WESTMARC hosts professional development panel | Business

The West Valley’s population and industry is growing rapidly.

The Western Maricopa Coalition (WESTMARC) is meeting the change head-on, organizing events and workshops to inform business owners about the workforce’s shifting demographics and necessary skills needed to succeed.

On Nov. 20, the public-private partnership held its first in-person West Valley Workforce Success Series after a year of hosting the event quarterly via online seminar.

Dozens of employees from notable companies in the West Valley came to the panel, held at the West-MEC Northwest Campus in Surprise. There, they heard from Scott Holman, founder and CEO of HHR Consulting; Jessica Pierce, founder and CEO of Career Consulting; and Jim Grieshaber, director of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Dysart Unified School District, each sharing their expertise.

The panelists heavily focused on the need to develop soft skills among the younger generation: In 2025, over a quarter of the workforce will be Gen Z, the generation of people born after 1997, Pierce said.

“It is a significant group of people now that are going to be working in the workforce. We can’t dismiss that anymore,” she said.

Those early job seekers need to be taught the communication and team-working skills necessary to properly succeed, she said. Simultaneously, business owners must be prepared to recognize the skills they inherently can provide, given their familiarity with technology as the demand for artificial intelligence grows. She added that an emerging skill businesses desire is data analysis, because of its role in developing artificial intelligence.

The skills needed for an interview and job are not inherently present, the panelists said — an individual must learn them. Several schools across Arizona offer CTE courses, and they provide students the opportunity to learn the technical skills, knowledge and hands-on training they need for the workforce, Grieshaber said. Out of the Dysart Unified School District’s 8,000 high school students, 5,300 are on the CTE path.

“That means a little over 2,700 aren’t getting those same skills,” he said.

Grieshaber said he believes that CTE should be a requirement for graduation. Holman, a proponent of CTE programs, further supports the conclusion that any opportunity to learn interview and communication skills before entering into adulthood is a positive move.

WESTMARC is continuing its in-person programs with its 2024 West Valley Workforce Forum on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The event will highlight workplace development projects that businesses engaged in that have supported the West Valley Pipeline Regional Workforce Development Strategy this year, and about opportunities coming up in 2025. Speakers include Kevin Dumcum, the WESTMARC director of regional workforce development, and representatives from Banner Health and Sundt Construction.

If You Go…

2024 West Valley Workforce Forum

WHEN: 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10

WHERE: Arizona State University’s West Valley Campus, La Sala Ballroom, 13590 N. 47th Avenue, Phoenix

COST: Free; registration required

INFO: westmarc.org/wf24,

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