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Lack of trained workers forces Oscoda company to fill jobs overseas
Posted by Helen Lounsbury | The Bay City Times February 29, 2008 08:06AM
Now northern employers, educators are joining to prepare residents for available work
OSCODA - It's bad enough when state unemployment rates report Northeast Lower Michigan as the most jobless region in a state already plagued by high unemployment.
But when local employers say that they've exhausted the skilled, local labor pool and must hire outside the area, even outside the country, it's time for stakeholders to get talking.
More than talk, Iosco County area educators, labor force developers and employers are forging a partnership they say will replenish the region's skilled worker reserve.
That supply is most urgent for Kalitta Air, not only the largest but the fastest-growing employer in a six-county region with 735 full-time workers. Kalitta, an aircraft maintenance company in Oscoda, is mid-way through hiring some 250 people to staff a new $8.75 million hangar.
The build-up, meanwhile, forced the company to recruit high-level aviation technicians from Peru. And it will need to do it again soon, this time from the Philippines. The reason, managers say, is that the company has depleted local skilled labor.
"The partnership is new but it's absolutely benefiting us," said Teri Ruby of STS Services Inc., which recruits skilled workers for Kalitta and other aviation employers nationwide. "Every time I put a jobs ad in the local paper, I get 700-1,400 resumes, just from the region. Almost none have aviation experience.
"The partnership is willing to work for us and narrow that flood down to the most qualified people," Ruby continued. "From there, we hire and build them into aviation mechanics."
The partnership's Michigan Works! and Iosco Regional Educational Service Agency screen Kalitta applications, then test the best candidates for general and technical aptitudes. The most qualified, they send back to Kalitta for interviewing and, if appropriate, for hiring.
Kalitta, in turn, trains the new hires on-the-job or, in time, can send candidates back for partnership-paid training via IRESA or Mid-Michigan Community College's M-Tec Center, also a partner.
M-Tec is assembling online training courses in electronics, hydraulics, pneumatics and composites for partnership referrals. IRESA plans eventually to add aviation mechanics to its Tawas City curriculum, directors say.
In its first month, the partnership has screened 120 people.
"This whole thing is starting as a training intervention for adults, to help employers who need qualified people now," said IRESA Superintendent Thomas Caldwell. "But the vision is to create a sustained training program for employers - a continuum that extends down to our K-12 students."
Other companies signing on to the partnership are TIMCO Aviation Services, a jet engine repair shop with 51 full-time employees, and Phoenix Composite Solutions, with 150 workers.
All three companies are located in Oscoda's former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. Partnership coordinators say they expect several more area employers to join the workforce development partnership as it grows.
Northeast Michigan's jobless rate average for 2007 was 10.8 percent.
"The type of person they're looking for - homegrown, with mechanical inclination and generally good with their hands - we have those people up here," said Lisa Bolen, Michigan Works! workforce development director for the region. "Employers want to build on those skills and get specialized training.
"We think this approach has the potential to really produce that, and to go beyond avionics, to serve other manufacturers who need training for their people."
Helen Lounsbury can be reached at (989) 450-9994 or at [email protected].
Posted by Helen Lounsbury | The Bay City Times February 29, 2008 08:06AM
Now northern employers, educators are joining to prepare residents for available work
OSCODA - It's bad enough when state unemployment rates report Northeast Lower Michigan as the most jobless region in a state already plagued by high unemployment.
But when local employers say that they've exhausted the skilled, local labor pool and must hire outside the area, even outside the country, it's time for stakeholders to get talking.
More than talk, Iosco County area educators, labor force developers and employers are forging a partnership they say will replenish the region's skilled worker reserve.
That supply is most urgent for Kalitta Air, not only the largest but the fastest-growing employer in a six-county region with 735 full-time workers. Kalitta, an aircraft maintenance company in Oscoda, is mid-way through hiring some 250 people to staff a new $8.75 million hangar.
The build-up, meanwhile, forced the company to recruit high-level aviation technicians from Peru. And it will need to do it again soon, this time from the Philippines. The reason, managers say, is that the company has depleted local skilled labor.
"The partnership is new but it's absolutely benefiting us," said Teri Ruby of STS Services Inc., which recruits skilled workers for Kalitta and other aviation employers nationwide. "Every time I put a jobs ad in the local paper, I get 700-1,400 resumes, just from the region. Almost none have aviation experience.
"The partnership is willing to work for us and narrow that flood down to the most qualified people," Ruby continued. "From there, we hire and build them into aviation mechanics."
The partnership's Michigan Works! and Iosco Regional Educational Service Agency screen Kalitta applications, then test the best candidates for general and technical aptitudes. The most qualified, they send back to Kalitta for interviewing and, if appropriate, for hiring.
Kalitta, in turn, trains the new hires on-the-job or, in time, can send candidates back for partnership-paid training via IRESA or Mid-Michigan Community College's M-Tec Center, also a partner.
M-Tec is assembling online training courses in electronics, hydraulics, pneumatics and composites for partnership referrals. IRESA plans eventually to add aviation mechanics to its Tawas City curriculum, directors say.
In its first month, the partnership has screened 120 people.
"This whole thing is starting as a training intervention for adults, to help employers who need qualified people now," said IRESA Superintendent Thomas Caldwell. "But the vision is to create a sustained training program for employers - a continuum that extends down to our K-12 students."
Other companies signing on to the partnership are TIMCO Aviation Services, a jet engine repair shop with 51 full-time employees, and Phoenix Composite Solutions, with 150 workers.
All three companies are located in Oscoda's former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. Partnership coordinators say they expect several more area employers to join the workforce development partnership as it grows.
Northeast Michigan's jobless rate average for 2007 was 10.8 percent.
"The type of person they're looking for - homegrown, with mechanical inclination and generally good with their hands - we have those people up here," said Lisa Bolen, Michigan Works! workforce development director for the region. "Employers want to build on those skills and get specialized training.
"We think this approach has the potential to really produce that, and to go beyond avionics, to serve other manufacturers who need training for their people."
Helen Lounsbury can be reached at (989) 450-9994 or at [email protected].
