Talascend Brings Together Industry and Education to Promote Technical Manufacturing in Michigan

Official Talascend Release
November 15, 2013

In an effort to aide in Michigan’s technical skills shortage, Talascend Worldwide Technical Resources, in conjunction with the Design and Manufacturing Alliance (DMA), hosted their Fourth Annual, Breakfast Brainstorm at Oakland Community College’s Auburn Hills Campus on October 25th.

The purpose of this annual event is to strengthen relationships between education and industry and build upon an existing platform of professionals that share in the same passion of finding a solution to the on-going skill gap shortages across southeast Michigan. Attendees engaged in an action based collaboration, focused on developing employees compatible with today’s growing needs of technology, design and quality in the manufacturing arena.

The agenda of the meeting focused on three main elements that guided discussion.

1) What kinds of positions are “not” being filled? In general, industry attendees agreed that technical manufacturing positions are the most challenging to fill at the present time. The roles within range from Quality and Design positions to more of a combined engineering skill set such as Mechatronics (Mechanical and Electronics). Computer Aided Technology roles are also in high demand and hard to fill.

2) What skills are lacking when positions are filled? On top of the technical skill refinements, one of the biggest challenges industries face in skill set requirements are the basic soft skill job requirements. Skills such as collaboration, communication, team work and professional business acumen are very minimal in recent college graduates entering the workforce.

3) What does this mean for employers and educator? There is an immediate need to review and create curriculum with strengthened emphasis on technical and base skill development. Promoting a hands-on learning environment is the only way to teach this discipline and we must challenge children to develop their own hands on experience with realistic expectations.

The following programs and resources were introduced during the discussions that are means to unite employers and education and ultimately assist in this talent initiative.

The Workforce Intelligence Network (WIN) presented their “2013 Information Tech Overview” which provided data on the top Engineering, Design and Technical positions to date.

MAT² is a program designed to bring apprenticeship programs back into the workforce by engaging education and industry to help grow the talent pool that matches today’s business needs.

Oakland County Michigan Works saw the need for the emerging skills in advanced manufacturing and to assist in the state’s preparation; they developed a Skills Needs Assessment Project (SNAP). The SNAP Report identifies both emerging and traditional employment opportunities in advanced manufacturing and specifies both the technical and human skill requirements for the identified positions.

The brainstorm concluded with a commitment from attendees to continue networking to promote action to further the cause for a well trained workforce.

Please join in our collaboration. A LinkedIn Group was created to promote further discussion and industry relationships: Talascend Industry and Education Collaboration.

About Talascend

Talascend is a Veteran Owned Business that is dedicated to the success of our nation’s civilian and veteran personnel. To date, the Talascend organization has a staff of 60 experienced and tenured recruiting professionals, a contract community of nearly 700 employees working on-site at our partnering accounts, and a candidate community of 1.2M+ engineering, technical and skilled trade professionals.

With 75+ years of staffing success, Talascend has been one of the most reliable and effective providers of strategic staffing solutions for clients serving multiple industry verticals needing top talent in engineering, technical, and skilled trade disciplines. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, the Talascend companies have worked with some of the world’s largest and best-known organizations on an extensive range of high-profile projects nationwide. If you are looking for a new career, or to grow your workforce, contact us today!