re: Corporations need to take a better lead on developing our work force

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Corporations are the reason we have a bad work force.

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Which is one reason I would never work for a large corporation again.

I've only worked for one, and they were awesome. This was 15 years ago though, and even they dont offer the training they once did.

this is an excellent point.

The companies complaining that they can't fill jobs with US employees (complicated by the fact that the US pays a lot of its workforce to NOT work) should not only invest in the schools but also have an instructor in the classroom, ROTC style. Accounting courses by Ernst & Young, Engineering courses by Lockheed. Hell, in Houston get Halliburton in there.

I have found that not only do most kids not have a clue what kinds of jobs are out there and how to direct their education towards them, but outside of my own field, neither do I. School advisors are garbage in this arena.

And, this seems like a totally do-able idea.

I could quibble, but good post, Powerman. It’s been a decade I think since I upvoted one of your posts.

We need to find a way to get people trained to perform important and well paying jobs.

1) Industry needs to be highly involved in this process. Most technical, industrial and craftsman jobs have a very specific set of skills that aren’t very transferable. Industry HAS to be involved or else the schools and training programs end up training people on the skills from the past decade instead of the current needs.

2) The companies end up doing the bulk of the training on the job anyway.

3) There definitely are some skills and knowledge that have a more universal application. These fundamentals can and should be taught in high schools and advancing into the basic training academies.

4) As Sally pointed out, we need to destigmatize non-college track career choices.

5) We need to make sure the compensation packages for these jobs is very attractive, with opportunities for advancement where possible.

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You acted like he was asking for something that doesn't or shouldn't exist, so I can only assume you had no idea one could learn to be a welder or mechanic in our current public school system.

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In principle, maybe, but not in the majority of schools, and the skills taught aren’t sufficient. Furthermore, you still have the stigmatization issue as well as the lack of career support.

Think about how high schools create an entire support structure to help kids make sure their college application is full of resume stuffers, and the ACT and SAT prep courses, and the college reps come visit and nvite students to campus for tours, etc.

More, much more, can and should be done for industrial, technical, and craftsman jobs.

Many corporations will pay for an employee to go to school. I think the minimum is around $5250.00 a year, or at least that what is I was approving employees on my contract. That included tuition, books (I'm told they don't have physical book anymore) , and fees. I was always encouraging all employees to take advantage.

That's close to the cost of full semester at the local university and a 2 semesters at a quality community college that was geared toward local industry or toward a four year degree.

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had to take a lot of initiative to learn things myself to separate myself from my peers.

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More important than a degree IMO, career field dependent of course.

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Our company had to do this because the tech colleges could not keep up with demand,,,,,we now train most of our own staff,,,,large EMS company locally

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Occupations are so hyper specialized that it makes sense for most corporations to shoulder the bulk of the training.

One of the few good things to come out of BSEE lately is the requirement for companies to prove the competency of their workforce. It became evident over the last decade, and brutally evident since the China virus, that the baby boomer knowledge and experience was retiring out of the industry, leaving a massive gap in the skills sets of the workforce.

I'm not a big fan of the government requiring anything, but this was necessary and may be of interest to the auto industry if it wants to be competitive.

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While that might be true, why is it up to the government and the nation at large to train people to fill 5000 jobs?

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They want ready-made employees that are cheap and will work back breaking hours.