
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993                   TAG: 9310060071
SECTION: INDUSTRY RECOGNITION                    PAGE: IR-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BY JOANNE ANDERSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JOB TRAINING, EDUCATION ARE POSITIVE INVESTMENTS

There's not much disputing the fact that investments in job training and employee education can pay big dividends in terms of increased productivity, reduced turnover and, ultimately, higher profits. The challenge for industry is finding the best way to implement on-going training programs and allocate the resources before realizing the gain.

There is "no such thing as an unskilled worker," says Barbara Schryver, an information specialist with Manpower Temporary Services. The mission of managers and supervisors is to discover the skills and interests of employees, ideally before they are hired, and develop the person's abilities to fit the job and benefit the company.

While the cost versus the long-term benefit is difficult to specify, doing nothing is probably going to cost more than doing something.

In Montgomery County, there are several organizations and colleges which offer services, classes and skills training. For basic skills such as reading and writing, the Literacy Volunteers provide individual tutoring and can arrange to work at a company.

The Joint Committee on Education of the Christiansburg-Montgomery County and Greater Blacksburg Chambers of Commerce sponsors a career fair each year for ninth graders. Each student is asked for two career areas of interest. During the fair,the young people attend two seminars to learn more about specific careers from speakers in those business fields.

Several corporations have entered into educational partnerships with Montgomery County elementary and secondary schools. The companies may contribute money for specific projects, give tours of their factories to classes and send representatives to the school classrooms for special presentations.

The continuing education departments at Virginia Tech and Radford University are involved in several programs for business and industry training, mostly for management-level employees or prospective employees.

At New River Community College, the continuing education office works with business and industry to assist employees in developing basic skills, such as reading and writing or preparing for a General Education Development certificate.

The workplace is changing, according to Fran Mitchell of New River Community College's continuing education staff. Job requirements are "moving from brawn to brains, and good employees need to become critical thinkers and problem solvers."

The Center for Training and Development at New River Community College offers training for business, industry and government in everything from geometric tolerancing and precision machining to Total Quality Management issues.

The New River Valley Human Resources organization works with unemployed people to develop job skills. The agency is the local administrative arm for the federal government's Job Training Partnership Act and operates cooperatively with several local firms to place potential employees in training at the company while they learn.

Many employers have their own company-sponsored training programs and tuition reimbursement plans. "These reimbursement programs which companies have generously developed remain quite under-used by employees," stated Mitchell.

Teamwork is stressed in the workplace of the '90s, and the concept is just as important among businesses, the community, educational entities and government agencies to assure that Montgomery County's work force is knowledgeable, skilled and prepared to perform the jobs of the 21st century.

by CNB