Increasing manufacturing jobs will create significant economic benefits for communities across the U.S. There will be more positions available at good wages, addressing America’s issue with an over-saturation of low paying jobs, as well as addressing unemployment in both rural areas and smaller cities. However, industry experts also tell the story of the challenges ahead before we can reap the benefits of manufacturing growth.

The “Baby Boomers” have done well, building economic growth and sustainable careers in many middle skill, middle class jobs like manufacturing. This generation worked and benefited from the most prosperous era in American history, and now they are retiring from the workforce in huge numbers as more and more reach retirement age every day.

This trend is having a dramatic impact on America’s skilled labor pool because there is no one there to replace them.

The impact is even more dramatic in the manufacturing sector because these once-coveted jobs are now viewed more negatively by younger generations, despite significant opportunity for career growth and strong wages. Manufacturing jobs are often misunderstood and seen as “dirty” and “dead-end” positions, and not as great career opportunities requiring an array of technical skills.

Additionally, “Millennials” often look at college as the most logical – if not the only – road to financial stability with little regard for these more “traditional” career pathways. As a result manufacturers are struggling to fill the positions they currently have without even considering additional jobs from increased growth.

Statistics paint a gloomy picture of the generational impact on the manufacturing sector, and the resulting widening of the skills gap. Cisco Senior Business Development Manager of North America Steve Gansen recently presented troubling numbers about the workforce of the manufacturing industry.

According to Gansen, one third of current manufacturing workers are over the age of 50, and more distressing is the fact that the average age of highly skilled employees is 56. With the average retirement age for manufacturers staying at 65, there is a significant shortage of individuals available to fill these existing positions within the next decade, which doesn’t even take the challenge of newly created jobs into account at all.

In fact, Gansen’s research led him to project that by the year 2020 America could be facing a deficit of 875,000 highly skilled manufacturing professionals. Gansen’s projections suggest that the aging workforce will create a widening skills gap that will cause over 2 million vacant manufacturing positions without a skilled workforce to fill it.

Increasing manufacturing jobs is certainly positive, as it will help modernize this nation’s infrastructure as well as create significant economic opportunity. However, the data suggest that the results may not be that straightforward.

Within the next decade approximately 2.7 million “Baby Boomers” will retire, thereby ensuring that millions of positions will already be available without a ready supply of workers to fill them.

According to a report by Deloitte, 82% of US executives believe the upcoming skills gap will impact their implementation of new technologies and increase productivity in their manufacturing operations. Therefore, we must not only focus on bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, but also pay equal attention to bringing manufacturing skills back to America.

This is where companies like SkillSmart can take an active role in shaping the future. SkillSmart’s role not only as a skills-matching company, but one which helps job seekers acquire the skills necessary to achieve success, can be integral in helping address this emerging reality.

SkillSmart’s community-based commitment provides a strong foundation to help organizations in the process of solving a local skills deficiency. For example, SkillSmart recently helped MGM National Harbor develop their talent pipeline for their new resort. SkillSmart’s relationship with MGM not only helped MGM create a pipeline of highly skilled employees, but it helped Prince George’s Community College refine a modern noncredit curriculum which was highly attractive to individuals who were seeking employment.

This same strategy is at work in SkillSmart’s other client relationships, including with an NBA franchise in the process of building a new stadium that has had a positive influence on other aspects of a local community. SkillSmart has helped inform the local community around the skills required to obtain a construction job for the project.

SkillSmart is also helping educate prospective employees around additional requirements or certifications, such as union membership, so that these individuals have the skills to contribute with this employer on this project, and with other employers and projects in the future.

We are proud to have a product that can help solve the skills gap, and SkillSmart makes a commitment to every community in which we work to use services and technology to help increase economic opportunity for residents and employers alike.

The data has shown that there will be at least 2.7 million positions available within the manufacturing field in the next decade, and we look forward to working with the manufacturing industry to help build the skilled workforce that can that can fill all of those positions… and more!

