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South Carolina Workforce
Development Symposium 2017Career Pathways: Business
Services Track
February 9, 2017 – 1:30-2:30 PM
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Welcome!
Gretchen Sullivan
Senior Consultant
Maher & Maher
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About Maher & Maher• Talent development and
change management
consultants
– Nexus of workforce development, economic development, and education
• Expertise:
– Strategic planning and facilitation
– Industry sector strategies and career pathways
– Systems assessment and redesign
– Technical assistance and training
• Primary practice areas:
– States, regional areas, and community colleges
– Federal government and NGOs
– Private sector
• 29 years in operation
• Self-certified small business
• Headquartered in NJ
– Office in Washington DC
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Our Agenda
• Introduction to Industry Sector-Driven Career Pathways
– Features, goals and benefits, key partners, development summary
• Pathways-Focused Business Services Planning and Delivery
– Industry partnerships and employer engagement, staffing and organization, use of data and business intelligence, employer-driven training design
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Career Pathways:
Introduction and Strategic Framework
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What are career pathways?
Integrated education, skills, and credential attainment sequences
that:
• Align to skill needs of targeted sectors and are employer-driven
• Articulate the full range of K-12, adult
education, and post-secondary education assets: No “dead
ends,” multiple on- and off-ramps
• Embed “stackable” industry-recognized credentials
• Make work a central context for learning
• Accelerate educational and career advancement through
assessment of prior learning, integrated “basic” education and
technical training, and other strategies
• Provide supports at transition points
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The Value of Pathways• Career pathways provide a
framework for building
comprehensive education and
training systems where all partners –
education, workforce development,
economic development, human
services, along with employers
(including industry partnerships) and
other stakeholders – come together
to design and deliver the full
spectrum of education and skills
training needed for careers in in-
demand industries.
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KentuckianaWorks
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Colorado
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Strategic Framework for Pathways Work
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Common vision…common goals
Educational Systems
Economic Development
Workforce System
Targeted Growth Sectors
The Talent Pipeline – Workforce as an asset for regional prosperity
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Industry Sector Partnership Model
1. Places business at
center
2. Work with industry as
partners
3. Aligned
community partners
4. Workforce
system
as central player,
convener
5. Regionally-focused
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Policy, Programs, and Investments Align to Sector Opportunities
Assessment
CaseManagement
K-12 VocTech Ed
Bridge Education
Post-Secondary
Training Education
K-12 Students & Other Youth
Dislocated Workers
Pre-apprentices / Apprentices
Veterans
Career-Changers
Upskillers
Others
Integrated, Sector-Driven
Career Development Solutions
Quantify Sector-Based
Demand
Aggregate
Supply
Talent Pools
Business and Information Technology Services
Health Care
Construction
Transportation,Logistics, and
Wholesale Trade
Diversified Manufacturing
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Questions? Comments?
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Career Pathways:
Features, Benefits, and Development
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Sector Strategies and Career Pathways:
A Mutually Beneficial Alliance
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Career Pathways: Who Benefits?
• Employers– Talent pipeline with the right
skills• In low unemployment,
employers need more people into the qualified labor pool
– Retention
– Succession/”backfilling”
• Job Seekers/Workers– Prepared with needed
competencies and credentials
– Opportunities for career advancement
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Career Pathways Have Two Key
Moving Parts• Employer-driven program development
– Employers (and data) drive design
• Education and workforce systems change
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Career Pathways at Their Best
• Align multiple programs to make it easier for all
individuals, including those who are underprepared,
to access, progress, and complete pathways to
industry-recognized credentials and family
supporting careers
• Include the following key features:
– Multiple entry and exit points
– Sequenced, modularized, and contextualized coursework
that aligns with stackable credentials and jobs
– Articulation of each educational level to the next, with
embedded attainment of industry-recognized credentials
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Career Pathways Offer:
• Alignment to “real-world” occupational
progressions and forecasted talent needs
• Employer-driven, work-based learning
• Flexible scheduling
• Opportunities for acceleration
• Extensive supports and counseling services,
including navigation that help participants
identify and access the most efficient routes to
credential attainment and careers (often through
career and course mapping)
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Integrated Pathways Models
• Do not make students wait until they finish Adult Basic Education or developmental education before entering a career/technical program– Students learn basic and vocational skills at the same time
(often in the same course)
– Feature work-based essential and technical skills development shaped by employers
• Examples:• Accelerating Opportunity
• I-BEST Program (Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges)
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How do you build career pathways?
