Business Indiana, Friday, January 31, 2020 — 13
Leaders redefine workforce training needs
to work and some problems involve drug testing. A lot of positions today impose a no-tolerance policy,” partic- ularly those where workers are responsible for operat- ing heavy machinery. Criminal background checks also are a barrier to some. “A lot of places check their records,” Hilliard said. “Some companies are le- nient on the marks on records that they are willing to overlook, some that they did not overlook 10 years ago. But others such as felony convictions, unfortu- nately, do not go away.” While passing back- ground checks and blood tests have been longtime standards for entry into many workplaces on many levels, only in the past few years has emerged the recognition of so-called “soft skills,” a new kind of sniff test to judge the appro- priateness of would-be em- ployees for the positions they seek. “I also hear employers calling them essential skills,” Salony said. “Prob- lem solving, communica- tions. The good news is that many employers, when they find someone with essential soft skills, are willing to take Continued from Page 12
the world we’re living in today, they’re lacking in a lot of students. “They are not as able to work in a team atmosphere as they did a few years ago. We look at attendance, re- spect, reliability and work ethic, too. Those are subcat- egories of these skills. “Professionalism could mean proper communica- tion by email to a supervi- sor, your communication with a coworker, and not just how you talk to a teacher in school,” he said.
and train them” for the hands-on skills of their par- ticular workplace. “We have been working with the schools,” McPher- son said. “How do they teach the students, and get students prepared in soft skills? “But the one thing they still cannot do for their stu- dents is to instill motiva- tion. They can give them reason and opportunity, but there are workers who may expect a certain schedule, a five-day work week.” MGK schedules its em- ployees to four 10-hour days a week. “Then there are people who will come in and work two or three days of a five- day work week and skip the rest,” McPherson said. “They come in and say, ‘Oh, I made enough money for what I needed.’” MGK is emblematic of the job sites that don’t see waves of job applicants bred with the drive and desire to do all that the boss wants done. Basic courtesy isn’t as commonly embraced as a value anymore, some em- ployers report. These are some at the root of what are called soft skills. “Sadly, employers have people who do not show up for appointments for inter-
“It’s how you are in a group project, where you deal with people with different opinions from yours. “There are so many com- panies out there that look for these because they want to develop a team culture in their workplaces.” “We have about 450 stu- dents taking part,” Hilliard said. “And that’s a good amount of students throughout this county is just two grade levels. It’s an opportunity for us to plant the seeds.”
“WE’RE MORE than willing to sit with any organization to listen to their needs and make adjustments to benefit our students.”
Michael McDermott, executive director, Indiana County Technology Center
THOSE ARE becoming les- sons now in Indiana County schools through the new “Indiana County Ready” program. It has been devel- oped in conjunction with the business community, launched as a major initia- tive of the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce, adopted by school boards and administrators and put into action for the 2019-20 school year. “Indiana County Ready” is a concept more than a class or a club. In short, it’s a way of life that the next wave of young adults, those in 11th and 12th grades, have been asked to pledge to in their day-to-day lives in school. “These soft skills are the interpersonal skills of com- munication, motivation, re- spect and professionalism,” Hilliard said. “They may be the little things you heard from your parents while growing up, but because of the nature of
views. I was shocked the first time that happened,” Salony said. “Now we also have people who get hired and don’t show up after the first day. Or at all.” Salony said it could be a byproduct of what today’s job seekers view as efficien- cy.Where they don’t person- ally drop off 10 or 15 ré- sumés at front offices, they file dozens of applications through online services. Young job seekers, she be- lieves, may be conditioned to focus only on the most fruitful of the results and center themselves on what they feel is their single best offer. Like the silent rejec- tions of dozens of online ap- plications, so comes silent rejection of actual offers that offer less than the one they want. “There’s no guarantee for employers that people will show up more than a day or two. I hear these stories … and now I’m not shocked anymore,” Salony said.
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