At the end of February, President Trump sat down with the CEO’s of several Fortune 500 companies. After this meeting, Trump stated that these leaders have committed to helping the President bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States. This promise to bring manufacturing jobs back to America is nothing new for Trump; in fact some might argue that Trump won the election on this campaign promise.

However, whether or not the President does his best to follow through on this promise of “25 million new positions” there are other factors that may dictate if his goal is achievable. Recently, Bloomberg’s Andre Tartar tried to articulate this message within his article Factory Skills Gap Could Spell Trouble for Trump’s Jobs Plan. While the President’s intention may well be to help establish a strong manufacturing industry, there may not be the talent available to bring back this industry.

In order to understand the difficulties in revitalizing the manufacturing industry one must understand, and acknowledge the “skills gap” currently within America. Bloomberg partnered with Randstad Sourceright to conduct a research project surveying over 400 global HR executives to analyze their struggles of creating and filling positions, and how they believe this information may project forward.

While 41% of these executives believe that they will be hiring new staff members this calendar year, these executives foresee it being difficult to continue at this hiring rate because of the lack of prospective employees with the skills necessary to perform the tasks needed to work within their respective companies. Within the survey, HR executives ranked “talent scarcity” as having a greater concern within future business than “robotics, freelancers, automation, and foreign talent.” About 80% of these employers stated that they foresee a shortage of sufficiently skilled workers will affect their company’s success in the next 12 months. These statistics bring us back to the difficulty of creating millions of infrastructure jobs within the next four years.

While creating jobs can be rather difficult, the data seems to indicate that filling jobs may be a more difficult task than creating jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released information that mirrored this sentiment when they showed that there were 324,000 manufacturing job openings this past November, which is almost an 100,000 opening increase from the previous November.

This data is rather troubling because it seems to indicate that the gap between the number of individuals who have the skilled required of these jobs and the demand for those skills is increasing, so one must wonder what can we do to help bridge the skills gap to create a more sustainable workforce. This is precisely what we at SkillSmart are working to address, our goal is to build a pipeline of skilled workers.

The greater Washington DC region, like many other regions throughout the country, has many positions that remain unfilled. A case study for this issue was our partnership with MGM National Harbor. Being one of the first casino resorts in the capital region, MGM recognized the challenge of building a strong workforce to fill the 4000 positions they were seeking to hire. Adding to this challenge was the condition that MGM was to hire a certain quota of individuals from within the county.

SkillSmart partnered with MGM to build a local workforce pipeline by deploying its skills-matching platform to more clearly articulate the skills MGM was seeking to hire and to then effectively connect job seekers with local education resources linked to providing those specific skills through partnership with local education providers, like community colleges. This built a more skilled applicant pool resulting in more successful hiring outcomes and higher rates of retention while providing a clear path for local job seekers to acquire the skills needed to become successful employees of MGM.

SkillSmart is proud to be part of the effort to help solve the skills gap within the Washington DC region as well as the other communities in which we work. This same approach can address the skills gap to grow the workforce and help fill the 25 million infrastructure and manufacturing jobs. Creating the jobs alone is not sufficient. An equal focus needs to be placed on providing local job seekers in communities across the nation with a transparent mechanism to acquire the skills that the manufacturers are looking to hire. Only through this approach will businesses and local economies grow.

Businesses, communities and people are excited by the potential opportunities that an increased focus on infrastructure and manufacturing will have on local communities and across the nation.

At first glance a renewed focus on these areas is great news, and then articles and research start to appear like this recent Bloomberg Markets report that “Four-fifths of executives surveyed said that a shortage of sufficiently skilled workers will affect their companies in the next 12 months.” Which is followed up by “Complaints of hard-to-fill factory jobs are backed up by Bureau of Labor Statistics data: 324,000 manufacturing spots were open in November, up from 238,000 a year earlier.”

So what will keep us from actually increasing manufacturing and constructing new infrastructure? The lack of skilled workers.

Fortunately, this is a solvable problem.  SkillSmart’s focus on skills development and skills based hiring helps directly address this issue with a scalable solution.  We work with employers to identify the skills they need which helps job seekers better understand the skills they need to be qualified or considered for hiring.  Then, we show them where they acquire these skills through local education and training resources.

