This document summarizes a webinar about competency-based credentials and effective employer engagement. The webinar discussed how engaging employers as strategic partners, beyond just business advisory committees, is important to build a market for competency-based credentials. It identified seven key factors for successful industry partnerships, including regularly engaging employers and ensuring partnerships are employer-led. Presenters from organizations like the Manufacturing Institute and a utility company discussed their work developing competency standards and credentials with employers. The next webinar in the series will focus on what colleges can do to support competency-based credentials.

1. Making a Market for
Competency-Based Credentials:
Effective Employer Engagement
Second in a series of three webinars:
Webinar 3: What Can Colleges Do?
Nov. 5th

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3. Today’s Presenters
Dr. Keith Bird
CSW
Brent Weil
Manufacturing
Institute at NAM
Troy Nutter
Puget Sound Energy
& PNCECE
Partnership
Moderator
Melodee Mabbitt, CSW

4. Upcoming Report
Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials
Thanks to the Surdna Foundation for their support
of this important work
Slides available at www.skilledwork.org

5. What is a competency-based
credential?
 Accurately assures competencies, based on skills
and knowledge of the holder
 Awarded based on demonstration of those
competencies
 Aligns with specific industry standards and
founded on the skills/competencies needed by
employers

6. Current State of Play…
In a nutshell
Competency-based credentialing as a
concept resonates widely
Large-scale adoption and use needs:
 Transparency (common language, registries)
 Interoperability (quality assurance, data
infrastructure)
 Making the Return on Investment clear to
employers, job seekers, and educators

7. Building the Market: Five Key
Elements

8. 8

9. Employers as Strategic Partners…
Beyond Business Advisory Committees
9

10. 10
Employers as Advisors Employers as Strategic Partners
Attend Business Advisory
Committee meetings once or
twice a year to provide high
level curriculum input and
discuss labor market
opportunities
Are engaged in numerous ways:
• Identifying critical competencies
• Curriculum and assessment design
• Work- based learning
• Internships (students and faculty)
•Providing adjunct faculty and equipment
•Mapping Career Pathways
Respond to surveys and report
placement data
Help design surveys, use their connections
to increase the survey response rate, and
partner in designing the success metrics.
Work one-on-one with the
workforce units in colleges to
get their individual (customized)
training needs met.
Work with colleges (both
technical/academic and workforce
units)and their partners over time to
address workforce development needs,
especially in sector/cluster approaches
among groups of employers in industries
important to the regional economy.

11. 11
Employers as Advisors Employers as Strategic Partners
Hire graduates as needed from
existing programs.
Work with colleges to identify and map
career pathway opportunities for
students/workers, fill program gaps as
necessary, and establish an adequate
pipeline of qualified workers.
Talk about the importance of
higher skills and advise on
curriculum.
Work with colleges and provide subject
matter experts (SMEs) to identify the
competencies and skill standards needed;
design relevant curriculum and
assessments; and develop and use market
relevant credentials.
Participate sporadically on an
“as needed” basis when asked
by college or program staff.
Are engaged on an ongoing basis in program
design and refinement, and hire the
graduates of the program on a regular basis
because they have confidence in their skills
preparation.

12. The Evolution of the Business-Education
Partnerships
“Off the shelf” course offerings
Needs assessment/customized training
Organizational development approach
(“Trusted Partner” – often one on one)
Deep engagement in an industry- shared ownership of standards,
curriculum and assessments
(Provide solutions through cross industry and regional sector
partnerships)

13. Industry (Sector) Partnership
“Sustained Employer
Engagement”
7 Success Factors
13

14. 7 Success Factors
1. Strategic recruitment of employers
2. Ensure that the partnership is employer led
and driven
3. Have diversified and regular contact with
employers, including face-to-face meetings
4. Align your activities and tactics with your
strategic goals and the core workforce
challenges of your industry
• Solutions driven, not program driven
14

15. 7 Success Factors
5. Understand the critical role of the
convener/intermediary in building and
maintaining employer engagement (“glue”)
6. Understand the role of funding, leveraging and
incentives to engage employers
7. Identify, measure, and communicate
outcomes; and ensure that employers clearly
see the value of their engagement
15

16. Siemens business units see value in its use of
competency-based credentials
 Well-Trained, Work-Ready Technical Workers. The Siemens Mechatronics
Systems Certification emphasizes in-demand industrial skills, troubleshooting,
and hands-on practice, providing employers with knowledgeable workers, who
are able to easily move into a variety of production, technician, and/or
engineering roles.
 Objective Certification of Workers’ Technical Skills. The certifications provide
an objective, industry-aligned assessment of mechanical, electrical, and digital
technical skills, troubleshooting, and mechatronic systems thinking.
 Cost Savings on Training and Education. Companies and industries can receive
much-needed skilled technical workers while drawing on local education and
training resources instead of always relying on private training companies.

