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A panel of local employers engaged with an audience of 417 on how they are identifying job applicants and finding ways to overcome the skills gap to fill open positions at the 2012 State of St. Louis Workforce event on August 8th. The panelist along with the audience members responded to the results of the fourth annual workforce research study developed by St. Louis Community College. This year's research study had four components: environmental scan of the St. Louis economy, employer survey of 1,200+ regional businesses, in-depth case studies of six local employers as well as a survey and focus groups with recent community college graduates in the region.
"Employers must play a role in training new and existing workers with the skills needed to compete in the fast-paced global economy. In this year's report, 76 percent of employers said they hired less experienced workers and trained them with the skills they needed," said Rod Nunn, vice chancellor for economic development and workforce solutions for St. Louis Community College, who moderated the panel discussion at the August 8th event. "The skills gap is one of the region's most important economic challenges, and I was pleased to hear from four employers today who are making important investments to get the right employees, with the right skills, in the right positions."
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Insights from six case studies in this year's workforce report shows how top regional employers are finding new and creative ways to fill open positions with qualified applications with both technical and soft skills.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Train current employees so they advance their skills and move up within the organization. During the past ten years, Bethesda Health Group has reduced turnover for certified nursing assistants from 100 to less than 25 percent by offering excellent educational benefits that focus on developing talent. Many CNAs progress on their career path to licensed practical nurses and registered nurses. Edward Jones looks for experienced professionals and keeps their skills at a high level with a comprehensive learning management system - on-the-job training (70%), coaching/mentoring (20%) and course training (10%).
- Develop a peer-to-peer training program: Gateway EDI due to rapid growth has hiring challenges in keys areas such as information technology and client service. Company's peer-to-peer training program improves skills needed for success and reinforces the importance of continuous improvement.
- Focus on selling the advantages of living in the St. Louis region to applicants from outside the area: Boeing faces challenges finding engineering talent and often has to recruit from outside the region. The company has created effective marketing campaigns that attract and keep younger workers in the St. Louis area.
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Conversations with local employers As part of this year's research study, we added a new element to help us understand what's going on locally with unemployment. We asked six employers to describe their "ideal employee." This question may seem simple, but it gets right at the issue - does our region have the right type of workers with the skills they need to succeed?
Many common themes emerged from these interviews such as:
- The importance of soft skills was consistently raised
- The list of skills ranked as critically important included: communication, collaboration, adaptability, critical thinking, problem solving, and mature work ethic
- What separates a "good applicant" from an "excellent hire" is higher order soft skills: i.e. social intelligence
- A technically competent new hire with strong soft skills is much more likely to reach their full potential with employer.
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