In fact, we have seen a more than 2 to 1 increase in successful hiring outcomes with our clients who use the SkillSmart platform and a 21% increase in the rate of retention.

The impact of skills in the workplace is real and can have both positive and negative results.  Lack of skills can hinder success, but we have shown that skills based hiring achieves real, sustainable and positive outcomes to help construction, manufacturing and other important industry sectors grow.  This focus on skills is critical to driving the desired growth in our economy, communities and people.

Our talent development process is outdated. We are putting students into programs that have little to no connectivity to the world of work and job seekers are using a 500 year old resume.

SkillSmart co-founder Jason Green talks through how we can decipher real skills and put them to work in his recent TEDx Talk for TEDxTysons.

As we approach the last weeks of Summer many of us are dealing with either an end or a beginning. Many Spring graduates put off the inevitable task of finding a job for the allure of travel, being with friends or just getting some rest after school. Meanwhile, many students were working jobs or enjoying summertime in preparation for the upcoming school year. In either case, a successful outcome for the next step of finding employment or beginning a successful school year requires a focus on the skills that are needed.

Why Focus on Skills?

The nature of work is changing every day – technology is making some jobs more accessible and is eliminating others. The idea of having a single job for your career is increasingly unlikely, and while this may seem scary, it is also really exciting. Acquiring and being able to demonstrate more skills will allow you to increase your value in the workforce and transition more easily from one position to another.

Entering the Workforce?

As individuals begin to enter the workforce and develop a successful career path, the first step is to understand the skills needed in the workplace. Once you know the skills that are needed, you must then inventory the activities that you’ve undertaken to determine which of those skills you possess and find the most effective way to communicate those skills to the employer that most interests you. It is important to remember during this process that you can acquire skills by doing many things in addition to attending school – military experience, volunteer activities, and other jobs can provide you with the skills that are needed in the workplace. It is also important to connect your experiences directly to the skills that the job requires, not just put together a laundry list of activities and hope that the person reviewing your information can find what they need. Employers are looking for people who have the right skills – be clear and be specific in order to make yourself stand apart from others.

Going Back to School?

If you’re getting to go back to school – whether high school, college, or training programs – you will inevitably look at a required course or activity and question why that is necessary. There are many foundational skills like basic math, effective communication or teamwork that virtually every employer is seeking. Ideally, your school or education provider is closely linked to employers and is ensuring that the curriculum you are required to take matches closely the specific skills that employers are seeking. However, it is also important for you to learn and understand the skills that are required for jobs you may be seeking. If you are unsure, you should meet with your institution’s guidance or career counseling professionals to see if they can point you in the right direction. If that doesn’t get you what you need, then you can reach out to employers and ask what they’re looking for. You are using valuable time and spending significant dollars to get education, and it is important to know that you are getting what you need for your success.

Next Steps

Whether your objective is to get a job now or you’re going back to school and planning for the future, it is an exciting time. By focusing on skills can you better understand what you need to be successful no matter what you want to achieve.

We’re at halftime between the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and most people really want to know what the next president plans to do for them:

“How do I get a better job, make more money, raise a family, buy a house, take care of my aging parents or save for college?”

Both Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton say they will improve the economy. They talk about tax policy reform, trade and the global economy, entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. These are all important topics to be sure, but a long way from a core issue for Americans: our jobs.

What do you do when you want to grow the economy and make life better for working people? You focus on jobs and skills.

A lack of focus on these two issues has a direct impact on real people, and keeps our economy from reaching its full potential.

For example, from 2009 to 2012, the advanced manufacturing industry in New England should have grown at a rate of 12%. Instead, it only grew 7% because there were 18,000 jobs that went unfilled. In Maryland, there are more than 18,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs today – nationally, there are over 200,000.

Everyday across this country, there are people making less money than they should because they don’t have the right skills, leaving companies without the skilled workers they need to grow, and leaving our economy without the infusion of dollars from these workers’ tax contributions.

