FMHA Workforce Development Initiative

FMHA’s Workforce Development Initiative is underway, focusing on how best to assist FMHA’s membership with employee recruitment and retention. This effort will identify resources already available in member regions, explore best practices in use now, and seek out partnerships with educational institutions. Recognizing the limitations of face-to-face interactions during COVID-19, we’ll look for ways to leverage technology and virtual contacts to raise awareness of the manufactured housing industry as an attractive career option for job seekers, and students who may join our ranks in the future. As we work toward these goals, we’ll be sharing more information with our members along the way. Check back soon.
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NEWS

​FMHA Conference 2021
Speaker’s Notes and Resource Links
Staffing Up! Finding Qualified Employees
Lisa Cashulette, MBA, PMP, DASM

Session Content:

• Discuss resources for workforce development in Florida
• Complete three exercises
• Review strategic planning approach for HR
• Wrap up – seven things you can do

 
State of the State

• In April 2021, Florida’s unemployment rate was 4.8%.
• Florida lost 1,269,200 jobs from February to April 2020 and has since gained back over half of the jobs lost (+766,000 jobs).
• Nationally, more than 3 million women dropped out of the workforce over the past year.

• The link below is to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It includes employment and labor statistics for states, counties, metro areas, and Census regions.

https://www.bls.gov/lau/

• The link below is to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).

https://floridajobs.org/workforce-statistics/workforce-statistics-data-releases/latest-statistics

• The link below is to the April 2021 press release about state employment and unemployment figures. The next update is expected on June 18, 2021 at 10 am.

http://lmsresources.labormarketinfo.com/library/press/release.pdf
 
CareerSource

• CareerSource has 24 regional boards throughout Florida, and many of those have multiple offices within an area. This regional approach means there is no one central location to go through for all of your openings.
• CareerSource can help with candidate screening, and referring qualified candidates to you.
• Each office operates a little differently, so you’ll want to request an account manager or a business development manager (titles vary among offices).
• Now that more people are getting vaccinated and masking mandates are being relaxed, watch for the return of job fairs. Pre-pandemic, CareerSource provided a variety of job fairs and hiring events.
• Now that the work-search requirement is back, and the extra federal dollars benefit will end June 26, will be interesting to see what happens.

 
https://careersourceflorida.com/business-services/
 
 
Get There Florida
 

• Get There Florida is a state initiative to get people trained for skilled jobs in FL. CTE programs are broken up into 17 different career pathways, which covers just about anything you can think of.
• High schools, state colleges, technical colleges.
• Some of these programs are focused very narrowly on specific industries, such as aerospace, or robotics for distribution centers (think Amazon).
• One of the best ways to get involved with this is to start working with schools that offer CTE programs. This requires an ongoing commitment to working with students and schools.
• Apprentice Florida – effort to develop apprenticeship programs in high-growth industries.
• SkillUp Florida – This effort is a partnership with several colleges in Central Florida, and the focus is on helping people who are changing fields, or lost their jobs during COVID. Areas of study include several construction related areas. Colleges include Daytona State, Indian River, Valencia, and Seminole.

 
https://gettherefl.com/
 
 
Skillbridge
 

• Skillbridge is not a state of FL program. It is a national program sponsored by the Department of Defense. Skillbridge is an opportunity to attract those who are separating from the military.
• Companies can sign up to be Skillbridge partners.
• Allows servicemembers to work at a civilian job as they transition out of the military.
• You do have to set up a training program, and be accepted as an authorized partner. May be best for those who have military bases nearby.
• If you want former military, but don’t want to enroll in Skillbridge, working directly with those who do out-processing for military bases would be another way to go.

 
https://dodskillbridge.usalearning.gov/industry-employers.htm
 
 
Writing your Elevator Pitch

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• What do you want?
• What is your follow-up plan?
• Needs to be short and compelling. Maybe 3 minutes.
• What do you want? This will depend on what kind of job you want to fill.
• Follow up plan – If you were pitching to an employer, you’d say something like, “I’d like to get in touch next week to discuss this further.”
  For this you might say – “I’d like to get your contact information, so my HR director can call you directly with more information. Would that be OK?”
  You can inexpensively print contact cards for this purpose. If they say yes, have them complete the card on the spot, and offer them one of your business cards. You should have a service level agreement. For example: Someone will contact you within three days.
  Keep their information on file, so you can contact people in the future, too. They may not be interested now, but might be looking for a job in the future.

 
The links below are to various sources on how to write elevator pitches. They are geared toward job seekers, but the information and structure provided would apply to a pitch for any purpose.
 
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/how-to-give-an-elevator-pitch-examples
 
https://zety.com/blog/elevator-pitch
 
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/elevator-speech-examples-and-writing-tips-2061976
 
 
Strategic planning for HR

• Strategic planning often done for the entire organization.
• Also valuable for planning for specific areas that present unique challenges or opportunities for an organization.
• You can use the tried and true SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, just focused on HR.
• Tip – There is no short cut. Start at the beginning. Gather the information, share it with your team, study it. Don’t assume that you know everything already about your business, your competition, or your employees.

 
Competitive Intel

• How much do you know about your competition? What are they offering?
• Who is your competition? This may be much broader than it used to be.
  • Example – Builder used to compete with other builders for staff. Now they are competing with a new distribution center that has opened up.
• What businesses or industries have moved into your area in the past year?
• Which ones are growing? If they are growing, they are getting people somewhere.
• If you have people leaving to go elsewhere, try to get as much info as you can about where they are going and why. Make the exit interview very collegial. Or talk with them informally while they are still working for you.
• Position your company as a key employer in your area. How many years have you been operating in your community? How many people do you employ? How visible are you in the community?

 
Employee Benefits

• Examine the opt-in rate for benefits. How many of your team members have signed up for the benefits you offer?
• How well have you communicated the value of your benefits? (compensation statement posted in conspicuous place)
• What other benefits would match your employees’ needs? Consider their age cohort. The best way to find out what benefits people really like or really want is to ask. When is the last time you conducted an employee survey about benefits?
• Consider the financial wellness of current and new employees. Some new employees may have not worked for a year, while others might have not worked enough hours to keep up. Some may also be among those who have not paid their rent during the pandemic. This puts them especially at risk for leaving your organization for companies that are paying signing bonuses.
• How many of your current employees have been impacted financially by the pandemic? Think about whether they might benefit from some kind of financial counseling service, or advising service.

 
Seven Things You Can Do

• Create list of people you can approach about work
• Get team members involved in suggesting people you can approach
• Print your contact cards for gathering prospect information
• Write your elevator pitch & PRACTICE it!
• Contact your CareerSource office or local military post/base
• Check out job seeker pages on FaceBook
• Schedule your HR strategic planning session

 
 
Just For Fun…. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a game where you try to figure out how Kevin Bacon (who is presumably the center of the Hollywood universe) is connected to anyone else in Hollywood.
 

• The link below is to a website where you can play the game, and figure out how many degrees of separation there are between Kevin Bacon and your favorite Hollywood figures.

 
https://oracleofbacon.org/
 

• This link has some information about the history of the game, as well as a link to a Six Degrees 501c3 organization set up by Kevin Bacon.

 
https://atomtickets.com/movie-news/history-of-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/