Proposal to Improve Retraining Options

Many people struggling to find employment may feel skeptical about retraining. After all, if the number of job seekers exceeds the number of jobs available, what good will retraining bring you? The common notion is that there just aren’t enough jobs available to satisfy the demand.

However, this notion is far from accurate. The truth is, there are enough jobs out there. The problem is the growing gap between available jobs and qualified candidates. The harsh reality is that many people in the job market do not possess the skills needed in the fastest growing industries.

Skills for America’s Future is an education program proposed by the administration that has the potential to remedy this problem. Skills for America’s Future aims to improve industry partnerships with community colleges. Under the program, employers will be able to collaborate with community colleges to create course programs that match the curricula of the school to the needs of specific job openings. By doing so, Skills for America’s Future makes it easier to connect community college students looking for work to businesses looking to hire.

And if statistics are any indication, this concept is tried and tested. The most successful community colleges in the country are the ones that collaborate with the private sector. One of the most famous collaborations is with Cisco, a company known to work directly with community colleges to prepare students for various types of IT jobs. Skills for America’s Future aims to build on these successes to ensure that job seekers are able to learn key skills required by the fastest growing industries.