League for Innovation in the Community College March 2018 | Page 30

intended to teach those skills: Mobile Programming and
Software Engineering.” According to Duffy, graduates will be
able to “work anywhere,” as these skills are needed by virtually
every company.
Vet Tech program students work in the field as techs-in-training.
The Vet Tech degree program was launched in fall 2015. Fifty
percent of its first- and second-year students are already
working in the field as techs-in-training. According to Hermans,
virtually all the students who graduated with the first class in
May 2017 have been “extensively recruited” and received jobs
offers prior to graduation.
NCC has partnerships with many health care employers
and nonprofit agencies, noted Kathleen Fries, NCC’s former
Director of Nursing and Allied Health and a Certified Nurse
Educator. These employers provide valuable counsel on
worker shortages and career pathways.
Last June, NCC launched a series of homecare training
programs for immigrants in collaboration with Building One
Community. These programs prepare immigrants to provide
home care for the elderly. Building One offers English
language instruction for participants and NCC offers certificate
programs in First Aid/CPR, Homemaker Companion, and Home
Health Aide. The program’s first graduates will be hired quickly
because many are native Spanish or Creole speakers and
reflect the cultural makeup of the community, said Fries.
The home care industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors
of the American economy. “Allied health workers are all high-
need positions at the associate or certificate level because of
the aging population,” Fries said.
NCC’s associate degree program in Medical Office
Management has a strong relationship with Stamford Health
Medical Group, which hires graduates to manage the clinical
and administrative aspects of running a medical practice.
NCC is working with IBM to prime the talent pipeline even
earlier than in college. In 2014, NCC established the Norwalk
Early College Academy (NECA) with IBM and Norwalk Public
Schools. This Pathways to Technology program prepares
students in grades 9-12 for entry-level IT jobs and offers
ongoing mentoring relationships with IBM executives. Students
can earn a high school diploma and no-cost NCC associate
degree in STEM fields within six years.
“NECA is a great example of NCC meeting industry needs,”
said Tom Duffy, chairman of the NCC Computer Science
department. “IBM provided a skills assessment that identified
jobs going unfilled. We then developed two A.A.S. degrees
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The League for Innovation in the Community College Innovatus
Following the lean years of the recession, people are once
again spending money on dining out and traveling. “The job
market is robust for the hospitality industry in the Stamford/
Bridgeport labor market,” said Thomas Failla, Director of
Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts. “Positions have
increased from 26,000 to over 42,000 in the industry, which
includes hotels, restaurants, and foodservice operations.”
Culinary arts students have promising career prospects
in the post-recession economy.
Employers from restaurants, country clubs, catering
establishments, and hotels serve on NCC’s Advisory Board
and send their own employees to the college for additional
training. “Thirty-five to 40 percent of our students are adults
who either work in the industry or are re-skilling in the
industry,” he noted.
It’s never too early for students to start thinking about career
prospects, said Kiran Somaya, Director of the NCC Center for
Career Development. She noted that employers today are
interested in grooming students and would rather connect
with them as early as the first semester than wait until
after graduation.
Throughout the year, employers are invited to campus to help
students write résumés and cover letters, do mock interviews,
and prepare elevator speeches. Students also get advice on
salaries commanded by different majors and the importance of
doing volunteer service or an internship.
“The idea is to get students to meet with employers not in a
setting where they are nervous and asking for a job, but to
understand how they should prepare for a career and what
jobs are out there,” Somaya said. “Employers today want to
see the whole student.... They’re not just interested in the
academic part.”
Madeline Barillo is the Marketing and Public Relations
Director at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk,
Connecticut. To view the full version of this article, visit
www.league.org/node/17719.