Does your company have positions it can’t fill now because your applicant pool is lacking in skills? So what are you doing about filling regional talent gaps?
In a Business Journalism article, author Melissa Preddy discusses reasons for long-term unemployment for certain individuals and lists a few key questions to get at the core issues:
• How does [HR managers’] vision compare with the resumes arriving in response?
• What mistakes or gaffes or skills deficiencies are they seeing on applications?
• Are employers providing remedial training or coaching these days?
• What schools, programs, certifications, & professional credentials make candidates attractive?
Donna Wells promoted the idea of answering these questions and doing something about it now, taking the problem of workforce development into your own hands, in a Fast Company article:
“It’s time organizations stop dreaming of perfect employees and start growing them.”
To focus on growing those skilled front-line workers in the food processing industry, Northwest Food Processors Association (NWFPA) and DPI collaborated to create the Heart of the Workforce (HOW) training program, leveraging basic food-processing-specific knowledge in a training course designed to get workers ready from day one. Instead of starting over on a regular basis, through each busy season cycle, HOW training allows workers to specialize in the industry—and advance from the front line. This reduces turnover rates, increases productivity, and benefits the company, worker, and community simultaneously:
Despite best efforts, however, regional—especially rural—talent gaps are still persistent. So NWFPA, DPI and Impact Washington have created a workforce roundtable series called “Filling Regional Talent Gaps,” with its next appearance in Yakima, WA on April 25, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The cost is $49 a person, which includes meeting materials, a light breakfast, and lunch. Click here to register.
This regional forum discussion is designed to be highly interactive in order to define specific local challenges that food processors are facing. Presenters will describe many of the workforce solutions and practices being deployed and developed for other area clusters including:
• Pre-employment training programs
• Veterans as a valuable source of skilled labor
• Company incentives for hiring veterans
• Skill certification programs and the National Career Readiness Certificate
• Awareness of Productivity methods (Objectives Matrix, Lean and Sustainability to name a few)
Collaboration is key to filling regional talent gaps. What is your industry doing about?