Companies and people are making less money and the economy suffers, not because there isn’t opportunity, but because no one can take advantage of the opportunities that already exist!

How do you solve this problem? You make a process that everyone can understand and use – a process that clearly identifies the skills that employers need; one that makes it clear to employees and job seekers the exact skills required to get good jobs. And it must be a demand-driven process – that is, it must start with the employers because they have the jobs needing to be filled.

Using platforms like SkillSmart, employers can identify the specific skills they need for each position they have. Employees and job seekers can then build individual profiles based on their work and life experiences to see how closely their skills match to those positions. Additionally – and, maybe, most importantly – education and training content can be tailored to meet those industry-specific skills needs.

Too often candidates spend more money for education and training because it sounds like the right answer without knowing which education actually needs to be provided.

The technology now exists to align local, regional and national markets to employers, job seekers, educators and resources so industries like cybersecurity, manufacturing, and others can fill more contracts, while workers can earn better salaries and education resources can be used more efficiently.

This new approach won’t solve every problem, but if every company can find skilled workers, and every job seeker can learn the skills the markets need, then we will go a long way to answering the questions that Americans are most concerned about everyday, and especially during this election season.

“If you want to recruit good employees you need to post your job descriptions in as many places as possible, get high click through rates and get as many resumes as possible.”

Well, 427,000 resumes are posted on Monster each week and yet companies that advertise open positions on Monster hire fewer than 1% of their employees from that source. Plus, for every corporate job opening there are more than 250 resumes received, and fewer than five people are brought in to interview.*

When it comes to hiring, more is not better… it’s just more.

The logic of the current hiring process is stunning – if you couldn’t find a good candidate in a large pile of resumes, it must be that the pile isn’t big enough, so you should pay more to get an even bigger pile of resumes. Does that make sense?

Greater numbers do not translate to better candidates or help you hire them faster… In fact it usually takes longer because you have to wade through more unqualified candidates in the hopes of finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. Even worse, using arbitrary screening questions like “years of experience” eliminates potentially strong candidates before anyone ever sees them, just to try and make the big pile smaller.

Our solution at SkillSmart helps employers identify the specific skills they are looking for and then helps interested job seekers articulate where in their previous experiences they’ve acquired and demonstrated those skills through the use of a skills profile.

This process allows employers to be clearer about what they need while applicants have a new mechanism that allows them to clearly state how their education and experiences connect to the skills the position requires for success.

In one quick glance, a hiring manager or HR professional can see how each candidate meets their needs.

It also has the added benefit of providing each job seeker with a sense of how they match a given position before they ever submit a profile, resume or application.

These tools provide smaller numbers of results yet better-qualified candidates who have a clearer understanding of what is required for each position they may be interested in pursuing.

It is time debunk the myth that more resumes, applicants and “click-throughs” will help build a better workforce. It costs more money, takes more time and creates greater frustration for everyone involved. It’s hard to get off the “hamster-wheel” of trying to get more and more, but it can be done while increasing the satisfaction of the people hiring, applying and getting hired.

Learn how we can ease your hiring efforts.

Contact Us

 *View source here

Springfield, Massachusetts has become ground zero for demonstrating a new demand-driven approach to grow its economy and workforce. And the city’s efforts are being recognized and encouraged.

Last month, the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Corporation, located in Springfield, MA, was awarded a “Working Cities Grant” by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. As one of eight jurisdictions throughout the Commonwealth to receive the grant, it will use this funding to connect local job seekers to multiple industry sectors in the area based on their skills.

One industry that will impact the community is hospitality. Today, MGM Resorts International, which will open a world-class hotel and gaming facility in Springfield, MA in the Fall of 2018, announced a new culinary training partnership with Holyoke Community College. MGM Resorts is committed to investing in the local workforce through this new gaming school designed to advance the skills of the community.

To identify talent and prepare for proper staffing, MGM has started posting the future opportunities needed for its new facility. Further, they’re outlining what requirements are needed, including the skills and credentials, for each opportunity so the local workforce has a clear understanding of what will be needed to be hired in 2018, and how to acquire the right skills if they don’t possess them today.

