New initiative plans to prepare students for the workplace

STATE COLLEGE — Looking to address a growing skills gap that is occurring in the area workforce, the Chamber of Business and Industry in Centre County has kick started a new CentreREADY Initiate to help prepare the county’ students for in demand jobs.

In partnership with the five area public school districts (Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte Area, Penns Valley Area, Philipsburg-Osceola Area and  State College Area School) along with Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology and South Hills School of Business and Technology, the CentreReady program looks to help teach area students the skill necessary to be successful in the work place.

CBICC President and CEO Vern Squier offered a presentation on the program to the Centre County Commissioners on Sept. 11 reporting the CBICC has been working to with existing business and looking for ways for them to prosper and grow.  He said that in speaking with companies, certain thing keep coming up as thing that they need.

Jennifer Myers, vice president, Economic Development for the CBICC said that after initial concerns from area business about cite exemption and government regulations came up the issues turned toward the workforce, particularly technical skill and soft skills.

“Soft skills are things like showing up on time for work, passing a drug test. It is a real problem,” said Myers. “You hear some employers talking about it as a crisis. As a chamber, it is our responsibility to grow the economy. So that is how we came up with CentreREADY.”

The program has identified six core soft skills that Centre County employers said were essential for their employees to: work ethic, tactfulness and manners, team work, communication, critical thinking and problem solving and understanding supervision in the world of work.

The initiative will acknowledge students who are proficient with the soft skills as someone who is CentreREADY making them a much stronger and ready candidate for employment, said Squier.

 “Once anointed with the designation of CentreREADY, then an employer can rest somewhat assured that employee has those basic skills,” said Squier. He said that a second phase of the initiative would look to include technical skills that employers are looking for.

The commissioners agreed that the program would be a benefit or the county. Chairman Michael Pipe said the county, which employees more than 500 people, and the non-profit sector would benefit as well.

“When people think of skill sets, it is a lot more than just turning a wrench or being able to read a compression tester. It is all about how you can be a value to your employer. And hence the more valuable you are to your employer the more valuable your job is, and more secure your job is. And going back to those soft skill, that is what this is all about,” said Commissioner Steven Dersham.

“That is what companies are looking for. They say ‘Jen, we just want someone who has some work ethic, that can understand the world of work’,” said Myers.

“As our economy grows, it is important that we are able to have a strong and reliable workforce and keep that. We are a regional economy, and we are the epicenter for the surrounding counties, so this is an important issue,” said Squier.