Page 26 - MidJersey Business - September 2015

HIRE EDUCATION
offers intensive training over 30 weeks. Students need a high school diploma or GED and must take an entrance exam.
The staff of the One-Stop Career Center at MCCC assists students with job search- es through counseling, workshops, and access to the school’s computer lab. Gradu- ates of the program have the opportunity to transition into the Associate Degree Program after completion. CTI programs include secretarial/word processing, PC applications, computerized bookkeeping, medical secretary, legal secretary, and culinary technician tracks.
The Christie Administration recently celebrated the graduation of a class of ad- vanced manufacturing trainees at Camden County College. The New Jersey Depart- ment of Labor and Workforce Development launched the fabricated metal product/ CNC manufacturing program several years ago in partnership with the Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association Manufacturers Network.
The training initiative equips individuals for careers in the fabricated metal industry.
“This program is successful because we are investing training dollars in industry sectors that are growing here in the Garden State and we are guided by the needs of New Jersey employers,” Commissioner Harold Wirths of the New Jersey Depart- ment of Labor and Workforce Development says. “These graduates are now equipped with skills for jobs that are in demand.”
of classroom and hands-on training. All of the graduates have a nationally recognized credential after passing the National Insti- tute for Metalworking Skills Certification Exam for Measurement, Materials, and Safety Level I.
The training offered at New Jersey’s community colleges is similar to the model employed in Europe, though not quite as intensive. In countries like Switzerland, students receive acute job training from an early age, which is a track Schwartz would like to see more of in this country.
Educating kids about real-world career paths, he says, could set a generation on a new course and energize the workforce.
Swiss youngsters follow a dual-track approach that blends practical training at a host company with part-time classroom instruction, similar to the union-led ap- proach previously mentioned. European trade organizations determine skills that are most in demand in the labor market, ensuring that apprentices will be ad- equately trained for jobs in their fields.
About 58,000 Swiss companies offer ap- proximately 80,000 apprentices training in commercial, retail, healthcare, technology, and other fields. Participating companies invest $5.4 billion into three-year programs to cover the cost of apprentices’ salaries, training materials, and instructors.
career opportunities that are out there, and what the best educational pathways are.”
The result has been less than 3 percent of Switzerland’s young adults are unem- ployed, the lowest rate among 30 indus- trialized countries. In the U.S., that rate is more than 12 percent; in other European nations it can be as high as 22 percent.
ALL FOR
ONE
NJ’s community college network offers intensive workforce training
THE CONSORTIUM for Workforce and Economic Development was founded in 2004 by the state’s community colleges to provide coordinated one-stop statewide education and training services to busi- nesses and industries based on the “New Jersey Community Colleges Compact,” an executive order signed in 2003 that cre- ated a new statewide partnership between the State of New Jersey and its 19 com- munity colleges.
It designates New Jersey’s community colleges as the preferred provider of train- ing and for workforce development and business attraction programs.
Through the Consortium, New Jersey businesses and organizations have one- point access to all of the vast resources of the community colleges, including over 1,700 programs taught by qualified faculty with business and industry experience. With 64 campuses statewide, there is a com- munity college facility within 25 minutes of every resident in the state.
Companies can access, develop, and receive workforce education and training for their current and emerging employees. In the first 10 years, more than 100,000 employees of more than 5,400 businesses received three levels of training:
1. The Basic Skills Workforce Training
Program, which provides an array of train-
ing solutions for incumbent employees. 2. The Training-on-Demand Program, which trains unemployed individuals to fill job
openings with local companies in a vari-
ety of industries such as manufacturing. 3. Customized Training for incumbent
employees.
The Consortium’s Advanced Manufactur-
ing Training Initiative, initiated in 2012, certi- fies unemployed workers in metal fabrica- tion, machining, and production technology.
More than 55 local manufacturers have hired 90 percent of program graduates.
BASIC TRAINING
The 18 graduates underwent 300 hours 29section between their own interests and
“It is a very hard sell in the U.S.” Schwartz says. “Ultimately, we have to find a way to intervene a lot earlier than we do to get kids focused on careers and learning about the world of work, finding an inter-
Average age of American fast food
workers, according to the National
Employment Law Project. to do it; it’s really convincing employers.”
24 midJersey business
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would fly hundreds of American employers to spend a week looking at the Swiss system and talking to Swiss employers,” Schwartz says. “That’s what it would take to actually get movement here. This is not about con- vincing educators that there’s a better way