Smart Workforce Solutions
Archive for the 'Training' Category
The Joplin Area Missouri Employer Committee invites safety managers and human resource professionals to its next seminar titled “OSHA 101.”
Mark Banden, a compliance assistance specialist with the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, is the featured speaker. Banden will speak about working with OSHA, OSHA compliance assistance and give an introduction to safety and health management programs. Daniel Stark, program manager of the Missouri Division of Labor Standards, also will give a presentation on the Consultation Program.
The seminar will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon on April 3 at the Missouri Career Center in Joplin. The center is located at 730 S. Wall Ave.
The non-refundable registration fee of $20.00 covers a continental breakfast and all seminar materials. Checks should be made out to Missouri Employer Committee and mailed to the Missouri Career Center by March 27.
Additional sponsors include the Missouri Career Center, Missouri Department of Economic Development’s Division of Workforce Development, and the Workforce Investment Board of Southwest Missouri.
For additional information or to request special accommodations, call Shirley Click at 417-629-3000.
Comments (0)Missouri Southern State University is offering a leadership skills course that begins in January. Titled “Leadership Development for Today’s Quality Organizations,” the course will take place on Thursday evenings starting Jan. 24 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration at MSSU. The course ends on March 13.
The 2007 Workforce Summit of Southwest Missouri was held in Joplin on April 4th. Surveys of the event indicate that the Summit was well-received. Participants found the content timely and engaging with strategies that are relevant and useful.
A panel on Workforce Competitiveness kicked off the Summit event. The panel featured Rob O’Brian of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, Rod Nunn from the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, and Roger Wagner from Crowder College.
Jasen Jones, Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board, showcased new innovations for Workforce Competitivess. The presentation included a demo of the interactive Alchemy Training SISTEM, occupational planning and work readiness assessments from WorkKeys, web-based applicant screening through the Virtual Video Interview system, new talent development strategies with industry sector consortiums and cross-state partnerships underway with neighboring workforce regions in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
Pictured above is Ray Uhalde, the keynote speaker for the Summit. Ray’s keynote provided a thought-provoking blueprint to rethink education’s role to prepare students to thrive in a global economy. Ray is the Director of the Workforce Strategies Group at the National Center on Education and the Economy.
Copies of the presentation slides are available for download as a PDF. Click here to download the presentation by Jasen Jones on New Tools for Workforce Competitiveness. Click here to download Ray Uhalde’s keynote presentation, Tough Chocies or Tough Times on the New Commission for American Skills in the Workplace. Both documents contain slides from the presentations converted to PDF files. Podcasts of audio presentations from the Summit will be posted soon in our Podcast section of WorkforceZone.com.
The increasingly-popular Alchemy Training SISTEM, a powerful workforce training solution available to businesses through the Missouri Career Center, underwent an upgrade recently to add new training modules by popular demand. Modules on Customer Service, Business Etiquette, Attitude/Motivation, and Goal-Setting are among many new highlights in the soft skill training offerings through SISTEM.
The new Basics of Customer Service module helps trainees understand the importance of good customer service through six key elements needed to improve a customer’s experience. Learners identify specific methods to provide exceptional customer service and processes to effectively handle a customer complaint.
An entry-level Business Etiquette module covers the importance of making a good impression through appropriate professional dress standards and good hygeine for men and women in work environments. The training helps participants understand the impact of body language when meeting new people as well. Building on the first module, a Professional-Level Business Etiquette module addresses customary behavior when meeting new people and expected protocol for conducting meetings and making calls for work. The module also covers appropriate behavior for dining with business associates.
Defining attitude and the benefits of a good attitude at work lead off the Positive Attitude and Motivation module. By understanding the different ways people are motivated, trainees can identify factors to influence their ability to motivate and modify behaviors to create an atmosphere of positive change in the workplace.
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 4th
Continental Catering Center
2728 N. Rangeline Road [Map]
Joplin, MO
The future of Southwest Missouri’s economic prosperity is in its workforce. The Workforce Summit of Southwest Missouri, is a half-day conference officially set for April 4th, to debut trends and workforce improvement solutions for business executives and community leaders.
