Five Reasons You Need Job Training
Job seekers should take heart because millions of great jobs could be on the way. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the over 78 million baby boomer’s who constitute more than a third of our workforce are now beginning to retire. Since boomer’s have had far fewer children than their parents, they are expected to leave a surplus of jobs to the generation that follows. In other words, those needing better employment are about to be outnumbered by job openings.
Sounds great–but there is a catch. According to Joshua Zeitz, a contributing editor at American Heritage, baby boomer’s are as a whole more educated than their children. While boomer’s were hard at work, they left little time to prepare young people to succeed them. The result? Many employers who want to hire young Americans find them ill-equipped for the highly-skilled work of their parents.
#1: Businesses complain of worker shortage
“We have employers who are having a hard time finding people across all industries,” says Roy Krause, CEO of Spherion Corporation. Few people can feel the pulse of U.S. employers like Krause, who runs a nation-wide temporary employment and staffing company. According to Krause, the absence of qualified younger applicants is contributing to an emerging pattern among employers of rehiring retired boomer’s as temps or consultants.
But younger people are not just lacking skills to fill jobs vacated by retirees, says AT&T executive Randall Stephenson–they are also unprepared for new high-tech jobs created by changing technology. Stephenson recently announced AT&T’s inability to find enough qualified American candidates for all the outsourced jobs that it had hoped to return to U.S. soil. Addressing the complaint that foreigners get jobs because they accept less pay, Stephenson counted that foreign professionals are more competent. “I know you don’t like hearing that, but that’s the way it is.”
#2: Companies work to recruit and train laborers
Azim Premji, recently ranked the world’s 21st most wealthy person, also chided the U.S. earlier this year for failing to address its lack of talented workers in the high-tech industry. Like Stephenson, Premji plans to invest in the U.S. by strategically bringing foreign operations to the states. He then hopes to partner with nearby universities to recruit employees, believing that strong ties with schools and students are vital for a forward-thinking company.
For some companies, though, the need for hirable workers is so immediate that they must take matters into their own hands, devising their own apprenticeship-style training programs. Though apprenticeships are common in union trades, they are becoming so necessary among private companies that they sometimes become an industry-recognized practice.
Take the shipping industry, for instance. Gregory Lewis, who analyzes shipping for the New York Credit Suisse office, admits that worker shortfalls have forced many shipping companies to open their own schools.
#3: Unfilled job vacancies hurt business
In the absence of skilled U.S. candidates, international businesses can often rely on foreign workers, and some companies have the luxury of funding their own education and recruitment programs. But what about those employers that are still without workable strategies for attracting new employees?
Such companies face numerous difficulties. Consider, for instance, the story of the Hamill Manufacturing plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Despite having a sufficiently large facility to complete work orders on time, the company has stacks of back orders. Hamill executive Jeff Kelly explains that there just aren’t enough skilled laborers to operate the available machinery. As unfulfilled work orders continue to mount, Kelly wonders why younger people aren’t getting the needed training.
Though manufacturing work may not top many fourth-graders’ “When I grow up, I want to be” list, it typically provides good pay, benefits, and the promise of a stable career.
#4: Experts look to immigrants for help
Given the overwhelming number of expected job vacancies, many social agencies are scrambling to find and develop the skills of anyone who will listen. Roger Herman of the Herman Group, a strategic planning firm in Greensboro, N.C., expects U.S. companies to look more and more to immigrants for help filling job openings.
Many experts and activists agree that gaining the attention of immigrants is an important part of the solution. Immigrants maintain huge communities in important urban centers like Southern California, sometimes composing over half of their cities’ populations. By force of their numbers alone, they must recruited by local companies needing skilled labor.
Plus, immigrants’ multicultural backgrounds and bilingualism make them increasingly attractive to businesses that in today’s global economy find themselves needing more diverse teams. And yet, a recent report by the Migration Policy Institute in Washington DC suggests that, like native-born workers, immigrants are largely unprepared to meet the needs of today’s employers.
