CTC receives an array of opinions on building a better workforce

Skilled workers in fields such as health care, automotive and manufacturing continue to be in high demand. Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center offers courses for high-school students as well as adults seeking new skills for a new career in those fields and others.

In an effort to update the institution's strategic plan, business leaders, state legislators and local educators were invited to the CTC to discuss industry needs and how the it can help to fill them.

The previous plan, CTC director Rich Payne said, was a success, with nearly every item addressed "in one way or another." Improved student support services and increased integration of academics into career programing were among the goals checked off on the last plan.

Payne pointed to the construction site where the new, expanded facility for the CTC and the Cape College Center is being built as the final piece of last strategic planning puzzle.

"We keep growing, we keep expanding," CTC director Rich Payne said to the crowd, "But at the same time, we need to make sure we're doing the right thing for our business and industry community."

In a lively discussion facilitated by Kevin Dickson, professor of management and marketing and director of the Jane Stephens Honors Program at Southeast Missouri State University, more than five dozen people involved in educating and employing people in technical fields discussed where their industries are moving, what skills are needed and the best ways for students of all ages to receive those skills.

There were several topics of discussion that were brought up frequently and emphatically throughout the 90-minute conversation.

Soft skills

Several employers said people are applying to their technical jobs without many soft skills. They don't communicate well. They don't make eye contact. They don't know how to sell themselves in interviews. They don't know how to dress appropriately.

One attendee suggested providing students not only with academic grades, but attendance grades and workplace readiness grades, which would be helpful to the student and prospective employers as evidence they have the necessary skills.

A representative from the health-care industry said she's found some people unable to effectively do their jobs because they couldn't communicate with their patients.

"So most of these people who are coming to you aren't lacking the technical skills; they probably have a lot of that," Dickson said.

Soft skills, he summarized, should be part of technical training, "because if they don't have this, they won't be able to use the technical knowledge."

On the job training

Another common thread among the industry leaders was the need for on-the-job training to be incorporated in the educational process.

Many manufacturers tend to do their own on-the-job training. But by doing this through internships -- particularly paid internships -- when the student is ready to join the workforce, they have hands-on training for the specific job they seek. One group of attendees encouraged the exploration of legislation that removes employer liability so they can more easily facilitate a paid intern program.

On-the-job training, it was agreed, also would reduce the number of prospective employees coming to interviews with a large number of skills but without a clear understanding of how those skills would be applied in the workplace.

Removing stigma

Two-year education and certification training continues to be seen as a last resort or a backup plan should four-year education fall through, the group agreed.

"Making career and technical education a first choice, rather than a not-so-glamorous alternative," should be a priority, one attendee said.

Another member of the advisory group said the stigma also needs to be removed from those jobs. Manufacturing jobs and technical positions need to be seen as equal to those traditionally filled by four-year college graduates.

Payne, in his closing remarks, said he would like to remove the word "college" from the vocabulary of parents, teachers and counselors and replace it with "postsecondary education," because it encompasses the wealth of possibilities that await each student after high school graduation.

The next step in the new strategic plan, which is not final, will be to build a survey based on the information gathered at the planning meetings and send it to CTC's advisory board of more than 600 people. This will be followed by a Dec. 5 meeting to "drill down" the institution's goals and priorities, Payne said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

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