Workforce development programs have been proven to have positive impacts on employment rates. Community college certificates increase employment rates by .09 points, showing that short-term college programs that funnel directly into a career are effective. However, these can be challenging to get started. When partnerships between workforce agencies and educational institutions don’t communicate about employment needs for the community, it can be difficult to find a solution.
However, modern workforce development tools create new pathways for collaboration between education and employment. With robust data, task workflows, and outcomes tracking, workforce development software seamlessly accommodates collaborative workforce solutions. Let’s discuss some common collaboration strategies and the benefits of implementing workforce development software.
Common Agency and Educational Collaboration Strategies
To best provide opportunities for students entering the workforce, community colleges, 4-year universities, and technical institutes should seek out local industries. Implementing collaboration strategies ensures that colleges are offering an education that can be applied to a career, and it creates a steady stream of capable workers for the community.
Collaborative Program Development
Through career readiness programs, educational institutions and workforce agencies can come together to design and implement training initiatives that address specific industry needs. For example, the education training program Hollywood CPR partners with West LA College to provide a career readiness program for union workers in entertainment production trades.
By working together, these institutions can create unique initiatives that match industry needs and decrease the time students spend unemployed post-graduation. To create a career readiness program or other collaborative programs, these best practices should be followed:
- Write a curriculum that matches real-world job requirements available in the surrounding area.
- Offer hands-on experience through internships and on-the-job training from local employers.
- Provide one-on-one mentoring with students and people within related fields.
Dual Enrollment Programs
A difficult issue for students exiting a four-year university is college debt–in Alabama, the average student graduates with $36,589 in debt. Expensive student loans can make it difficult for recent graduates to build a financial foundation. Educational institutions can partner with high schools to create opportunities for courses that fulfill high school and college credit. By finishing classes earlier, students can join the workforce or move into higher education faster with less financial strain.
Employers connected to these universities can meet and nurture potential talent early, and students can gain practical experience while earning academic credits.
Shared Data and Communication Platforms
One of the most important pieces of the puzzle when creating workforce development programs is demand. How many jobs need to be filled in a certain field? Which students are studying the courses required to fill them? Utilizing workforce development software creates seamless data sharing between educational institutions and workforce agencies. This gives both institutions:
- Real-time updates on industry needs and skill requirements.
- Tracking of student progress across different programs.
- Coordinated provision of support services.
Data sharing allows local workforce organizations to measure the effectiveness of a program by analyzing outcomes.
Integrated Career Services
Many students may be interested in a topic but don’t understand the actual implementation of their major in a career. When workforce agencies provide support services to colleges, it gives students the chance to pick a topic of study that better fits their interests. Workforce development tools such as career assessments, vocational evaluations , and professional pathway builders create a collaborative development of future plans.
Apprenticeships: Industry-Education Partnerships
The CareerWise Colorado program had a staggering success rate with its apprenticeship program: 64% of participants transitioned to employment, postsecondary education , or both. Apprenticeships pave the way to higher-income opportunities between high school and post-secondary education. These work particularly well in industries such as IT or advanced manufacturing, where they can land high-paying jobs upon program completion.
These apprenticeships work best when:
- Industry leaders provide input on curriculum development
- Companies offer internships and work-based learning opportunities
- Educational institutions tailor programs to meet specific industry needs
Continued Professional Development
Workplaces encourage skills development through education for their employees for more specialized positions. While they may be able to provide additional training on the job, employers benefit from certificate programs and higher education amongst their workforce. This benefits the employee as well: people with a master’s degree make 16% more in median weekly earnings than those with a bachelor’s degree.
Workforce development agencies can team up with educational institutions to provide relevant secondary education by:
- Developing postgraduate education that matches industry trends.
- Implementing technology to create remote learning opportunities accessible to more workers.
- Offering online learning programs for self-directed study.
Connecting Workforce and Education: Workforce Development Software
Technology has revolutionized how every industry connects. Specialized software features robust data capture to make better decisions and implement programs to bring about positive change. PlanStreet’s Workforce Software bridges the gap between education and workforce development through the following ways.
Streamlined Communication
The average person receives 65 emails and sends 24 daily–with such a high volume, it’s easy for important communication to slip through the cracks. Workforce development software solutions create a centralized system to communicate and share information. Detailed boards give a bird’s eye view of a program’s status, including active enrollments, program exits, job openings, total applicants, and more. Education and workforce agencies can share:
- Student/trainee progress and outcomes in job readiness programs
- Real-time updates on industry needs and requirements
- Changes to be made to training programs and curriculum.
Data-Driven Decision Making
Data-driven companies are 23 times more likely to top their competitors in customer acquisition. Comprehensive reporting tools and analytics allow educational and workforce institutions to collaborate better and provide better services to students. They can choose KPIs relevant to their programs and define data to measure them properly. Creating weekly reports identifies skill gaps and emerging industry needs, understanding if their programs are successful in filling open roles or not.
Resources can be limited in education, and data-informed decisions ensure that institutions spend money on the programs that will bring the most career success to their students.
Integrated Program Management
Workforce development software helps workforce agencies and educational institutions manage their programs together, better. PlanStreet Workforce Software offers robust outcomes tracking and management software, to allow both parties to manage skills assessments, job training, placement, retention, employer engagement, and more. Individual participants can be tracked across different programs and institutions, allowing agencies to study the best results.
Enhanced Job Matching and Placement
The ultimate goal of an educational institute partnership is to ensure the student is placed in the right position upon program completion. Workforce development software offers tools to help institutions match students with the right curriculum, such as skills assessment tools and testing guides. By understanding what a student does best, workforce agencies can guide them to the correct program.
Other power job matching and placement features include:
- A thorough database of student skills and qualifications.
- Job boards that post opportunities from local workforce agencies can post job openings and requirements.
- Automated matching to connect qualified candidates to suitable roles.
Coordinated Career Services
Workforce development software offers a space for your coordinated teams to provide career guidance and support to students. Educational resources, skill-building opportunities, and assessment tools allow students to gain insights without excessive oversight. The software uses guided tools to create:
- Career assessments.
- Individual career plans.
- Support services as students continue through programs.
Utilize software to stay in touch with students, even offering drop-in time to talk with a real advisor if they need help understanding reports.
Streamlined Referral Processes
Referred candidates are hired at a rate of 30%, whereas job applicants sourced through other methods are only 7%. Workforce development software enables a seamless stream of referrals between educational institutions and workforce agencies. PlanStreet’s workforce software includes a referral feature with employers to help match job seekers to their ideal careers. Other helpful benefits of a software-based referral process include:
- Fast sharing of student information such as resumes and references.
- Tracking of referral outcomes to learn which programs are the most successful.
- Coordination of services across multiple providers,
Bridge Workforce Training and Education Alignment with PlanStreet
Make communication between workforce and education agencies easier than ever before with PlanStreet. Our effective workforce development software enhances efficiency and allows your team to do more in less time. With a remote-friendly platform, our data privacy and security features ensure data is always safe.
With PlanStreet, your teams gain:
- Client-focused needs assessments to pinpoint the correct services and programs for your clients.
- Easy-to-use collaboration tools that help you refer eligible workers to open positions.
- Comprehensive reporting capabilities to measure your case management outcomes through tools compliant with federal performance indicators.
Stop spinning your wheels on ineffective programs and make data-driven decisions with PlanStreet. Schedule a demo today to see how our workforce development software can improve outcomes for your agency.