Does your company need a more qualified pool of candidates and enough skilled applicants for entry level positions?
The employment opportunities within the West Virginia manufacturing industry are rich and diverse. Yet, positions remain unfilled, waiting for qualified applicants, while many training programs struggle with low enrollment. Statistics tell us students don’t deliberately avoid training programs nor industry careers. Most are unaware they exist.
The overarching consensus is we need more targeted insight on what manufacturers need. Last year, in collaboration with our industry and education partners, the WVMA Educational Fund (WVMAEF), through its Explore the New Manufacturing Program, developed the Manufacturing Workforce Continuum, a blueprint of grade-level goals and strategies. Building on this, Phase II's regional overlays will focus on the manufacturers' top needed skillsets and identify who's part of the team to accomplish each area's goals.
What's the driving force for this initiative? The short answer is to increase the number of skilled entry-level candidates by growing enrollment in manufacturing workforce readiness programs.
The Explore team needs your input to define what trained entry level employees look like for today's manufacturing companies.
For each region, here are the steps for the Phase II overlays:
- By completing the Regional Overlay Manufacturer Survey, manufacturers will identify what hard and soft skills are needed most in their company. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey here.
- Our partners at the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) and the West Virginia Community & Technical Colleges System (WVCTCS) will review their training offerings that address the manufacturer survey results' top skills.
- The WVDE and WVCTCS will pinpoint which skills trainings are not offered and begin foundational work to create programs to develop those skills.
The WVMAEF and its partners will:
- Solidify our community team members.
- Establish measurement mechanisms.
- Construct communication circuits between manufacturers, educators, parents, and students.
We need your help. Please join us in this effort to strengthen the applicant pool for West Virginia manufacturing.
To get involved in helping us tackle this criterial need, you can sign up here.
