NCWE: National Council for Workforce Education

NCWE: National Council for Workforce Education

An affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)

A national forum for administrators, faculty, business, labor, military, and government in workforce education, to affect and direct the future role of two-year and other post-secondary institutions in workforce education and economic development

The link between policy and workforce education and economic development by providing support, research, and critical information to members on current and future trends and policies.

http://www.ncwe.org/?page=workforce_economic

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Nan Poppe, Ed.D.Louisiana Accelerating Opportunity CoachNational Council for Workforce Education

Darlene G. Miller, Ed.D.Executive Director

National Council for Workforce Education

Girard Melancon, Ph.D.Executive Director for Adult, Community and Continuing Education

Baton Rouge Community College

AGENDA

Framing the Issue Why is Employer Engagement Hard Effective Strategies Success Stories at Baton Rouge Community

College Questions

www.ncwe.org

FRAMING THEISSUE

EMPLOYER/EDUCATORDISCONNECT

A newly released Gallup poll (sponsored by the Lumina Foundation) revealed that 14% of Americans and only 11% of business leaders – strongly agree that post secondary graduates have the skills and competencies to succeed in the workplace

Concomitantly, a survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed in conjunction with Gallup found 96% of Chief Academic Officers believe they are successfully preparing students for the workforce

EMPLOYER/EDUCATORDISCONNECT

College for America commissioned a study that is soon to be released finds the difficulty in finding well qualified applicants is a key challenge for 85% of HR and director-level respondents and it is across all sectors!!

The stark reality is that there is a disconnect between what employers want and need to fill the skills gap and how educators view their education/training programs and the

competencies of their graduates!

THE OBVIOUS YET HARD TO ATTAIN

ANSWER

COLLABORATION BETWEEN EMPLOYERS

AND EDUCATORS Educators need to actively work with industry

leaders to understand the skills gap and to truly understand the competencies and skills that employers want and need to achieve growth and prosperity

Only strong engagement and collaboration will lead to strong curricula that meets both accreditation requirements and business needs.

COMPETING DEMANDS!

Technology and the daily influx of emails, tweets, etc have made our lives very, very busy

Employers are concerned about the bottom line making it hard to be away from their daily operations

Industries must shift and change to remain competitive in a global economy

Federal funding has decreased significantly for job training initiatives: the federal job training programs budget has been cut over $3.3T in the past 10 years

CHANGE AND DEMAND ARE CONSTANT

BALANCING ACT

Employers are our Customers they don’t always know what they need and then they change their minds!

LIKE A BEING ON AROLLER COASTER

BALANCING ACT

It takes time and energy to get employers to identify their needs, then verify, then re-verify, and in a very short time frame down the road, re-examine and start all over again!

Constant verification with the real-time labor market data which is time-consuming, labor intensive yet absolutely necessary

RESULTS FROM RIDING ON THE ROLLER

COASTER

Solve an anecdote and never uncover the root problem

Create entry level cohort training without employer verification that there is a shortage at the entry level

RESULTS FROM RIDING ON THE ROLLER

COASTER

If we offer the programs through credit, because of our academic structure (curriculum committee) and accreditation there is oftentimes a time lapse between strategy and training delivery which results in obsolete skills

Employers demand training but then don’t hire

STRATEGIES TO ENGAGE EMPLOYERS OVER THE

LONG-TERM

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENTSTRATEGIES

College Employer Engagement Strategy that is part of the College’s Strategic Plan Who is responsible What type of resources do they need to achieve

success What are the goals and expected outcomes How will you measure success Plan must include feedback loops to all member of the

college, particularly technical faculty Ongoing and continuous – “the cows need to be milked

daily”

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENTSTRATEGIES

Employ Labor Market Data Tools Burning Glass EMSI Local WIB Data

LMI data must be used to drive programmatic decision making!

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENTSTRATEGIES

Collaboration and Partnerships with WIBS and Economic Development Agencies Sector Strategy Economic Development Strategy Career Pathways

Include all partners in a gap analysis to understand needs versus supply pipeline

CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATION IS KEY!

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENTSTRATEGIES

Strengthening Faculty and Employer Connections Employer involvement in curriculum and

program design Bring employers into the classroom (panels,

demonstrations, etc) Faculty summer internships with employers (can

be supported with Perkins Funds!) Employer involvement in facilities design and

equipment purchases

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENTSTRATEGIES

Deep and Long-Term Engagement Corporate Philanthropy

It is estimated that community colleges receive less than 2% of corporate contributions to higher education

Work with employers to influence public policy Get employers to a wide array of college events Work with employers to strengthen college to

career connections with K-12 Partner to address identified skilled workforce

shortages or sector strategies

SUCCESS STRATEGIESAT BRCC

BRCC SUCCESSSTRATEGIES

Power rests in relationships and self-interest moves people

Timing and engaging the right partner is everything

Don’t overcommit yet don’t be risk adverse

BRCC SUCCESSSTRATEGIES

Employers can be your best cheerleaders

Engage employers with projects and celebrate wins

Employers are a great source for information, instructors and students

DISCUSSION

executivedirector@ncwe.org

npoppe@live.com

melancong@mybrcc.edu

www.ncwe.org