in that program won't be bogged down in paperwork in order to apply.
"I would say that the Governor's Guaranteed Workforce Program will be the easiest application you'll ever fill out for the state," he said. "It's right up there with a hunting license."
There are some people in West Virginia who want to join or improve their standing in the workforce, but past substance abuse may have put up barriers against them doing so. That's where a program like Jobs and Hope can help. Jobs and Hope provides free training and education opportunities for people recovering from substance abuse through adult education, community and technical colleges, career and technical colleges, the West Virignia National Guard and other state agencies. Jobs and Hope also can help provide access to resources needed to clear those employment barriers.
"We are trying to introduce second-chance, fair-chance employment to a lot of the various business throughout the state," Coffin said. "The way we do that is we partner with various businesses throughout the state and say, hey, we're a peer development program that works with individuals that are really ready to get into the workforce."
Having that many resources available is key to helping businesses around West Virginia find the right people to hire, said Josh Jefferson, President and CEO of Regional Economic Development Partnership. What Jefferson appreciated about Wednesday morning's discussion, and the fall conference in general, is that it will give organizations like his crucial information that they can take back to their respective business communities and put them on the right path.
"Not everybody is going to have a one-stop shop," Jefferson said, "but what we can do is connect them with the resources we have. When we go back to our communities and our major employers and small businesses and they're saying these are the struggles we're having and these are the challenges, we can say, let me introduce you to these people and get them in front of the right people so they can have that outlet."