Over the past 6+ months, GROW Licking County and our partners from Licking County ESC/BCAC, OhioMeansJobs - Licking County, C-TEC of Licking County, Central Ohio Technical College, Licking County Foundation, the Licking County Chamber & Facebook worked with our consulting team from Thomas P. Miller & Associates (TPMA) to develop an overarching skills gap and competitiveness analysis.
What did we learn?
On the whole, we are doing pretty well but we have work to do! From the SWOT (below).
Key drivers include:
Strong existing workforce programs
Educator-employer partnerships not at full capacity for county (room to grow)
Upskilling opportunities and interest abundant
Regional competitiveness & no clear pathway from under-skilled/underemployed into economic-based careers. on.
With the SWOT identified, it is now imperative to review what our local education & industry partners are doing to highlight these experiences, what the exposures are for local opportunities, how we are engaging skills to employers (and their employees) and how these careers are being explored locally (see below).
So what is next?
As our local partners continue to work through the above, our team has begun to explore the development and implementation on Career Pathways in 4 key industries in Licking County (Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, E-Commerce/Warehousing, & Healthcare).
We’ll be posting updates here on our website. Stay tuned!