Workforce development woes are nothing new to employers constantly in search of talented and skilled young workers to fill out their ranks.
That’s why it was welcome news last week when all nine of Wisconsin’s regional economic development organizations announced they’re teaming up to develop a statewide platform that directly connects local employers to students.
The regional organizations, with support from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), will expand the use of a web-based platform called Inspire that virtually connects area businesses to their future talent pool through online profiles, virtual career coaches, and career-based learning activities for high school students and educators.
“This initiative is a great example of how partners in the public and private sector are teaming up with local schools to help address the workforce development challenges of today and tomorrow,” Governor Scott Walker said in a press release. “Efforts like this will enable businesses to engage directly with students, counselors and parents, and will provide real-life experiences to help guide students as they consider their career options.”
“When asked what is inhibiting their ability to grow, the factor most often cited by businesses in the Madison region is access to qualified employees,” notes Gene Dalhoff, vice president of talent and education for the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP). “We simply do not have enough qualified workers to fill the needs of businesses.
What is Inspire?
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“Furthermore, because of shifting demographics in our state, that shortage of workers is likely to become worse,” Dalhoff continues. “So we need to make every body we have count. One way to do that is to ensure that our high school students graduate high school, and when they do that they have an idea what they want to do for an occupation and the level of education they will require.
“That is where Inspire Madison Region comes in,” Dalhoff adds. “Inspire allows them to connect with career coaches and businesses that represent occupations they may have an interest in. Inspire allows them to narrow down their potential career selections why they are still in high school, allowing them to make informed choices regarding next steps beyond high school. It also provides companies with the opportunity to help shape the upcoming labor force. When companies connect with students when they are still in high school, even if those students go off to college, there is a greater chance that they will return to their home community because of those connections they made with area employers.”
Developed by Career Cruising, a global leader in career development software, Inspire helps educate students, educators, parents, and jobseekers about the current and projected talent needs of local companies. It also provides an opportunity for employers and communities to enhance existing work-based learning and career-readiness programs by making it easier for students to engage in opportunities best aligned to the careers and career pathway areas of interest.
Depending on the region, Inspire could be used to increase engagement between businesses and students in several ways, including interactive messaging with local professionals, job shadowing, interviewing opportunities, and internships.
Taking the lead on the initiative is the Regional Leadership Council (RLC), a coalition made up of the executive directors of the state’s regional economic development organizations: MadREP, Visions Northwest, Momentum West, Grow North, The 7 Rivers Alliance, Prosperity Southwest, The Milwaukee 7, The New North, and Centergy.
Under RLC leadership, each region will develop and manage its own Inspire operating infrastructure and stakeholder collaboration for engaging and onboarding the region’s employers and businesses into the platform. The regions also will engage area school districts in implementation of the Inspire tools.
The employer databases of the nine regions will be connected, forming the new statewide Inspire network that will help students and employers connect both regionally and statewide.
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Leading the way locally
MadREP was an early adopter of the program and has already onboarded all 55 of its school districts along with 380 companies and 435 career coaches. The 2017–2018 school year will mark the first full year that students will be able to access the experiential learning activities available through participating businesses.
According to MadREP President Paul Jadin, the organization took over the Inspire program a little over a year ago and immediately engaged the districts with which it was already aligned through its Business Education Collaborative. “It became easier to promote the program when the state DPI adopted the Career Cruising platform, notes Jadin. “We were then able to show the business community that this represented a great opportunity to get their message in front of young people regardless of whether they were a manufacturer, a medical employer, or one of our high tech companies.
“I believe that this represents the first legitimate effort to bring business and education together in a concerted fashion to drive students to available jobs or curricula and future degrees, which will make it easier to address shortages throughout the state,” Jadin continues. “Everywhere I go in the Madison region, there are employers looking for relief from this problem and, while this effort may not have impacts for several years out, it is still a critical step forward. It will be most successful when we have the right density of participation and the right approach from within the schools.”
Dalhoff notes DPI made the Career Cruising software program available to all Wisconsin public school districts as a means to help fulfill the requirements of the Academic & Career Planning (ACP) mandate, which takes effect this fall.
“In meeting with district administrators and high school principals and counselors, we pointed out that while Career Cruising is in itself a very valuable tool for students to investigate and evaluate career options, it falls short in that it does not by itself connect students to career coaches and experiential learning activities,” Dalhoff explains. “That is what the Inspire Madison Region add-on to Career Cruising provides.”
So far the initiative has paid off locally, even as the Inspire program has yet to be fully implemented.
Deerfield High School had much success with Inspire last school year, notes Stacy Gloede, special education teacher/transition coordinator for Deerfield High School. Students in the required College and Career Readiness Course were expected to complete a four-hour job shadow in a career of choice. “Inspire allowed for this to be done quite smoothly and efficiently,” Gloede says. “I was pleased with the ease of requesting job shadows and the quick responses and immediate feedback from employers. Also last year, our district conducted a career day and I was able to contact and set up many guest speakers using Inspire. I was very impressed with the program and look forward to seeing more and more local businesses and career opportunities added to the resource list.”
John Deere Horicon supports Inspire Madison Region because it provides students with access to information about the types of jobs in manufacturing, the actual requirements of the jobs, and allows connections to mentors who can provide students [with] “real-life” information about those jobs, says Steve Johnson, factory manager at John Deere Horicon Works. “It also can provide students with better information on what manufacturing is today and dispel the negative myths,” he adds. “Manufacturing can provide great jobs for all skills levels and the better we can connect students to these options through Inspire, it becomes a win-win for students and manufacturing.”
Inspiring Wisconsin
Jadin says MadREP took the lead in convincing the rest of the state to get involved when he served as chairman of the Regional Leadership Council. “My colleagues have responded exceptionally well and when WEDC stepped up it made it much easier to fund the license and bring the program to young people everywhere.
WEDC is providing the nine regions with $52,500 to expand the Inspire license statewide. Otherwise, each region would have faced a fee of $20,000 to $30,000 annually. “State funding of the annual license was critical to expanding this program,” Jadin further explains. “This is clearly one of the best ways I’ve seen to link business and education in a way that provides significant benefit to students while positively impacting our workforce.”
Inspire integrates employer profile information, career-based learning opportunities, and access to volunteer online career coaches directly into the existing Career Cruising Academic and Career Planning (ACP) system already used by most Wisconsin school districts.
“Wisconsin is well-positioned to be a leader in developing career pathways that allow students to explore and plan for a successful future,” State Superintendent Tony Evers noted in a press release. “This doesn’t happen by accident — it’s the result of the strong and growing collaboration between classroom teachers, their communities, and local business partners.”
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