DuPage County business leaders gathered on Wednesday, January 24 at CBRE in Oak Brook for a roundtable discussion on workforce development. The discussion is part of an ongoing series hosted by The Hon. Deborah Conroy, DuPage County Board Chair, and Choose DuPage, designed to provide an opportunity for the business community to connect, learn, and discuss important topics affecting DuPage County.
Laticia Holbert, Workforce Development Manager for ComEd led the discussion along with Lisa Shvach, Executive Director of workNet DuPage.
Some of the key takeaways include:
- Workforce development is a compilation of comprehensive, focused actions to build economic and human capital in order to create business and community sustainability, remove barriers to decrease unemployment and underemployment and ensure a highly skilled, diverse workforce. Human resources (HR) is the division of a business responsible for finding, recruiting, screening, and training job applicants and also handle employee compensation, benefits, and terminations.
- Employers need to be thinking about how young people are selecting work, because it’s so different than past generations. Younger generations need to see a career path laid out, they want to know what you’re doing for the community, for sustainability. It’s not just about money, they need to feel good about their work.
- Partnering with other stakeholders in workforce development is critical. When you are creating workforce programs, utilize local workforce organizations and educational partners to help support the program. ComEd partners with organizations like Hire360, Chicago Corporate Coalition, Dawson Technical Institute, Big Shoulders Fund, Chicago Builds and Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership.
- On-the-job training (apprenticeship models) is going to be more important than ever for the development of future workforce.
- When recruiting employees, look for potential, not just skillsets. Managers may be tempted to fill a position quickly with someone who already has a skillset. But long-term workforce development comes from investing the time into someone with the right potential.