To start, students and job seekers interested in culinary jobs can log onto SkillSmart for MGM Springfield today to see what jobs will be available. From there, they can then take advantage of programs like the training partnership between Holyoke Community College and MGM. Between now and the facility’s opening, potential candidates will have time to train and gain valuable experience that will advance their skill sets and strengthen the region’s hospitality industry.

Springfield recognized that it can grow a stronger community when it understands the need of local industry and how those needs align with educational opportunities to create a more qualified and skilled workforce.

Employers like MGM are working with all stakeholders in the community – local education providers, community-based organizations, local businesses, students and job seekers – to make each stronger when working individually and together in building the local workforce.

By using SkillSmart’s platform, MGM has identified the skills needed for each position it will seek to hire. Job seekers then can build an individual profile to see how their skills match the positions they’re interested in.

This profile highlights the skills they need, providing a link to training opportunities offered by local education providers and community-based organizations. By connecting the job seekers to both the employer and education providers, they better understand the skills they need and see the path to acquire those additional skills to make them more competitive for these opportunities.

By better understanding the skills and hiring requirements of local employers like MGM, it’s easier for residents of the community to identify the skills they need to be hired. This also gives local education partners, like Holyoke Community College, the ability to adapt curriculum to meet these requirements, which makes the education process more efficient and cost-effective.

By connecting all the stakeholders – employers, educators and job seekers – each works more effectively to grow the local economy, make the right investments in people, and cause the community in whole to be more successful.

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Navigating The Transition From School To The Workplace

AS PUBLISHED BY THE DIANE REHM SHOW ON APRIL 14, 2016

Freshly minted graduates will soon take their degrees and set out into the workplace. But the path from college to career is not as obvious as it once was. Over the last few decades, unemployment among young college graduates has gone up while wages have gone down. Today, nearly half are underemployed. Add the burden of student debt and life post-graduation can seem pretty scary. A longtime chronicler of higher education says it doesn’t need to be that way. In a new book, he lays out a blue print for navigating the transition. A panel of experts joins him – and us – to discuss life after college.

The Diane Rehm Show invites four guests to discuss the transition and how recent graduates can navigate successfully in the workplace.

Guests Include:

Jeffrey Selingo regular contributor on higher education, the Washington Post; author, “There is Life After College: What Parents And Students Should Know About Navigating School To Prepare For The Jobs Of Tomorrow”
Anthony Carnevale director and research professor, Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University
Kristen Hamilton CEO and co-founder, Koru
Andy Chan vice president for innovation and career development, Wake Forest University

EXCERPT:

MS. KRISTEN HAMILTON: But, for example, I think what sits in the chasm between college and career really boils down to three things. It’s that they are missing relevant skills that are specific to jobs. But it’s, as Jeff said, it’s not just about those hard skills. It’s also about a set of experiences and a set of networks. And just even knowing that they need to network, right? Which is just this sort of idea that there’s this whole set of other impact skills and soft skills which really tend to be the most important things that they are lacking that helps them to make that transition. And so what we’re really done at Koru is we’ve taken the employer view. We really tried to understand what is it that employers need for our early-career hires? And we try to communicate that to college graduates. We try to help employers select people based on those right things. And then we also try to help those college graduates to really gain those things to land in jobs that they will love.

Listen to the discussion

As we launch SkillSmart with our first hospitality client, MGM National Harbor, we wanted to explore the industry further, specifically how its workforce gets its start and the potential for job growth and career advancement.

As part of our Spotlight Series, we talked with Matthew Carlin, President of the Metropolitan Hospitality Group (MHG) to get his take on the opportunities within the broad industry of hospitality. MHG is the parent company to many popular dining establishments in the Washington, DC area including Circa, Open Road, Trio Grill and Merrifield Beer & Wine.

SkillSmart (SS): How did you get your start in the hospitality industry?

Matthew Carlin (MC): One of my first jobs in high school was at a small, local pizzeria and I loved it. I worked there for years during my summer breaks in college and eventually started managing the restaurant.

