How to match skills with jobs

If you haven’t been paying attention lately, education seems to be under fire. Recent legislative cuts have left preschool, elementary, high schools and post-secondary education institutions scrambling to cut, consolidate and survive. As P-12 schools react to a 6.6 percent reduction in funding, some higher education institutions look at increased tuition to compensate for their reductions. At a time when we have an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent statewide and where we are desperate for more jobs, we are still whittling away at our most fundamental economic growth tool, education.

Why do we care? Northern Colorado, like the rest of our nation, is struggling to grow jobs and put people back to work. If our businesses aren’t growing, or even worse, declining or disappearing, the jobs will continue to decrease and our unemployment will continue to rise. With fewer jobs and more people unemployed, less money will be spent, and the ripple effect continues to spiral downward, with many citizens being unable to be self-sufficient.

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This is not new to most of us. However, the connection between job growth and education seems to be getting lost. Certainly our continued neglect and reduction of investment in education seems to imply we don’t understand the return on investment we receive from robust education programs.

Our ability to provide a strong local workforce with the right skills contributes significantly to the bottom line of business and the employability and well-being of our citizens. A qualified local workforce allows employers to have a strong pool of candidates to draw from, limiting their need to bring in talent from other areas. The more we can match our local talent skills to the available jobs with livable wages, the more successful and self-sufficient our citizens can be. The lower our unemployment rate, the lower the need for supplemental services.

Right now, with the market down, we have employers looking for candidates and we have this huge pool of unemployed people, many who don’t “quite” have the right skill set. We need to assure our education process, at all levels, is producing the relevant skills needed to prepare for the current and future jobs available in our region, many of which reach globally.

This is not an easy task, as our industries and technology are changing very rapidly. Furthermore, we need to assure we have a pipeline of workers educated and skilled in disciplines critical to recruiting desirable businesses to Northern Colorado. Many of the companies looking for locations are literally searching worldwide. A strong, qualified workforce is a huge asset to recruiting businesses.

Flexibility needed

Where does all this lead us? One immediate opportunity is to address today’s pool of talent and help them retool quickly to developing areas of opportunity. This requires our post-secondary institutes to become much more flexible and responsive. Providing visibility to vital skills and educational opportunities are critical tools we can provide our current workforce.

We are fortunate to have community colleges and universities striving to meet today’s challenges. But, with continued reduction in funding, there are far fewer resources to connect with business, develop new programs, and recruit candidates for courses. On the workforce side, the growing tuition rate and limited flexible delivery options for those already working can be significant barriers. Business, education and workforce resources need to work closely for creative solutions.

Reaching the current workforce will not suffice. A child’s mental ability begins to develop before he or she is born, so our interest in developing human capital starts at the beginning. Research shows a $1 investment in early childhood yields a return of $17 to society. If we expect a child to develop into a productive, well-adjusted contributing adult, we need to provide the appropriate support, and we are sorely lacking in adequate attention to this area.

There is a direct correlation between reduction of access and ineffectiveness of education and the need to provide continued financial and social support in many different ways for those that do not reach a reasonable level of self-sufficiency.

According to the Colorado Department of Corrections, the cost of incarceration for each individual per year is $20,000. The average amount Colorado is spending on each K-12 student this year is $7,225.

We are reaping what we sow. We have the right seeds; we just aren’t nurturing them effectively. We must find the way to significantly increase our investment in early childhood and education. Our economy and future success really does depend on it!

Kathy Gilliland owns DK Innovative Solutions, a consulting company focused on strategic partnerships for workforce development. She can be reached at 970-493-7783.