What are the skills that everybody in the
workforce everyone from bank presidents
to hotel housekeeper needs if they
hope to hold a job?
A new program spent much of the last
year identifying the skills that employers
view as critical and now is teaching them to
people who've had trouble winning or holding
a job.
Since it began teaching the basic skills at
the start of July, the Workforce Partnership
of Northern Nevada has awarded its work
readiness certificate to five people, said
Project Coordinator Susan C. Fix.
The basic skills ranging from punctuality
to the ability to complete a task are
taught during two-week sessions at Reno's
Career Choices, a private firm which won
grant funding to oversee the training.
A mail survey of 1,900 employers in
the region last year asked them to
identify the basic skills needed to hold
a job, Fix said. The survey drew 163
responses.
The list of necessary attributes, Fix
said, was similar in every way but one to
a list developed by employers in the San
Diego area, which adopted a similar
effort a year earlier.
The difference? Northern Nevada
employers gave greater importance to
conflict resolution.
Fix said organizers hope the work
readiness certificate, which is awarded
only after participants pass a battery of
tests, is considered as a "hire-me-first
ticket" by employers.
Workforce Partnership will follow up
with employers in three, six and nine
months to determine if its students have
sufficiently learned the workplace skills.
Critical Skills
Attendance
Applications
Adaptability
Teamwork
Reading
Math
Punctuality
Resumes
Listening
* Speaking
* Writing
* Appearance
* Interpersonal relations
* Resume cover letters
* Conflict resolution
* Customer service
* Problem solving
* Telephone etiquette
* Task completion
* Interviewing
* Organizing and planning
* Work habits, attitudes
and behaviors
* Knowledge of safety
procedures
* Knowledge of basic
computer tools