(SS): What opportunities do you see for young people in the hospitality industry today?

(MC): The hospitality space has really evolved in the last five years. Today, we see a much more educated consumer who is focused on local, sustainable and quality products. The popularity of the cooking and restaurant shows has created a greater awareness about the talent and creativity required to be great in this industry. The opportunities are endless. You can transition your work with much more flexibility today – someone can go from becoming a brew master to running an entire distillery or from becoming a chef or bartender to managing and leading a restaurant.

(SS): What are the biggest misconceptions about the hospitality industry?

(MC): Years ago the industry wasn’t deemed as desirable as it is today and wasn’t viewed as a field that could become a career growth potential. Today, it’s the opposite. The industry is especially desirable in this area (Metro DC) with the explosion of every phase of hospitality from restaurants to brewing to distilleries to vineyards to hotels. With hospitality, there’s really no one, singular career path – it is open ended, with someone entering the industry having more control over their own career path than ever before just by working hard, being reliable and expanding their skill sets.

(SS): What are the biggest challenges to ensuring students are career-ready for the hospitality industry?

(MC): Many of the younger managers we hire are challenged with the skills it takes to lead a team and understanding the financial metrics required to help run a small business. When they enter formal studies for hospitality, they may not get the training for the soft skills needed to manage and lead, or the hard skills such as accounting basics. With management, especially, we rely on a slew of skills to ensure our consumers are getting the best service possible. That includes hospitality, of course, but it also includes knowing how to motivate your team, the financial understanding to make decisions on behalf of the restaurant, bar, etc.

(SS): Do you have any advice for hospitality organizations that are looking to grow or strengthen their workforce?

(MC): Hire the smartest people who have the flexibility to grow and adapt their skill sets, and to understand what skills are needed in which areas or positions. If you know that, you can be more targeted in your recruiting or training.

(SS): What are the skills you look for most?

(MC): Intelligent and purpose-driven people. Of all the successful hires we’ve had, we’ve identified that these two traits translate into someone who can learn on the job, increase their knowledge base and skill set, and who are motivated to want to climb the ladder, so to speak. We’re able to help them advance by outlining a clear plan of where we see their skill sets taking them within our group and talking with them about how they think they can get there. Again, it comes back to flexibility of our workers being able to grow and adapt their skill sets.

(SS): What challenges do you experience in hiring workforce?

(MC): Finding great people is a challenge. The market can seem flooded with people looking for jobs, it can be a challenge to identify which of those people actually have the skills we need.

(SS): What challenges do you experience in retaining your workforce?

(MC): Like every industry, growing and challenging the best and brightest workers in order to keep them engaged.

(SS): What role do you see educators/trainers playing in producing the ideal workforce?

(MC): Ultimately, we all become educators, trainers and coaches at work, teaching and mentoring our staff. The ideal workforce would be made up of great leaders with integrated leadership training between all levels of the workforce. As I mentioned, some of our managers struggle with financial metrics. Educators should play a role in all industries – not just hospitality – by incorporating ways to create a more financially astute student base. Those students, no matter high school or college educated, may very well end up working in hospitality. Having tactical applications of financial metrics could help them immensely. That’s just one example.

(SS): One challenge we hear is that there aren’t career promotion opportunities in hospitality, do you agree?

(MC): The hospitality space is growing exponentially as the world moves faster and people get busier. Great and growing companies will always have career promotion opportunities. Hospitality makes up a large percentage of the American workforce, and as it continues to grow, it will need more managers, leaders, etc. My own story is a great example – I went from working at that little pizza restaurant while on breaks from school and transitioned to managing it.

(SS): Hospitality is experiencing growth in the DC area, why do you think that is?

(MC): DC has always been fertile ground for hospitality growth as the nation’s capital. Not only do we have a growing population, especially with more private sectors coming to the region, we have a steady stream of tourism from year to year. To me, the growth of hospitality took a little longer than expected, but DC is mentioned with the likes of New York and San Francisco. That’s pretty incredible.