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Employer Roles in Career Pathways
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Pathways Models Built by Sector
Partnerships• Workforce Alliance (South Central Kansas)
– Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth
– Regional Manufacturing Council on Career and
Technical Education (RMCTE)
– Preparation for Advanced Career Employment
System (PACES)
– Accelerating Opportunity Kansas
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Pathways Models Built by Sector
Partnerships
• Workforce Development Board of South Central
Wisconsin
– Built out pathways fully integrated with region’s sector work
– Invests training resources only in “driver industries and
sectors”
– Reorganized staffing for Career Centers, particularly
around sector-focused WorkSmart Sector Academies and
through services delivered by specialized navigators who
provide counseling, supports, and other services needed
to assist with retention, completion, credential attainment,
and positive program outcomes
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How are you working with employer
partners to develop pathways?
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Career Pathways
In Business Services Planning and
Delivery
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Career Pathways & Sector Strategies
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Fill job orders
Training provided across
occupations, skill levels (often
employer/industry-paid)
Place job candidates
Focus expanded to worker retention,
advancement issues within company/
industry (i.e. career pathways)
Education/training/services
loosely informed by employer
needs through survey or one-off
engagement
Education/training at scale designed
in partnership with employers
One-to-one relationship One-to-many (sector strategies)
Sectors and Pathways = New Way of
Doing Business Engagement
Transformational relationshipTransactional relationship
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Overview: Key Elements
• Unified regional business services organization
and solutions
• Industry partnerships and employer engagement
• Use of LMI/data and business intelligence
• Employers drive education/training design and
delivery
• Connection to job seeker service
planning/delivery
• Measuring impact/results from employers’
perspectives and continuous improvement
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Key Ideas & Strategies
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Unified Regional Business Services
• Regional, multi-partner vs. local and single agency
• Organization, staffing, and expertise by focus sector
• Prioritization of mapping and filling priority pathways
in focus industries
• Pathways-relevant business solutions beyond labor
exchange (worker retention and advancement,
work-based learning, etc.)
• Coordinated customer relationship management and
brokering approach/system
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Industry Partnerships and
Employer Engagement• Building sector-based employer partnerships
– Critical pathways in each industry
– Aggregating and developing solutions for
workforce challenges across multiple companies
– Focus on deepening and sustaining relationships
• Coordinated employer outreach and
engagement
– Eliminating multiple “door-knocks”
– Customer relationship management
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Use of LMI/Data and Business
Intelligence• Business services staff fully versed in industry
LMI and workforce needs
• LMI is customizable and focused on target
sectors, and of value to businesses seeking
larger trend data
• LMI used to identify and validate typical
occupational progressions within and across
pathways by industry
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Employers Drive Education and
Training Design and Delivery• Sector partners engaged to identify key pathways
and discuss priorities for skill development and training modalities
• Work-based learning models are prioritized (Registered Apprenticeship, OJT, customized training, etc.)
• Training is compressed, open entry/exit to meet companies’ onboarding and pipeline needs
• Investments are prioritized to industry-endorsed training models and credentials
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Connection to Job Seeker Service
Planning and Delivery • Intentional linkages between business services
staff and job seeker/worker services staff
• Information-sharing and capacity-building:
– LMI/business intelligence
– Industry trends
– Occupational projections
– Pathways opportunities
– Skills, credentials, and experience in demand
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Measuring Impacts and Results
and Continuous Improvement• What results do employers want to see? Ask.
– Better candidate screening and suitability, reduced turnover, skill and credential acquisition, bottom-line results
• Long-view talent pipeline planning and management
– Short-, medium-, and long-term
• What works and what doesn’t
– Be prepared to “stop, start, continue, and adapt”
– Agility is critical
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Pathways from the Employer Customer’s
Perspective
• Employers’ talent needs, challenges, and obstacles drive solutions
• Partner training, education, andresources aligned and coordinated around customized solutions
• Duplication is eliminated and investments are streamlined
• “Hassle” is reduced/eliminated
• Industry-knowledgeable staff
• Seamless and defined career pathways to drive their talent pipelines
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On-the-Ground Examples
• Northern KY Workforce Investment Board
– Business Services Team
– Sector-based orientations
• Ohio’s Business Resource Network
– Central PoC for each employer determined through
the broad “network”
– Interview process to determine needs
– Generation of a brokered “solutions package”
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Table Discussions and Report-Out:
Your ideas and next steps?
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Career Pathways Resources
• USDOL/ETA’s Career Pathways Toolkit
• Funding Career Pathways: A Federal Funding
Toolkit for State and Local/Regional Career
Pathway Partnerships
• Framework for Measuring Career Pathways
Innovation
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Thank You!
Gretchen Sullivan
Senior Consultant
Maher & Maher
203.859.5428