INDUSTRY INITIATIVES

CHALLENGE:
Due to a severe workforce shortage, the need to hire new and replace retiring technicians to operate petrochemical and advanced manufacturing facilities continues to be a priority. In addition, the industry has seen increasing shortages in skilled crafts and trades, especially in fields such as Industrial Maintenance and Instrumentation/Electrical Mechanics. Facilities are finding fewer and fewer viable candidates for these jobs and need viable training solutions and options to address this workforce gap. Career Builders of Louisiana offers marketing and recruitment strategies to fill the pipeline with more qualified potential hires.


SOLUTION:
Career Builders of Louisiana has developed the PTEC (Process Technology) initiative.  PTEC is a standardized curriculum for a two-year associate degree with dual enrollment by high school students in college-level courses.  It prepares students to work as process operators in the Louisiana chemical industry.  After we aggressively marketed the career and created a PTEC scholarship program, diversity initiatives, summer camps, and teacher initiatives all followed. Now the PTEC program is available at seven universities and institutions of higher learning across the state. 

Our satisfied client employers have shared numerous success stories about PTEC interns and graduates they have hired. Check it out at www.ptec101.com.

For high-performing students and mid-career adults who wish to pursue an associate of Applied Science degree in Process Technology, PTEC Scholarships may be available through the program. Career Buildes of Louisiana continues to partner with the Louisiana Chemical Association, and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

CHALLENGE:
Since July 2002, Louisiana’s new film and media production statewide has totaled $900 million. Louisiana is among the top three states in the country to produce films, the other two, Los Angeles and New York City, being the traditional leaders. This emerging industry requires a wide variety of skilled employees.

SOLUTION:
Career Builders of Louisiana developed the FOCUS program, which assists many key stakeholders solidify this industry in the state by developing curricula and educating and training workers in digital film production. These stakeholders include representatives from the film and digital media industry, secondary and post-secondary leaders, local businesses and interested Louisiana residents.

The program includes hands-on training at a film/media production work site, and it is evolving currently.

CHALLENGE:
Nationally, the healthcare industry has challenges, and Louisiana is no exception. The state has experienced a dramatic shortage of healthcare workers recently. In Louisiana alone, there are more than 11,000 current healthcare job vacancies with more to come rapidly over the next five years.

This alarming trend has increased the costs of healthcare services. The result is a compromise in the quality of services, and there is a crisis in the industry as it works to recruit and train a new workforce

.

SOLUTION:
Heal Louisiana is Career Builder of Louisiana’s statewide initiative that was created as a response to the shortage of healthcare workers in the state. It drives enrollment to post-secondary institutes geared to careers in healthcare and, thus, increases employment in the healthcare industry. In addition, Heal Louisiana educates the community, parents, school personnel and students about the healthcare industry’s workforce needs in phlebotomy, nursing, pharmacy, and healthcare technicians.

CHALLENGE:
Inland, Louisiana is the nation’s third leading producer of natural gas and the fourth leading producer of crude oil. In offshore oil and gas production, the state is the second leading natural gas producer and the third leading oil producer in the country.

However, these levels of success in the industry are in peril due to the following:

• There is a shortage of skilled employees at even entry level positions
• New strategies are necessary to improve available training and update the skills to retain current and potential employees
• It’s expected that 50 percent of the existing employees will retire within the next 10 years
• Indications are there will be more than 1,500 jobs available in Southeastern Louisiana within two or three years

SOLUTION:
Career Builders of Louisiana has an initiative, Explore Offshore, developed in partnership with LAFESTE, Shell E&P, PEC Premier, LSU Continuing Education, Louisiana Workforce Commission, Louisiana Recovery Authority, HUD, and a host of workforce investment boards (WIB’s). Explore Offshore works to:

• Fill the Employment Pipeline with marketing, branding and outreach
• Maximize the yield of hires by converting inquiries into trainees and students
• Provide support to potential employees -- financial, academic and social, and lets them know these resources are available
• Monitor progress and retention to ensure potential trainees are going through the curriculum process, maintaining passing grades and completing coursework
• Troubleshoot by streamlining processes and working to eliminate bottlenecks (real-time solutions)
• Promote career advancement. Participants in our Explore Offshore program can move from entry level to intermediate and advanced ($40,000-$60,000/year pay range) through ongoing training as riggers, roustabouts, deckhands, caterers and hydro blasters

