A trained workforce is needed to protect operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) within national critical infrastructure and critical industries. However, what knowledge, skills, and credentials are employers looking for in OT cybersecurity professionals? To best train the next generation of OT cybersecurity professionals,…

New York City (NYC) ended 2020 with roughly 600,000 fewer jobs than it had when the COVID-19 pandemic began. But even amid the economic carnage of the past year, some employers in New York have been hiring. While new jobs are being created in fields from warehousing and delivery to healthcare, technology (tech) positions are growing the fastest.…

Community colleges are the leader in facilitating career and technical education (CTE) and workforce development (WD) programs. However, employers who hire recent graduates of these programs question the quality of the education provided. This qualitative study used a focus group comprised of manufacturing and engineering professionals in Florida…

The world is rapidly changing, and the systemic shifts have the potential to affect the nature of work. To prepare the workforce, it is crucial to develop the skills that will be necessary for the unpredictable landscape of the future. Before these skills can be developed, however, they have to be identified and quantified through some form of…

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund drew on previous research from various organizations including UNF and STEM2Hub in order to identify community stakeholders who could help us answer the question: What skills do students need to succeed in the 21st century workforce? JPEF conducted interviews and focus groups with educators and a variety of…

The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, more ubiquitously known by the acronym "STEM," have received a substantial amount of attention in recent years. As part of a research study investigating the alignment (or lack thereof) between the goals and priorities of educators and employers, we found it difficult to…

Current scholarship views organizational socialization as a learning process that is primarily the responsibility of the newcomer. Yet recent learning research recognizes the importance of the social interactions in the learning process. This study investigated how newly hired engineers at a large manufacturing company learned job-related tasks…

Suggests that, although technical skills are important, soft skills still make a critical difference in hiring in high-tech fields. Defines soft skills as the ability to think critically, work in teams, share ideas, and perform other non-technological tasks. Describes a study that found that employers still see a four-year college degree as the…

A survey of community college students discloses the power of stereotypes in career decision making for women and minorities. Neutralization of such stereotypes is vital to development of a balanced work force in technical careers. Survey procedures, findings, and recommendations are included. (CT)

A study was conducted to explore skills and work-related dispositions in technical work. It used a sociocultural approach to examine skills in seven target jobs in worksites representing diverse industries--health care, traffic management, transportation, and semiconductor manufacturing. It explored employers' strategies for obtaining the skills…

The United States is facing a great crisis: skills gaps in the work force imperil the nation's future. The crisis is elementary: the United States is not educating and training its citizens to be productive and competent members of the work force. Consequently, its people are not qualified enough to meet the demands of the high-technology economy…

The impact of changes in work organization on development of Portugese workers' skills was examined. At the macro level, a national study was conducted to identify current and possible future relationships among initial training, continuing training, the labor market, and industrial relations in Portugal. At the micro level, cases studies of three…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on the performance evaluation process and human resource development (HRD). "Assessing the Effectiveness of OJT (On the Job Training): A Case Study Approach" (Julie Furst-Bowe, Debra Gates) is a case study of the effectiveness of OJT in one of a high-tech manufacturing company's product…

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the growing population of elderly citizens will result in an increased demand for healthcare services that will rise for a full 50 years. This study assesses the need for healthcare sector workers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Information on the skills, education, and experience that…

The skill needs of Australian high-technology start-up companies and the implications of those skill needs for vocational education and training (VET) were examined through a study of 14 start-ups' inherent abilities to access the VET system and on VET's relevance to their needs. The case studies documented a strong demand and role for VET in the…