Displaced workers encouraged to tap into training
Businesses closing and factories shutting down is, unfortunately, nothing new to workers in southwestern Pennsylvania. However, displaced workers may discover stepping outside their comfort zone to seek job training in order to change careers is a good option.
Adult education leaders in the region are tapping into the oil and gas industry to train employees for what they say are in-demand jobs.
According to Dr. Edward Jeffreys, executive director of Fayette County Career and Technical Institute in Georges Twp., drilling and natural gas companies like Chesapeake and Range Resources are in need of skilled labor, and it would be beneficial for the school to give the companies good, loyal, dedicated workforce.
“The shale jobs will be available for the next 40 years,” said Jeffreys. “We need to prepare our people for those jobs.”
FCCTI has tailored its adult education program at the institute in recent years to fit the needs of a changing job market in need of skilled labor.
Jeffreys said that 10 years ago, there was limited interest in skills programs because the interest for highly academic studies was leading adult students to business schools and colleges.
He explained in the last four years the pendulum has swung the other way.
“A welding company wanted to make a significant investment and grow their business here, but they couldn’t because they simply could not find welders,” Jeffreys said. “It prompted us to step up and help. As a result, we’ve adjusted our program to suit employers’ needs.”
A statewide initiative announced last October by Pennsylvania’s 14 community colleges will help provide critical training to displaced workers in Pennsylvania, equipping them with the skills they need to get back to work in, what are being called, high-demand, family-sustaining jobs. The program will train underemployed and unemployed Pennsylvanians and help them with job placement.
The program, JobTrakPA, uses fast-tracked retraining to help displaced workers regain employment in today’s high-demand industries. JobTrakPA was made possible by a $20 million Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Community College Career Training grant awarded to the colleges last fall.
“Pennsylvania employers tell us that they have jobs waiting for workers with career-specific skills in several high-growth industries,” said Dr. Alex Johnson, president of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges and president of the Community College of Allegheny County. “Community colleges are part of a nationwide effort to provide a new skill-set to our workforce that will create career pathways for qualified workers in the shortest possible time.”
Currently, there are 15,000 TAA-eligible workers in Pennsylvania. The colleges, along with Pennsylvania CareerLink, are coordinating efforts to reach those workers and connect them to JobTrakPA for retraining and re-employment.
WCCC is utilizing its portion of the grant to train students for what its public relations director calls “mid-stream jobs.”
“We are now training technicians for oil and gas industry jobs that take them beyond entry level positions,” said Anna Marie Palatella
Patella said, WCCC is utilizing a two-step approach allowing students to gain certification for entry level jobs in the natural gas and oil industry and then return for additional industry certifications for career advancement.
WCCC is currently in the process of designing programs specific to displaced workers of the FirstEnergy Corp.’s Hatfield Ferry Power Station and Fredricktown Ferry to offer job training which capitalizes on their current job skills and trains them for future careers in fields like mechatronics and applied industrial technology.
A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor is also helping WCCC fund its ShaleNet program which offers training for job careers in the gas and oil industry. The curriculum that WCCC and ShaleNet are using gives an overview of the industry using the seven areas of gas–exploration, production, gathering, processing, transmission, storage and distribution.
WCCC will be opening a work training center in the former Sony plant in East Huntingdon Township in the coming months.
The 72,000-square-foot center will train students for technical and skilled labor jobs.
Related roustabout and welding programs have been offered at Fayette County Career and Technical Institute through its adult education classes.
Jeffreys said the adult education program at the institute in recent years has been tailored in recent years.
“We want to customize our programs to suit just about any skilled labor needed at this point, while offering in-depth training to suit all levels of business and industry,” Jeffreys said
Palatella and Jeffreys both say workers can obtain job training certifications for hundreds, rather than thousands of dollars, making it cost effective for an unemployed or underemployed individual.
Find out more about local job training at fayettevo-tech.org/adult-education-programs, wccc.edu and pacareerlink.org