17. Brent Weil
Senior Vice President
The Manufacturing
Institute

18. 18
The Manufacturing Institute is the authority on the attraction,
qualification, and development of world-class manufacturing talent.

20. Manufacturers Need New
Workforce Strategies
Top sources for new employees
52%
40%
40%
32%
26%
18%
15%
14%
8%
6%
Word of mouth
Staffing agencies
Online Job Boards
Newspaper Ads
Company recruiting function
External search firms
Company Websites
Tech schools
Community colleges
Other
The Manufacturing Institute & Deloitte - October 2011

21. Competency-based, customized education and training for the
manufacturing workforce
21

22. Founding Partners
Partners

23.  Lower recruiting costs
 Lower entry-level training costs
 Improved employee retention
 Improved opportunities for advancement
 Improved employee engagement and input
 Lower relocation costs
 Improved workplace safety
Values Associated with
Credentialing

24.  Certified Students
 Certified Instructors
 Certified Schools
Quality Workforce

25. National Impact Requires State and
Regional Champions

26. October 4, 2013October 4, 2013
http://www.mfgday.com/

27.  The Manufacturing Institute Website:
www.themanufacturinginstitute.org
 Employer Resources
 Certification Information
 Webinar Series
 Join our Mailing List
 The M-List:
www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Skills-Certification/
 Employer Toolkit:
www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Skills-Certification/
Resources

28. Brent Weil
Senior Vice President
The Manufacturing Institute
E-mail: bweil@nam.org
www.themanufacturinginstitute.org
@TheMfgInstitute
Contact Information

29. Troy Nutter
 Manager, Operational Training for Puget Sound
Energy
 On PNCECE Board for 8 years
 Primary roles on Board:
 Chair, DOE Smart Grid Training Grant Governance
Board
 Chair, DOL WIRED Grant Executive Leadership
Team
 Industry representative

30. Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean
Energy: A Centralia College (WA) Partnership
cleanenergyexcellence.org
 Formed in 2004 as the Center of
Excellence for Energy Technology with
Centralia College as convener– now
serves five states
 Deep industry engagement: Involves
major power generation plants (coal,
hydro, and wind), plus major public
utilities around the state
30

31. Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean
Energy: A Centralia College (WA) Partnership
cleanenergyexcellence.org
 Key partners are Labor, community
colleges, workforce boards, and
industry experts
 Products include articulated “skills
standards” for key occupations,
shared purchase of key curriculum, a
revised apprenticeship program, and
the creation of a hands-on training
facility at an un-used nuclear power
plant
31

32. Value of establishing and using skill
standards
 Industry workforce planning
 Apprenticeship
 Direct link/alignment between college courses
and work based apprenticeship
 Common language
 Contextualization
 Military skill crosswalks

33. How do credentials and credentialing
fit into the skills standards picture?
 Portable tool with value
 We (industry partners) are all in this together –
we all want quality workers. We create synergies
by working together.
 Conversation among partners is as valuable as the
products.
 We share common concerns and develop solutions
through a strategic approach.

34. What will the partnership (Center) be
pursuing in the future?
 Identify the foundational skills that apply across
all of our skill standards—those competencies that
are common across all occupations.
 Work with K-12 to integrate those foundational
skills into their curriculum through
contextualization.
 Additional skill panels across the industry to
expand our deeper understanding of the
competencies required.

35. Questions?

36. Next Webinar
Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials: What Can Colleges Do?
November 5- 1:00 – 2:15 ET
Presenters:
 Maria Coons, Harper College, IL
 Barbara Hins-Turner, Pacific NW Center of Excellence
for Clean Energy, Centralia College, WA
 Becky Nickoli, Ivy Tech, IN
 Jeannine La Prad and Keith Bird, CSW
•NCWE Conference Session- Oct.17- Milwaukee