Resources in the Golden Triangle are working to fill the workforce gap

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – You could call it a good problem to have businesses with good-paying jobs steadily calling the Golden Triangle home.

They need people to fill those good-paying jobs.

Groups like the LINK and EMCC have put resources in place to help fill that gap, but not everybody knows where to look.

Connecting industries with the people they need to produce their goods and get them to market, that’s the challenge facing groups like the WIN Center, Communiversity, and Golden Triangle Development Link.

With new businesses on the horizon, they’re not just looking to build today’s workforce, they also need to prepare workers for jobs that are two to five years down the road.

For over a decade now, the Golden Triangle has been seeing a boom in manufacturing, and there is more growth on the horizon.

But those businesses and economic developers do have one pressing problem, finding enough well-trained workers for those well-paying jobs.

The Golden Triangle Development LINK has been instrumental in both bringing in that industry and finding that staff.

Vice President of Economic Development Betsy Young said with long-term growth they need long-term planning. That means starting the recruitment early.

“It takes a whole lot of different people and individuals to make those industries work. A lot of what we are working on doing is working with career coaches in the high schools and really just trying to get the message out to middle schoolers and high schoolers. It’s a lot more than what you see on the surface there is a whole lot more to it it really just takes all kinds of people,” said Young.

Young said that her team is working with industries to fill that workforce gap.

For some that may mean changing their standard of hiring.

“One of our organization’s missions is, identifying those barriers, finding solutions to those barriers, and what we see industries doing here is really changing the way that they hire and changing the qualifications to which they hire,” said Young.

Workforce Business Outreach and Training Manager, Ray Hollis said many businesses allow employees to start working while getting more advanced training through the Communiversity.

“We have a lot of companies that are moving into our area that are going to have a lot of openings and positions where they need to fill those positions. They don’t need highly skilled individuals they need basic skills so that they can come in and start working with the company and then work with us as well when they come in to get more advanced training, ” said Hollis.

For those who think that their schedule is too busy, EMCC offers classes that are catered to the agenda of the students.

Hollis said if you’re looking for that career change, now may be the time to take that first step.

“For an individual that is out there and thinking, ‘well I’m kind of stuck in a rut’ or ‘I don’t know if I want to do this’ the first thing I would say is ‘just contact us’. Reach out to EMCC and go to the website, ” said Hollis.

Both Young and Hollis say that it’s important to take advantage of the resources the golden triangle has to offer.

You can contact both at GTRLINK  and EMCC

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