CHALLENGE:
About 21.3 million people visited Louisiana in 2001, translating into $8.5 billion for the state’s economy. About 120,000 jobs statewide were listed in the travel industry alone at that time. The numbers have dipped quite a bit in recent years as our state recovers from hurricanes and, along with the nation, faces a critical economic downturn. But as hotels, attractions, restaurants and other sites are rebuilt, people are coming back to spend money. And new and bigger sites are being added. That means there is a slow but steady increase in the number of jobs for hotel managers, hospitality specialists, head chefs and tourism consultants.

SOLUTION:

CHALLENGE:
After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana has seen an increased need for construction workers as residents and businesses rebuild or build new sites. Unfortunately, almost a whole generation of workers never considered getting training for these skilled jobs as a long-term career goal. And the current trained workforce, from carpenters and electricians to plumbers and welders, were nearing retirement. Also, competition for skilled labor in the region has caused some unique challenges.

Housing has slowed down to some extent nationally, but we continue to rebuild in this state – a complicated mix in market contradictions. For storm rebuilding, an estimated $250 billion in insurance, private and federal money has come to the Gulf Coast for reconstruction. In addition, national studies indicate housing will continue to grow soon, although at a slower rate, and we’ll have a real need for those skilled in the building trades.

SOLUTION:

CHALLENGE:
“Louisiana: Vision 2020” identifies six technology areas as critical to Louisiana’s future. They include medical/biomedical; micro manufacturing; software, Internet and telecommunications; environmental technologies; food technologies; and advanced materials. A great example is Baton Rouge’s world-class Pennington Biomedical Research Center, where research is spinning off technology and attracting millions in additional research projects.

From food science and chemical engineering to biomedical research and nano technology, the industry is exploding both locally and nationwide. And as it explodes, so does the need for highly skilled and educated professionals to work in the industry.

SOLUTION:

CHALLENGE:
Transportation consists of industries that transport cargo and people via ground, rail, water, and air; as well as the support companies and infrastructure for these industries. Logistics is a boundary spanning activity playing a significant role in both traditional and fast growing industries.

In 2001, according to the recent Capital Region Competitive Strategy summary, “US freight transportation systems moved about $9 trillion in cargo, approximately $4 trillion of which was global expenditures.” This really hits home in Louisiana, where all the Class 1 railroads in North America connect, and where public and commercial airports statewide can accommodate the largest aircraft and house some of the world’s leading aerospace component manufacturers.

Louisiana also is home to five of the top 15 national ports, including three in the top 10, and its energy and petrochemical industry is connected by more than 40,000 miles of pipelines. We also serve a vital role in transportation and distribution industries in North America and worldwide. The complex river ports and water, rail and highway links make us a unique transportation hub – all in one state. These needs can only grow as the state does. So, too, will the need for those who can man these systems and their transports.

SOLUTION:

CHALLENGE:
Transportation consists of industries that transport cargo and people via ground, rail, water, and air; as well as the support companies and infrastructure for these industries. Logistics is a boundary spanning activity playing a significant role in both traditional and fast growing industries.

In 2001, according to the recent Capital Region Competitive Strategy summary, “US freight transportation systems moved about $9 trillion in cargo, approximately $4 trillion of which was global expenditures.” This really hits home in Louisiana, where all the Class 1 railroads in North America connect, and where public and commercial airports statewide can accommodate the largest aircraft and house some of the world’s leading aerospace component manufacturers.

Louisiana also is home to five of the top 15 national ports, including three in the top 10, and its energy and petrochemical industry is connected by more than 40,000 miles of pipelines. We also serve a vital role in transportation and distribution industries in North America and worldwide. The complex river ports and water, rail and highway links make us a unique transportation hub – all in one state. These needs can only grow as the state does. So, too, will the need for those who can man these systems and their transports.

SOLUTION: