Minnesota's training, resource and accreditation program for pathways to sustainable employment (FastTrac), for example, uses a modular approach to obtaining credentials that is based on the I-BEST program in Washington (Hoffman and Reindl, 2011). With their own track record of great success, WRTP and BIG STEP partnered to facilitate more effective employer-driven coordination of worker preparation to better ensure that people preparing for employment gain the skills and experiences that employers need. There seems to be a general consensus among education experts that policy makers, educators, and employers should do a better job helping students and adult workers understand the link between education and training programs and employment. In order to address the challenges of developing a qualified technical workforce, some employers have signed up to participate in the Skills for America's Future program, a federal initiative designed to encourage partnerships between employers and community colleges.
Section 6.4 analyzes training programs for employers, including the role of employers in developing internships, as well as the efforts of unions to promote joint programs between labor and management. It also includes the development of resources for career exploration and guidance, and is used to encourage employers to make hiring decisions based on work-related competencies and not on credentials. Sector initiatives or associations (also known as sectoral employment programs) are regional associations in which a training provider is committed to preparing people to work in a specific industry with the expectation that employers in that industry will hire them.