#5: Businesses need skilled workers now
While some experts and employers express pessimism about the increasing want for skilled workers, this can be an exciting moment of opportunity for those who gain the necessary training. According to Arlene Dohm, a Bureau of Labor Statistics economist in Washington D.C., technical and scientific jobs are the hardest for companies to fill.
As job seekers consider their options, training in science, math, technology, and skilled labor deserve special notice. Such classes may not be the most popular, but when it comes to finding a good job, they are likely to deliver.
The U.S. Department of Labor suggests that retirements may leave the greatest need for pilots, special education teachers, welfare workers, postal clerks, and police supervisors among other professions. Still, all industries are beginning to feel the pinch of insufficient talent. One survey by the National Federation of Independent Business suggests that 25 percent of businesses cannot fill at least one position. From universities to manufacturers to hospitals to tech service companies, everyone seems to need more qualified help.
The good news is those willing to adapt to employers’ needs by furthering their education should enjoy unprecedented odds at securing desirable employment, advancement, and promotion.
On the Job Training in IT
With the onset of recession and economic slowdown, most of the companies today are interested to recruit those candidates who have undergone some kind of training or have some work experience in their field. Just like the popularity of ready-to-eat food, today ready-to-work professionals are in high demand. This cuts down on the initial cost on the company to make the professional productive. Most of the sectors need industry-ready professionals. This has led to an increased demand for on-the-job training, especially for those looking for a career in the IT industry.
Though there are many institutes offering such training, how do you ensure that you are getting the most for your money? The first thing that most people think about when considering IT training is how much will it cost. Obviously cost is important but the most important thing is the training itself. An on-the-job training provides knowledge and skills essential to the full and adequate performance of the job. It must relate to the introduction of new technologies, introduction to new production or service procedures, work place literacy and other appropriate purposes. It not only gives you added confidence on the job but also helps in improving your chances of increased responsibility.
One such company providing on-the-job, career oriented, training programs is ‘Spectrum’. Spectrum is an IT company based in Cochin which offers various IT related services and solutions to clients in India as well as overseas. It also provides on-the job training in a real time, multi location work environment. Here the trainees are provided with the required technical infrastructure and tools that equip them to get the real time feel of what happens in the industry. Many companies do not have the required infrastructure facilities and tools required in order to meet the demands in the industry. There the trainee is not exposed to the state-of-the-art equipments thus limiting himself to the course material. Spectrum gives more importance to the practical training than limiting them to the course material. For example at Spectrum each student is provided with a router whereas in other institutes a router is shared by all the trainees in a batch. There are many institutes where the student does not even get to see or work on a router. They work in simulated environment. Since IT is such a fast moving industry, it’s critical that the organization providing the training uses the latest tools and the most up-to-date information. It provides an opportunity for trainees to get a feel of the real working environment.
This can be better explained with the help of common everyday experience. In order to get a driving license, one has to pass the test. For this the driving school provides training in their vehicle, which is customized. Most of the time, they drive during off peak hours on not so busy roads (many times it is on a one-way). This is a very good example of a controlled environment in IT industry. But after getting the license, when the person tries to drive on the main roads, he/she starts experiencing the real time difficulties in driving a vehicle. This is known as the real time environment. There is a wide difference between the controlled environment and real time environment. A trainee who had taken the entire training in controlled environment is never ready to face the real time challenges.
This is where the price difference comes. To create or to replicate a real time environment, a fair amount of investment is needed. Such an investment is not needed when providing a training in controlled environment. That is why, some training programs are slightly costlier than others. But if you enquire and analyze, they provide value for money.
To know more about the training and certification programs provided by Spectrum, visit www.spectrum.net.in or email to hradmin@spectrum.net.in You can also call at 0848-4082111
The Learning Initiative: Creating the Value in On-the-Job Training
Most business owners and executives know the value of training their workforce. However, in our time-compressed and fiscally-challenged world, more often than not, formal classroom training occurs infrequently, and companies are resorting more frequently to on-the-job training. If your organization needs to create just-in-time training because someone needs to be able to perform the job now, think about the following scenario:
While I was standing in line at a fast food restaurant, I observed the following interaction:
Rosa, who clearly was new to her job, was being given the following instructions by Robert, another employee, on how to ring up a special order—”Press number three, hit no onions, subtract medium drink, add medium chocolate shake.”
