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Content & News Gov. Fallin looks to Council for ‘game changers’ Gov. Mary Fallin came to last week’s meeting of the Governor’s Council bearing both praise for its career readiness and other initiatives and assignments for future work. She challenged members to come up with “game changers” that can move Oklahoma toward her top priorities – more jobs and more efficient and effective government. As an example, she cited the newly reinstated aerospace engineer tax credit that the Council supported. As targets for further efforts, she pointed to Oklahoma’s unique and “exotic” niches, including leadership in unmanned aerial vehicles and the nation’s longest, widest runway at Burns Flat. “That’s exotic. That’s unique that you won’t find in other areas around the nation,” she said. And underpinning her focus on workforce and education, Gov. Fallin said she spends six to eight hours a week on parole cases. “It makes me sick,” she said. “The wasted lives. We need to focus on these young people and give them a better start.” The governor spent over an hour with the Council, listening, speaking, answering questions and showing support for the Council’s work and eagerness to hear its proposals.

Nation’s first statewide KeyTrain license is a hit Roughly 100 schools and a few businesses and other organizations are receiving no-cost licenses to use the Career Ready 101/KeyTrain education software through Oklahoma’s groundbreaking new statewide license with ACT. Project manager Jeane Burrus said applications are pouring in even before the license has been formally announced. ACT, which owns the software as well as WorkKeys and the ACT college admission tests, was sending out the first site licenses this week. Oklahoma is the first state to offer paid-up Career Ready 101/KeyTrain site licenses to any business or other organization interested in improving its workforce or other constituency. The Governor’s Council had been pursuing the statewide license through a special pilot arrangement with ACT as a way to help large numbers of students and workers upgrade the reading, math, and other skills that can pave the way to better jobs. More at okcareerplanner.com.

Employers want better skills certifications Oklahoma employers pointed to better skills certifications and four other building blocks that could frame a new, more responsive workforce development system. Seventy employers probed at seven extensive input sessions across the state – with additional input from an employer survey – put these blocks on their wish list:

Specific skill certifications as a key to employability – outranking college degree "generalists."

Clear menu of workforce services available to employers. Most employers just don’t

file:////maindc/users/gphillips/PDFS%2059/Council%20matters/2011-06-08%20Council%20matters.htm[1/24/2012 9:11:26 AM] Council Matters June 8, 2011 » Governors-Council » Oklahoma Department of Commerce

know what’s being offered.

Sector-specific websites and social media tools.

CareerTech and two-year college sites as focal points for employers.

Rapid redeployment of unemployment recipients, who are often seen as unmotivated.

The findings are documented in Building Blocks for an Employer-Responsive Workforce System 2011, just published by the Council, building on the work of service delivery design ad hoc team.

Council OKs strategic outline The Governor’s Council has approved a general outline of proposed Council goals, action plans and success metrics but gave leaders a long list of comments and suggestions for tweaking the details. The goals addressed at the Council’s strategic planning session last week are: 1. Align and integrate workforce / talent development system to be more efficient and effective. 2. Ensure talent supply meets employer demand. 3. Increase post-secondary educational attainment levels. Leadership and staff will merge member changes into the three-page action grid and bring it back for the Aug. 5 meeting.

VIP table. Secretary of Commerce Dave Lopez, Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi, Secretary of Education Phyllis Hudecki – all Governor’s Council members – and Gov. Mary Fallin share a laugh at the June meeting.

Will Oklahoma get $1 million to revamp college completion strategy? The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $1 million grants to 10 states to help them fund innovative statewide college completion strategies. Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Dave Lopez, who attended a Complete College America academy in March, is looking for Oklahoma to be one of the 10. “I will disappointed if we don’t get the million dollars by the end of summer,” he said at a Governor’s Council discussion last week. Oklahoma is one of 29 states participating in the two-year-old Complete College America initiative to spur bold action to get degrees or valued certificates into the hands of far more Americans – 6 out of 10 young adults by 2020. Today, the ratios are 4 of 10 in the U.S. and 3 of 10 in Oklahoma. Phyllis Hudecki, Secretary of Education, and Houston Davis, vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, also reported on the March academy. Complete College America is sponsoring the $10 million Completion Innovation Challenge with the support of the Gates Foundation. Winners will be announced July 13 with initial funding in August.

Council member David Lewis offers new job hunting twists David Lewis, who joined the Governor’s Council last year, doubled as a featured speaker last month, passing along some unconventional job- hunting wisdom to Workforce Partners conferees. Lewis, a senior manager at Express Employment Professionals, said a rifle approach, targeting three to five companies, beats the typical resume shotgun method. The trick, he said, is to continue making new contacts at the targeted companies, gradually positioning yourself as “one of them” and the logical choice to fill the next vacancy. Lewis also suggested creating a “master resume” that can be quickly customized for each job contact and told listeners to not believe ads that say a degree is required. Non-degree candidates get hired for those jobs every day, he said. Lewis ought to know. He led a group of offices that put tens of thousands of people to work before moving into Express’s franchising group, where he is now executive director. He also is the author of The Emerging Leader: Eight Lessons For Life in Leadership.

Oklahoma’s Reach Higher is one of a kind Fifty-two students earned degrees in organizational leadership last month through Oklahoma’s unique Reach Higher college completion program. Eight more are on track to receive degrees this summer, which would bring the Reach Higher grad total to 175. Another 370 students are pursuing bachelor’s and associate’s degrees, and 100 prospects stopped at the program’s booth at the spring OESC job fair last month. Dr. Debbie Blanke, vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, told a Workforce Solutions Staff Team meeting that while a few other states have similar programs at certain colleges or in certain majors, Oklahoma is the only state with a coordinated statewide completion program.

100 teachers are Aerospace Fellows at industry summit Oklahoma’s aerospace industry is hosting about 100 teachers as Aerospace Fellows at this week’s Aerospace Summit. To introduce STEM teachers from third to 12th grade to the opportunities in aerospace careers, the industry invited them to the Summit at the Tulsa Convention Center and to the Aerospace Education and Industry Partnership Day at Tulsa Tech Riverside Campus. The teachers and counselors will get teaching materials they can use in their classrooms, as well as a $100 stipend, lodging, an aerospace mentor, and the opportunity to compete for $10,000 in grants.

Easy Being Green teacher academy is big draw It’s not easy getting into the Easy Being Green teacher academy coming up next week in Oklahoma City. Just over 30 lucky teachers filled the available spaces in less than an hour of registration opening. Teachers will get an up close look at Oklahoma’s emergence in the Green economy, reinforce a basic understanding of alternative energies – and take home a free iPad that can be very handy for displaying scientific energy principles and accessing the new Easy Being Green online teacher community. The three-day academy will be held at the Science Museum of Oklahoma, Francis Tuttle Technology Center’s Portland campus, and PGC Worldwide, a Norman-based developer of sustainable energy for buildings. One highlight will be an interactive presentation by “Mr. Energy” Jerry Katz, president of the National Foundation for Energy Education. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce’s Oklahoma Green project is sponsoring the academy with the Oklahoma Museum Network.

Send us your news Got news of interest to Oklahoma’s workforce professionals? Accomplishments? Events? Tell us so we can spread the word. Email Greg Dent at [email protected].

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