Background:

Employers from high-growth sectors in Sacramento, throughout California, and across the nation have identified inter-related skills which workers must master if businesses are to increase their competitiveness and fully realize the potential of their employees. A lack of these often misnamed “soft skills,” better defined as “next generation” or “Next Skills”, often prevent employees from remaining employed, being promoted, or pursuing career paths.  A review of eleven workforce studies identified eight categories of skills that were most frequently reported by 64%-82% of employers surveyed as “most important.” These eight categories have now been developed into the following eight, 8-hour (not-for-credit) training modules:

Next Skills Training Modules: (Click here for course descriptions.)

1. Effective Listening
2. Verbal Communication for Working Professionals
3. Employability Skills
4. Service Orientation
5. Interpersonal Skills for Building Teamwork
6. Diversity: Valuing Cultural Differences at Work
7. CANDO: Navigating Technology @ Work
8. Creativity and Innovation for Everyone

The Next Skills curriculum is unique:

• The Next Skills curriculum is customized for the diversity of the Greater Sacramento region. 
• It combines, upgrades, and recycles soft skills usually offered individually in similar programs (e.g. collaboration, critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving.) 
• It adds two, key, higher-level skill areas: creativity and technology (computers, applications, devices, and operating environments: CANDO).
• The dynamic training materials are enriched by abundant hands-on activities, case studies, engaging videos, discussions, surveys and checklists. 

Program content is…

• contextual
• workplace-relevant
• immediately applicable, as opposed to being theoretical knowledge learned for some future opportunity

Target Audience:

The Next Skills target audiences are people who…

• want to be employed
• want to be better employed, or
• need certain skills to retain their jobs.

Next Skills are specific skills to help them with their immediate job and life goals. 

Benefits and Value for Employers:

• Having a pool of actual or potential employees who are certified in the Next Skill Proficiencies
• Increased job productivity and employee retention
• Increased employee loyalty to the company
• Less conflict and tension on the job
• Reduced expenses for recruiting and training

Regional Partners:

• Sacramento Works Workforce Investment Board
• Golden Sierra Workforce Investment Board
• North Central Workforce Investment Board
• Yolo Workforce Investment Board
• California Association of Employers
• Sacramento Employment and Training Agency
• Los Rios Community College District
• The Greater Sacramento Area business community.

Certification:

By the end of training, only those participants who can demonstrate to the instructor that they have mastered the content and skills taught in all eight Next Skills modules will be "certified in Next Skills Proficiencies."  (Mastery is determined by objective pre-/post-tests and by instructor evaluation of behavioral class activities.) Employers are asked to support and value this certification by providing a competitive advantage to certificate holders in terms of guaranteed interviews, hiring preferences, promotional opportunities, salary increases, or other recognition. 

Scheduling:

Modules can be taken in any order, and sessions can be scheduled any day and at a time that is most convenient to the client. Each session can be offered as one eight-hour day or divided into two-hour or four-hour time blocks and offered over the course of days or weeks.

Pricing:

Training is provided at an hourly instructional rate plus the cost of materials and supplies.  ETP-(Employment Training Panel)-funded training is available for qualifying employers. The training is free to incumbent and prospective employees.

For More Information:

For more information, contact Workplace Learning Director Valerie Carrigan at 916.563.3253, carrigv@losrios.edu .