By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
No matter what industry you work in, there will inevitably be some innovation that changes the way your work is done. New tools. New regulations. New techniques. Sometimes you make changes because it benefits you and your business. Sometimes because it’s required. But regardless of why you make them, changes can often require new training.
Because of this, Robin Harris explained, Ashland Community & Technical College offers customized employee training through their Workforce Solutions program.
Harris, who serves as the Director of Workforce at ACTC, spoke to the Grayson Chamber of Commerce this month to help make them aware of the program and discuss different ways it could help with their specific training needs.
Harris explained that her department offers everything from short term training, which can be wrapped up in as little as two week, to apprenticeships which can last a great deal longer. The lengths of each program varies, she said, depending on the needs of the individual and the requirements of the course load. None of the trainings or continuing education programs take as long as a traditional college education. But, they are sometimes based in specialized fields and can take intense and focused training.
For instance, they offer a CDL program that can be completed in four weeks, with sessions beginning every two weeks. It’s 160 hours of intensive training, but participants leave ready to go to work. They’ve trained over 42 drivers since July of last year Harris and apprenticeship project coordinator Kevin Harrison explained. While the pay for drivers can vary – depending on a variety of factors – pay for certified linemen can start at around $65,000 a year. Everyone who goes through ACTC Workforce Solutions lineman program leaves with that certification and their CDL.
Certification programs are also offered for nursing aides and other short-term healthcare training.
Harrison noted that they also offer over 26,000 types of apprenticeships, which Harris added, “can be in any industry.”
But the services Chamber members might be most interested in, they said, were the short-term trainings and customized trainings.
“Short term training is really our focus,” Harris said.
So, if you want to migrate your team from PC to Mac, or vice versa, or switch to a new piece of software, Workforce Solutions can help you with that training, she explained. And, they can even help with some costs through a KCTCS training grant with as few as five people enrolled.
What if you only have two people to train?
They can help with that too. Harris gave the example of a pair of nursing homes where one employer had three employees to train, another had two, and they joined together to share the training. Harrison gave another example of a pair of electricians who each sent three employees to share training.
Employees can also do some of the training in their spare time too.
Harris noted that they have added more self-directed, online classes through their ed2go.com portal.
“There’s training for everything,” she said, with programs usually taking around three months to complete.
It’s grown even more after the pandemic, she said, explaining that because of COVID they had to rethink the way they did things.
“Everything went virtual,” she said, noting their program, “(tries) to keep up with what the needs are.”
As part of that she solicited feedback from Chamber members, noting they are not alone in requesting more soft-skills training and courses on interpersonal skills and customer relations.
Harris and Harrison said anyone interested in furthering their own training and opportunities, or in help with continuing education and training for their employees, can find information online at https://ashland.kctcs.edu/workforce-solutions/ or search online classes through the ed2go.com portal.
You can also find them on Facebook at actcworkforcesolutions or reach out via email at AS_Workforce@kctcs.edu.
In other chamber news, Chamber president Jill York noted that the Grayson and Olive Hill Chambers reached more than 71,000 people through their Merry & Bright promotions, and would do more joint promotions in the future. She said the Chamber had received several new memberships following the event – including KLM Electric, Smoker Friendly, and At Home Care – and that Smoker Friendly noted they joined specifically because they were impressed by the cooperation between the Grayson and Olive Hill Chambers.
On top of the promotional reach of the livestreams, York said, they had more than 4,000 link clicks through to the sites of featured businesses. She said she didn’t know the numbers for each business, but she hoped those increased clicks and attention translated to an increase in contacts and sales for member businesses.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
