Boards help fill needs in key occupations

Boards help fill needs in key occupations

The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago work with area agencies and colleges in building a skilled workforce that meets the demands of a variety of industries, which includes helping educate and place veterans, training and re-training, overcoming English as a second language obstacles and filling workforce shortages.

Veterans returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot afford the typical tuition at many colleges through the current G.I. Bill, which originated in 1944. As college costs have soared, benefits through the G.I. Bill have not kept pace and provide only limited assistance for veterans pursuing college degrees.

This has discouraged many veterans from utilizing their benefits. While nearly 80 percent of active-duty troops sign up for benefits, fewer than 10 percent of eligible veterans use their full benefit during the 10-year limit following their discharge. Some 30 percent of veterans never tap into the funds at all.

Beginning in the fall of 2008, Benedictine University in Lisle will begin using a $750,000 grant from the federal government to extend its First Responder Program to Illinois Armed Forces veterans—active and reserve—returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“By extending the First Responder Program to veterans, these brave men and women will have access to an education they might not otherwise be able to afford,” said Benedictine president William J. Carroll. “The lives of many veterans and their families will be positively changed, and the opportunity for a better future greatly increased.”

In addition, the Illinois Department of Labor has partnered with HireVetsFirst, a one stop, online career center for veterans that hosts numerous job fairs each year.

ESL for immigrants

A growing workforce trend is the needs of immigrants to learn English as a second language (ESL). The manufacturing and hospitality sectors, in particular, are finding this issue very challenging to overcome.

“We’ve been forced to a lot of on the job training. That presents problems of its own by having to deal with language barriers now,” said Margarito Alvarez, director of manufacturing for Nu-Way Industries, Inc., in Des Plaines.

“You can see that there is a predominant Hispanic workforce and that language does become a problem. Because of that, I continue to struggle to find qualified individuals who are willing to deal with the types of technology that we’re involved with.”

The solution has been to partner with local colleges and ESL groups to get immigrants comfortable with the language in order to break down communication barriers between employer and employee.

“We work with the College of DuPage and other ESL people in the community where we refer people (who need ESL training) to them,” said Sue Clark, administrator for workNet DuPage Career Center. “They’re a partner agency with us.”

Those in need of ESL training can contact their local workforce board for instructions on how to get enrolled in a program near them.

Training and re-training the workforce has been a major initiative for all of the workforce boards.

“Our money is to be administered to help people get training to get a job or to provide training to get out of an entry level position, or for employers who have workers who need extra skills so their employees can stay employed with them,” said Lisa Dusall, director of the River Valley Workforce Investment Board.

The majority of workforce board efforts go into training prospective employees for positions of need throughout multiple industries.

“People need better skill-sets,” said Mary Beth Marshall, director of the DuPage County Workforce Board. “People need to be more mobile with their skill-set. They need access to shorter term training programs so they can continuously upgrade their skills and take that life-long learning and career-oriented approach.”

Career Center training

Much of that training is done through area career centers, like the workNet DuPage Career Center.

“Our primary focus is training,” said Clark. “We are a funding source. We send people to training throughout the whole metro region. We have hundreds of vendors that we use.

“We try to have people trained in what we consider the critical skills shortages: occupations in health care, manufacturing, information technology, transportation, finance, etc. Our mandate is that people have to get trained and become self-sufficient.”

These career centers are open to the general public and are free for anyone to utilize their extensive resource libraries. In order to receive the more intensive services, one must qualify for the training money. To be qualified, one must be a dislocated worker living or previously working in the center’s county of operation.

“If you’re an adult, it really comes down to the need,” Clark said. “Whether you’re low-income, underemployed, not at a self-sufficient wage or you need the training. Youths also have to be low-income to qualify.”

Shortages in skills

Skilled workforce shortages are an ever-growing problem, especially in the manufacturing, health care and hospitality sectors. Much of the work done by workforce boards to fill the shortages has been through partnerships with area colleges and business leaders.

“What we try to do is be that interpreter of information,” said Marshall. “What are the careers available? What are the job skills that are required? What are the salaries that go with that? How do you move from one level to another level?

“Where are there shorter term training programs that are going to help you increase your earning capacity? What are the needs of the local business community?

“Those are the kind of bigger picture things the workforce boards work on.”

The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago develop comprehensive reports that outline the needs of each sector and best practices towards fulfilling those needs. They can be found on the Internet at www.workforceboardsofmetrochicago.org.

“This report is going to look at the workplace readiness skills of high school seniors, which are our pipeline to the workforce,” said Marshall. “We’ll do an analysis of that. We’ll also have employer input on what they’re looking for in the way of job readiness skills.”

Job fairs

Job fairs are a common way for employers and potential employees to connect and fill workforce gaps.

“We usually have one job fair every month,” said Clark. “We’ve had up to 250 people come to our free job fair here. So people are looking for jobs.”

Although much of the work done by workforce boards focuses on entry and mid-level position, many high-level professionals have recently begun utilizing its services.

“We’re seeing a lot of IT people coming in. A lot of professional people coming in,” Clark said. “There’s a lot of companies closing or laying off, and they’re pretty high level (employees). And we don’t have to market or outreach to find people. They’ve found us.”

Transportation needs

The boards have also begun addressing the transportation needs of area workers. Pace has partnered with workforce boards in an effort called the Pace Ride Program.

“You can go to Pace’s Web site and get people together who have a similar route as yours and you can join this program,” said Duvall. “They’ll pay you to have a carpool. And if you have at least 12 people in your carpool, they’ll actually give you a vehicle, a van. That’s ideally suited for employers who have shift workers.”

Jeremy Stoltz, Staff Writer

Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 (Archive on Sunday, June 01, 2008)
Posted by jstoltz Contributed by jstoltz

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