Why developing talent is important

Posted by on August 16, 2016

Amy 2As you may remember, talent development was a strategy added to our strategic plan three years ago to meet the ever changing needs of our businesses. We hear from businesses every day that they are struggling to hire certain positions in their company. By adding strategy 8 – “establish the LSCP as a resource conduit for talent enhancement & workforce development programs,” we’ve been able to accomplish a lot, along with partner organizations, and assist businesses in Marquette County with their talent needs. Recently I came across a report from Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM) titled “Business Leaders’ Insights: Michigan’s Talent Forecast.” This report is interesting and confirms that Marquette County needs to continue to focus on developing talent.

First, a bit of background on Business Leaders for Michigan. BLM’s work is concentrated on developing strategy, raising awareness, advocating policy and championing initiatives that grow the state’s economy. Their goal is to help Michigan become a top ten state and they believe that is impacted by Michigan’s ability to supply talent with the right education, training and skills to fill high-paying, high-demand jobs.

According to this report, in the short term, Michigan has the necessary talent to meet demand for high wage jobs with few expectations such as in skilled trade fields. However, demographic trends show an aging workforce, a shrinking talent pipeline and low educational attainment which will continue to threaten our ability to meet future demand. The seven steps below are what the report suggests must be done to help Michigan become a top ten state for jobs, personal income and healthy economy.

  1. Provide a more cohesive, competitive and consistent economic development strategy to grow more high-paying jobs.
  2. Support high standards and aligned assessments for student learning, so young people are prepared to continue their education and training.
  3. Raise awareness of the need for more talent with education and training beyond high school to encourage students to continue their career preparation.
  4. Increase enrollments by marketing to both in-state and out-of-state students to fill the talent gap created by a declining population of young adults.
  5. Provide students, parents, and adult workers with the necessary data to make informed decisions about scholastic and career paths to help better match talent supply with job demand.
  6. Increase collaboration between higher education institutions and business to provide more effective school to work transitions.
  7. Increase performance funding for higher education institutions to make college more affordable.

Also outlined, some facts of interest:

  • This report finds that between now and 2018, Michigan needs 125 more plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, 232 more industrial machinery mechanics and 275 more electricians each year.
  • Jobs requiring a high school diploma are down 19,000 and jobs requiring an associate’s degree or higher are up 21,000.
  • 66% of all jobs that require a high school diploma plus an apprenticeship pay above average wages.

The “Working Here” page on our website includes information on exploring careers, resources for hiring employees, Job of the Week, the Hands on Michigan website (a campaign aimed at encouraging career paths in the skilled trades), the most recent talent network newsletter and much more. For links to all of this information visit www.marquette.org and click Working Here under Live & Work.

Amy Clickner, CEO, writes a bi-weekly column for the Mining Journal.

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