The theme for this year’s event centers on Workforce Innovation as a Competitive Asset. The event is sponsored by the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) of Southwest Missouri and showcases the potential for the region to thrive economically as businesses and communities team up to enhance the skill and productivity of the workforce.
The WIB has tapped Ray Uhalde to provide a thought-provoking keynote address on a blueprint to rethink education’s role to prepare students to thrive in a global economy. As Director of the Workforce Strategies Group at the National Center on Education and the Economy, Mr. Uhalde brings employment and training insights from his 15 years as a senior executive with the U.S. Department of Labor and his role in developing the current framework for the one-stop career center system.
The event is planned for 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4th at the Continental Catering Center (located behind Granny Shaffer’s Restaurant), 2728 N. Rangeline Road, between Joplin and Webb City. More information will be released here at www.workforcezone.com.
The Missouri Career Center sets the bar high for innovative ways to help its business customers succeed and the region’s economy to reach its potential. Southwest Missouri’s Workforce Investment Board (WIB) sets the goals and designs the strategies behind the scenes to make it happen. A key accomplishment for the WIB in late 2006 is its entry into the National Business Learning Partnership (NBLP), a collaboration of protégé and mentor pairings to advance the quality and innovation of workforce programs across the U.S.
The Southwest Missouri WIB was one of only 21 top protégé groups selected nationwide to participate in NBLP. Jasen Jones and Tracy Lemmons represented Southwest Missouri recently at a kickoff training and matching event in Denver, Colorado. As part of the peer-to-peer matching of protégé WIBs with mentoring WIBs, Southwest Missouri was paired with the WIB of South Central Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA.
The Pennsylvania group will consult Southwest Missouri on ways to take the WIB to the next level of excellence and impact. The project’s workplan includes consulting and mentoring efforts related to use of Industry Consortium outreach, franchising standards for one-stop career centers, new data intelligence tools, and ways to collaborate across neighboring state lines to improve the Four-State area labor market as a whole.
Officials from the South Central Pennsylvania WIB are tentatively slated to visit Joplin February 5-7. In addition to collaborating with key staff locally, the Pennslyvania group will be meeting with prospective businesses in the Joplin and Monett areas interested in forming industry sector consortium groups along with members of the newly re-organized Four State Health Professions Consortium. Stay in touch with the latest on NBLP by visiting the WIB’s website at ww.workforcezone.net.
The Youth Outreach Workforce Partnership program has begun its second year of providing the “soft skills” training identified as missing in today’s workforce by a survey conducted by the Southwest Region Workforce Investment Board. These skills include: 1) getting a job (application do’s & don’ts, interview behavior & appearance), 2) customer service (greetings, thanking the customer, making change), and 3) keeping a job (good work habits, avoiding tardiness &
absenteeism, conflict resolution, interacting with team members & supervisors, being a good employee).
Able Manufacturing & Assembly, LLC, Southwest Missouri Bank, JCPenney, Inc, and Rock-Tenn Ave, St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Cardinal Scale, General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice and Vatterott College were all instrumental in the partnership with the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, the Missouri Career Center, and the WIB.
The students in the program are given a tour of each facility followed by a seminar on one aspect of workforce skills that is particularly important to that company. Response from the students and businesses has been overwhelmingly positive. These businesses and several others have agreed to give a preferential interview to any applicant who successfully completes this program. All the applicant has to do is attach a copy of the Certificate of Achievement to their application. A copy of the certificate is available to view on the chamber website.
The Chamber encourages all of its member businesses to consider joining them in this Employer Interview Pledge and support these individuals in their attempts to become significantly qualified to join today’s workforce. Susan Adams, Able Manufacturing & Assembly, LLC, is the Chair of the committee. This year’s program runs through March, 2007. If you would like more information about this program or are interested in becoming a participating business, please contact Susan at 623.3060. Cary Beasley can be reached by phone at 624.4150.
Seed capital to launch the program in 2005 was provided by a grant from the Workforce Investment Board. The WIB is involved this year in helping organize the program link to the Missouri Career Center. Financial support for the Chamber now comes through corporate sponsorships. The Presenting Sponsor is General Mills Bakeries and Foodservice. Gold sponsors include: Cardinal Scale, LaBarge, Inc. - Electronics Division, Vatterott College and EaglePicher Technologies, LLC.