Employers: Look for certifications when hiring entry-level staff

Terrebonne Parish Public School Students earned more than 3,000 certifications by their 2018 graduation.

HOUMA, October 17, 2018 – It’s an HR manager’s dream: Finding a low-cost way of assessing an applicant’s skill sets and training.

Luckily, employers have a new tool they can use when hiring entry-level employees, being brought to the hiring community via the Jump Start career pathway program.

Jump Start is Louisiana’s career and technical education program which aims to begin career training while students are still in high school, allowing them to earn industry-based certifications and culminating their high-school career with a Career Diploma. The program sets the students up to enter the workforce and/or continue their education with a head start on skill sets needed by employers.

Say you’re a retailer looking to increase your staff for the holiday shopping season: wouldn’t it be nice to hire a young person for evening shifts who has some training in customer service? The Jump Start program offers a Customer Service and Sales certification – and students across Terrebonne Parish are testing for the certification this fall.

But Customer Service and Sales is only one of the certifications available to students. Terrebonne Parish School students can earn several of the following in their junior and senior years:

• Adobe Certified Associate Photoshop

• ASE Automotive certifications (auto body/collision and repair technology/technician, drive train and axels, electrical/electronics, engine performance and repair, heating/air conditioning, maintenance/light repair, steering/suspension, and transmission/transaxel)

• ASE Welding Level 1

• Certified Nursing Assistant

• Certified Restaurant Server

• CIW Web Design Specialist, Network Technology Associate, Internet Business Associate

• Emergency Medical Responder

• FEMA National Incident Management System

• First Aid/CPR/AED

• Food and Beverage Executive

• Louisiana Micro-Enterprise

• Microsoft Office Specialist

• Microsoft Office Specialist Master

• MOUS Office Specialist 2010

• NCCER Core

• NCCER Carpentry Level 1 and 2

• NCCER Electrical Level 1 and 2

• NCCER Welding Level 2

• OSHA 10 General Industry

• Pro Start S/P2 Safety and Pollution Prevention

• ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certificate

• T2 Production Safety Systems

• WorkKeys (skills evaluation in applied math, graphic literacy and workplace documents

These Jump Start career diplomas give students a level of knowledge in these areas, offering companies new options when hiring entry-level staff and providing students skills sets upon which they can build through their career or further education.

College-bound students are also earning certifications in the business and production safety applications, all extremely useful as they further their education.

In fact, in its first graduating year of the various Jump Start curriculum, Terrebonne Parish School District graduates approximately 42% of its student population with a total of 3,361 certifications in 2018; that’s 480 graduates with industry-based certifications in hand. In May 2019, the system anticipates graduating approximately another 450 with certifications.

Discussion has started about conducting a job fair in Spring 2019 to help these pending graduates connect with potential employers. If your company would be interested in participating in such a job fair, please contact TEDA at 985-873-6890.

Students training for entry-level jobs

Terrebonne Economic Development Authority is touting a local school district program that aims to provide high school students with problem-solving skills and the ability to be trained to fill entry-level jobs.

The ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate test is given to Terrebonne students on Jump Start Career Pathway tracks, some upper level English students and students who scores a 21 or less on the ACT college entrance test.

TEDA says students can earn certifications that verify proficiency in problem solving; critical thinking; reading and using work-related text; applying information from workplace documents and mathematical reasoning to solve problems; locating, synthesizing and applying information presented graphically; and comparing, summarizing and analyzing information presented in multiple graphics.

“Why is this valuable to businesses? These areas indicate students’ strength in using mathematical reasoning and problem-solving techniques to solve work-related problems,” TEDA said.

Among the skills student are taught are solving problems using mathematical skills, identifying a trend and figuring out a goal to a new situation, TEDA said.

Students with WorkKeys certificates can help employers better align their new hires’ skills with those needed for a job, TEDA said. That also translates into “shorter training times with greater knowledge retention, reduced turnover, increased performance ratings for skilled workers, improved employee morale and decreased operator error.”

Students with certification are being advised to note this on their resumes and job applications. They can be verified at http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/workkeys-for-educators/ncrc.html.

For information, call Katherine Gilbert-Theriot at TEDA at 873-6890.