Upskilling is a small career investment that can help create major change.
Ask Central Community College drafting and design instructor Amy Stuart for an example, and she comes up with several.
One upskilling student drove heavy machinery. He had what some could call a weakness, but his employer saw an opportunity.
“They're like, he can problem solve, he can do a lot of things,” Stuart said. “He just didn't know the computer technology.”
Through resources at CCC he was able to upskill and increase his hourly wages from $14 an hour to $21 an hour.
“If the employer can recognize a valued employee that is just missing one or two skills, they can come in here, they can take a class – not necessarily earn a degree, but to learn a skill.”
“As adults we may have some ingrained habits or characteristics that in workplaces may need to be backed up or backed out and replaced with a different type of skill sets,” said Cindy Johnson, president of the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce.
Johnson many area businesses are willing to invest in employees with the potential to achieve more.
“Their management team has said, I want you to be able to go to the next level, these are the things I'd love for you to work on. Here’s what your path could be if we can just tweak a few things,” Johnson said.
“That's an investment – an investment in that person.”
Stuart’s student already had soft skills like problem solving under his belt. Still, there are some who need more help with soft skills than technical skills, said Susan Hooker, CCC associate dean of community and workforce education and training.
Hooker said she’s noticed a fairly common motivation for employers reaching out to CCC to help their employees upskill.
“They say that these workers are coming in, but they have not maybe been exposed to … time management and the leadership type of skills,” she said. “They know that there'll be great employees, but they want to help advance them. They see the value.”
Stuart and Hooker both said they have noticed a great need for upskilling soft skills.
“I see students are getting things instantaneous,” Stuart said. “There's social media, there's Google … sometimes that leads to the problem of them not knowing how to problem solve. And with that, they have to learn some of those soft skills when they come into a classroom.”
Stuart offered her area of expertise, drafting, as an example.
“We do have a lot of resources. There's a lot of resources out there that helped us decide what grade of structural steel, what type of connection … but we have to know how to be able to go find those resources, because not all of them are going to be online.”
Soft skills like problem solving and communication are essential to learning technical skills, Johnson said.
“Many employers, myself included, would look to hire someone who has strong soft skills, and then be prepared to teach them the actual job skill,” she said. “It's easier to teach the job skills if you have someone with the right attitude, the right commitment, the right approach, someone who is a team player.”
Upskilling in general can be a huge asset to both the employee and the company, said Hooker.
“(Employees) are earning more wages, (companies) are then able to expand their businesses because they have these capable employees that now can do these skills and they didn't have people before that could do it.
“By learning these different training aspects, it's helping the companies with their bottom line as well,” Hooker said. “They're able to do more with their production, less downtime. I would see that as increasing their profits as well as the employee making more money.”
Stuart said that companies looking to help employees upskill should consider if the investment is worth it. Those who want to upskill on their own accord, she said, need to ask if it the time taken to upskill is worth obtaining a larger goal.
“(Ask if) it's a larger goal at home, problem solving and being a better parent, if it's appealing just to be a better employee at the current position, or even is it worth spending time on myself become a better person?"
Stuart pointed out, “If you communicate clearly, problem solve better, any of these skills are going to help you with better interview skills, better things to put on your resume.”
No matter the organization facilitating upskilling, Johnson said there is a common goal, which includes that of the Chamber.
“What we're hoping to accomplish the end game, is to ensure that the people that are in the workforce today are working to their highest and best.”
