business backgrounder | education & workforce
“What we’re aiming to do is to
grow the skills and the ability to work
within our population, as well as provide
people with an opportunity for
advancement of their employees.”
a workforce trained through our local colleges,” Nikolaeva
said. “Altogether, we would like to get the word out and get
more businesses involved. If this becomes a competitive
process, then we know we are funding the best projects.”
North of Seattle, Everett Community College (ECC)
is one such institution that’s implementing partnerships
between workforce training and area businesses. More than
20,000 students are enrolled each year, with upwards of
— Michele Gedrose, continuing education manager at
1,000 in the Corporate and Continuing Education Center
Wenatchee Valley College
and 100 in the exclusive Aviation
School based at Paine Field. The
new AmTech advanced manufacturing and education center
also opened there last year, a
38,000-square-foot facility with
four sectors for welding and fabrication, composites, engineering
and technical program sets, and
which sets even new students on
such unique tasks as designing
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. All
of these schools collaborate with
major area companies, making
ECC one of the largest providers
of contract training in the state.
“We serve the greater needs
of business and industry, and
also partner with the state to set
goals for training to deliver to the
ECC Precision Machining instructor Kevin Soderlund explains the fabrication of the students’
latest project: an innovative drone that’s used for many purposes at the school, including
workplace environment,” said
aerial photography.
John Bonner, executive director of Corporate and Continuing
Education for Everett Community College. “It’s a process
employers of all sizes utilize job skills program
of working with companies on a one- or two-year plan to
Among the most successful fields for those with a two-year
develop their workforce, whether it’s blueprint reading, IT,
degree in Washington state are nursing, para-education
aerospace, or anything else.”
and manufacturing. The latter industry, in fact, this past
“We’re seeing a lot of demand for project management and
year comprised 80 percent of businesses utilizing the Job
upper-level skills in working with people,” said Ray Kubista,
Skills Program to find workers on a short timeline. During
director of regional training for ECC. “So we go on site and
this time, community and technical colleges sent workforce
coordinate project management, cross-skills training and
trainers out on 39 total projects with 51 companies, several of
real-life situations for different projects that companies can
which were collaborative in order to be more cost-effective.
apply the next day.”
Small businesses are getting involved. In Washington
state, more than 96 percent of businesses have fewer than
hi-tech manufacturing,
50 workers, yet in 2012 just six businesses participating in
aerospace partnerships growing
the Job Skills Program — 15 percent — were of that size. Last
With more than 200 aerospace-related businesses in Snohomish
year, there were 20 small businesses, or nearly 40 percent of
County, and more than 2,000 in Western Washington, as well
the program.
as a flood of workers eligible for retirement in the next decade,
“For any of these programs, the main purpose is that —
the region is ripe for creating new aerospace, manufacturing,
whether the need is large or small — we have an incentive for
IT, robotics and transportation careers. Possibilities also stretch
businesses, particularly small businesses, to use students and
38 association of washington business