Updated post: 2022-06-16
When you look at the number of job openings in the state, it is astounding at how many businesses and organizations are desperately seeking employees.
You then look at the unemployment rate in New Hampshire, which now stands at 3%, and you find a major disconnect. There are not enough employable people in our state to fill all the vacancies that currently exist.
That is where workforce development comes into play.
What is workforce development and what approaches does NHTI take to identify the different challenges?
In our collaboration with business and industry, NHTI’s workforce development identifies the critical employment challenges that exist. We address those challenges by engaging underrepresented and underemployed populations in skill development and career-track training.
We also work with individual employers to assist them in staff development training to intentionally prepare current employees for promotion and career ladder advancement. Both of these approaches help address the current workforce situation.
Workforce development spends a significant amount of time creating training opportunities and coordinating the logistics associated with building their infrastructure. For all that time and effort, the biggest challenge is getting individuals to enroll in the training.
Our current approach to overcome these challenges is to:
- Establish unique pieces of training that are not generally offered in other locations.
- Share selected training opportunities with our CCSNH workforce partners.
- Work closely with industry professional associations.
- Generate employer-driven interest in developing apprenticeship opportunities where individuals are involved in instructional training and on-the-job training while being paid.
For the last point, we work directly with ApprenticeshipNH along with business and industry associations. This approach also helps employers retain employees as the employers heavily invest in the education and training of the apprentices and, in turn, the apprentices agree to remain with the company over an extended period of time.
4 Skills to Improve the Quality and Relevance of Workforce Development
These are just a few of the challenges that exist in our state and in our workforce development world.
Creativity, flexibility, visibility, and resolve are key to meeting our mission to “…improve the quality and labor market relevance of workforce investment, education, and economic development.”
NHTI’s workforce development opportunities for your business.
For more information you can send an email to Kathy J. Taylor, our Director of Workforce Development and Community Education ([email protected]), or visit our special section at www.nhti.edu/workforce-development.
