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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing
They are talking about this topic: Needs & Challenges in Continuing Education
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers are interested in more extensive partnering with MnSCU on incumbent training programs. They are in need of training and certificate programs that are customized, on-site, and flexible. Ideally, this type of training could be offered without interrupting the production process.
| "I want to comment to manufacturers that within workforce development there's an increased view of short-term credentials as being a very effective use of public money. And I know that you guys know about fast-track programs, and you've talked about those. That's one way of getting a lower skilled person those short-term credentials to meet the needs of the manufacturer or other employers, and then you can go from there. But that is something that is in the forefront right now." | Northwest |
| "Having those programs that we need on-site is really helpful. But it is also very, very costly. So, it's good if you can find somebody who comes out of the college to do some of that." | Northwest |
| "You have somebody that has a good IQ, but they've never been exposed to basic computer skills. They get about four weeks into training, and they get extremely frustrated because they can't navigate the system. And, so, that is one thing that we've talked about—how do we continue to spend work time? Sometimes, we spend more work time just helping people navigate computer systems than actually learning to fulfill the roles that they're in." | Northwest |
| "Really quality people, maybe they've been a mail carrier for years, and they retire from that job, and they come over here, and think, 'Well, I've lived in the area for years. I've got a good personality. I can do this.' But they just can't get through the entry path, because they can't navigate on the computer. They get very discouraged. So that is just one profile of an older-than-average candidate. And maybe that's a problem for the older employees than it is for the brand-new out of high school employees. Because we are seeing the computer savvy-ness from the Apple platform coming out of our schools, and this is really good. But I think the middle-aged folks, they've got the IQ, but they just can't navigate. And it just doesn't work well for our environment." | Northwest |
| "For our entry-level operators, we're finding our biggest hurdle in the skill level is just the candidate being able to complete the application one hundred percent. Some can't even complete the application. All of our employee resources are online, and our applications are online. We have people that are talking to the mouse and tapping the computer screen or double-clicking the wrong thing. So, at that level, there are two groups. There are those new, young people that are experts at it because they've got a Smartphone, an iPad, and an iPod. But then there are employees that have been at our company for 30 years, and they don't even want to walk within 50 feet of the computer station." |
Northwest |
| "We currently go through the Employer's Association of the Cities, and I've been through several of their training groups. If, locally, we could get that skill here it would be a benefit to all of us." | Northwest |
| "I'm a broken record, but Excel is a huge thing for us. Once they're in the business, and they're involved in sales, and they want to move to another department—many of the other areas require macros, pivot tables, just basic Excel skills. And we're bringing [MnSCU college] in to do training on that in increments. The incumbent workforce, once they move into other positions that require business analysis or metrics analysis, they're going to have to use Excel and possibly other tools, too. I know there are other tools, but Excel is kind of the leading one for us." | Northwest |
| "I think it would be the leadership development, team building, and those kinds of skills. To get the attitude from 'everything is about me,' and instead to see how it fits into the big picture." | Northwest |
| "We have very long-tenured employees at our company. The average is about 15 or 16 years. So, with our maintenance department, we've got folks that really have none of the electronic and automated controls background. They're used to older machines where you change the bearings and do those types of things. And now you bring in a new million-dollar machine, and it is 100 percent computer operated with all the bells and whistles. When it goes down, and they're sent to fix it, they don't know where to start. So, we've got various levels of skill sets in our maintenance department. But the ideal world would be if some machine goes down—or there is a call for help—that they can troubleshoot the electronic components, the electrical side of it, as well as the mechanical side of it, and be able to take care of the issue. But a lot of those folks are missing those upper-end skills right now." | Northwest |
| "As a small manufacturer, we don't necessarily have the resources to develop a curriculum of our own or to work with the college in larger groups. What I would like to see is the opportunity to send a small group of individuals, or maybe just one or two individuals, to continuing education types of things. It'd need to happen in a way that it doesn't impact the work day tremendously." | Northwest |