While explaining, Robert was standing in front of the register, hitting the buttons. Then he said, “Got that?”
Rosa said, hesitantly, “Yes,” and I knew, at that moment, that she had no hope of replicating that sequence for the next “special order,” nor did she understand what Robert had just done.
How many times is on-the-job training performed in this way in countless businesses?
The sequence often goes like this:
Trainer explains how to perform steps while actually performing the tasks Learner observes from a distance Trainer asks if learner understands Learner almost always replies affirmatively
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Authors Jim Caple and Roger Buckley, in their book One-to-One Training and Coaching Skills, call this method, “Sitting by Nellie.” The thought is that simply by sitting (or standing) and observing, learning will occur by some form of “psychological osmosis.” It assumes that just because someone is proficient in doing a task, he or she will be good at teaching it to others.
Not only is this usually not the case, but it also assumes that all learners learn the same way. The reality is that there are multiple learning styles, and most people have preferred ways of learning. Think about how you would like to learn a new software program. Would you like to read the accompanying manual? Would you prefer to take a lecture class where the computer screen was projected onto a large screen for everyone to see what the trainer was doing, or would you prefer to load the software onto your computer and work through it by trial and error? Each of these methods uses a different learning style, and the best training utilizes a combination of these to appeal to the broadest base of learners.
It was pretty obvious from the look on Rosa’s face at the fast food restaurant that she was confused, and this is exactly what happens too often in most workplaces when on-the-job training is done without any thought to the best way to teach something to another person.
Ways to Improve On the Job Training
The next time you are asked to create on the job training, consider the following hints:
Explain the “What” and the “Why”—Take time to explain the job or task at hand. For example, suppose that you are training a new assistant in your office to do medical coding for a group of physicians. You know that if the assistant does not input the correct code for each procedure, the laboratory will reject the paperwork and the patient will not be able to get the procedure, or you will have to spend time on the telephone correcting the error. In this case, taking time, upfront, to explain not only what must be done to enter the data properly but the reasons you are asking her to do it in a certain way, could go a long way toward explaining the context of the job or task and the consequences of doing it improperly.
If you have time, you could provide some examples of times when the coding had not been done properly; examples or stories help solidify the learning. You might also do the explaining by asking questions rather than telling. This type of training engages learners since it is really a dialogue rather than a one-way monologue where the learner has to listen and remember.
Now Teach the “How”—Research tells us that trainees learn only 16 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they see, 50 percent of what they see and are told, but 90 percent of what they get to practice doing. Additionally, in order to accommodate the various learning styles, you should provide time for observing, reflecting and doing.
In the case of the physician’s office, the person doing the training could enter a patient’s data and the proper codes while the trainee was observing. In order to take it farther than “Sitting By Nellie,” though, we would add the steps of reflecting and doing. Reflecting is the opportunity for the learner to comment upon what she is observing. It also provides the learner with time for every step in the task to sink in, and everything should be less of a blur than had she simply observed each step in the process.
Finally, the trainee should have an opportunity to practice doing the task while the trainer observes. The caution here is that the trainee will be slow to perform the steps since there will be someone “looking over her shoulder,” but it is a good way for the trainer to observe each step. The trainer should provide feedback—both what the trainee did well and what could be improved—at the end of the task—in this case, the finalization of the medical form. If an error needs to be corrected immediately, of course, the trainer will want to do so, but if it is not critical to the successful completion of the task, the trainer should wait until the task is finished and then suggest ways to do it differently. After two or three practice tries, the trainer and the learner should have a brief conversation summarizing the “what” and the “why” and allowing the learner to ask any final questions she may have at this point.
If you follow the steps outlined above, on the job training can be a very effective way of learning to do what is required on the job. Just don’t try to get it perfect the first time—especially if there is a line up of hungry people in front of you!
The original article on On The Job Training can be found on Human Resources IQ.