Pamela Nabors is President and CEO of CareerSource Central Florida, one of 24 workforce boards in Florida. CareerSource Central Florida serves the businesses and career seekers in Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Sumter Counties.
In the national landscape, there is new workforce legislation which brings with it a fundamental shift in program and service delivery, one that encourages a renewed focus on the needs of businesses. That, coupled with the results of two studies sponsored by CSCF – one by the UCF School of Business Marketing Department, and a regional business survey conducted last year in partnership with CareerSource Brevard, CareerSource Flagler Volusia, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council – revealed the desire for businesses to get the “right” candidate.
This is the driving force that shifts emphasis toward the business community. But why businesses’ needs first? Because if we know what businesses need in terms of employee training, education and other skills, we can work with career seekers to tailor-fit them to meet those needs, thereby making them more competitive. By customizing services to meet the needs of business, the system also meets the needs of the career seeker.
Other hybrid programs combine traditional classroom learning with real- world experience, like the Mid-Florida Tech Masonry program offered through Orange County Technical College, which provides eighteen weeks of classroom and worksite training to qualified individuals, and can be paid for through workforce grants. Businesses benefit by getting short-term, no-cost labor, yet can reap the rewards upon completion of these programs by having an employee they personally trained.