2012 Workforce Readiness Day

By Rosemary Hook

This week, the Workforce Readiness committee held its last pre-WFR Day meeting and we poured over last minute details on speakers, panels, employer sponsors, and the Workforce Readiness Fair in preparation for Workforce Readiness Day on Thursday, May 24th.

The majority of the 2012 Workforce Readiness Day agenda is focused on current WFR programs in place from organizations in the public, private, and non-profit sectors as well as howto put together a program for those companies concerned about upcoming predictions of talent shortages in greater Central Texas. Yet, someone in the meeting asked, what we know will be asked at WFR Day and what we expect will be answered by our panels and speakers:

Q. Whose role is it within an organization to care about or be worried about workforce readiness?
A. Right now, everyone’s and no one’s.

Before deciding who within your organization might own workforce readiness, there has to be a general understanding of What is Workforce Readiness, why should we care as companies, how can we get executive support, and finally, what should organizations be doing to prepare for it.
All of these questions will be answered at AHRMA’s Third Annual Workforce Readiness Day on Thursday, May 24^thand we’d like you to Register today for Workforce Readiness Day:

• Morning: WFR Day will kick off with the State of the Texas Talent Pipeline with panelists Hannah Gourgey with E3 Alliance, Amelia Folkes with Texas Business and Education Coalition (TBEC) andState Farm Community Relations, Scotty Parrish with Adecco, Rhonda Boyer with AISD, Melissa Richardson Curtis with Austin Community College, and Isaac Abram Torres with Texas State University’s GenTX program.
• Lunch: Then after lunch, we’ll hear from business and government leaders on Bridging the Gap Between Employers and Job Seekers with panelists Tom Pauken with the Texas Workforce Commission, Tom Palladino with the Texas Veterans Commission, Jeff Quade with the growing, emerging WhaleShark Media, and Nathan Green of Campus2Careers
• Afternoon: And just to make sure you get a full day’s worth of HRCI credits, the afternoon will be packed with How to Build a Veteran Recruiting Program by speaker, Allen Bergeron, a Veteran Consultant with the City of Austin and a talk by Alan Miller, Executive Director of Workforce Solutions - Capital Area and theWorkReady Austin Certificate Programwhich will walk attendees through how to prepare entry-level applications with basic work ready skills.

The next AHRMA-WFR committee meeting will be Tuesday, June 19th, 5:30pm-7:00pm at the Workforce Solutions, 6505 Airport Boulevard, Austin, TX 78752. To be included on the AHRMA-WFR committee email distribution, email Kristin Huber or Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, Co-VPs of the AHRMA Workforce Readiness committee.