To our employers out there, you know better than us that a lot of employee learning takes place on the job, getting their hands dirty and seeing how things are done. As a business owner, you might want to fast forward an employee right to the job, but if our name gives it away, fast-forwarding to a career through classroom and hand-on-training is exactly what we aim to do.
Weeks of training, not months or years, so your new hires are in and out quick and can start their new job in a more qualified and educated spot, without needing a ton of on-site onboarding.
You may think that nothing can replace on-site training. And guess what? We agree for the most part. That’s why our trainings are fully customizable, plus students do get out of the classroom to get a real feel for the work, so that when they come to you, the basics are done.
They come in and can get right to work.
We asked chief workforce officers at community colleges across Virginia why they stress the importance of workforce training in addition to on-the-job training. Here’s what they had to say:
Fully Customizable
We understand the value of on-the-job training, especially if there’s specific equipment your company uses. Patrick Tompkins of Eastern Shore Community College stresses that while we have classes running all year long, our programs are fully customizable – we can put together a custom program for your new hires or current staff, and we’ll even deliver programming to you at your own site, using your own equipment.
On-Demand
Community colleges across Virginia are constantly working to upskill the workforce in your area. That means at any time of year, there is a pipeline of skilled workers getting industry-recognized credentials and getting to work.
“Nothing replaces company specific training, but workforce development can produce workers for you that have industry knowledge, experience and skill sets in demand by a wide swath of employers in your sector,” said Elizabeth Creamer with Community College Workforce Alliance.
Saves Time & Money
Training takes time and money. It takes staff to lead the trainings, drawing them away from the valuable work they could be doing. It takes a periodic drop in productivity, as the new hires can’t quite begin, since it takes time to get them up to speed.
FastForward programs at your local community college aim to bridge that gap.
With industry experts as instructors stepping in to skill your workforce, your team can focus on the job at hand, and after the program, you’ll hand delivered skilled employees, who have already been trained on someone else’s clock. John Mullins with Southside Virginia Community College added, “Training at our institution would also ensure your businesses equipment is open for production [and not being used for training] thus increasing output and decreasing expenses.”
Nothing can fully replace on-the-job training, but with custom training and immense time savings, workforce trainings at community colleges across Virginia make the case for themselves.
If your business would like to explore what that might look like for its workforce, reach out to your local community college today.