Cultivating Hanover's Workforce

College and career ready—this is the goal of the Hanover Chamber’s Workforce Development Program sponsored by Manpower, J.A. Myers Homes, UPMC Hanover, and Campbell's Snacks. Noting the need for a talented and competitive workforce, the Chamber set out to educate and develop the future workforce nearly 20 years ago. The program has since grown to be widely successful, thanks to partnerships with local schools, businesses, and manufacturers.

The Chamber’s Workforce Development Program allows the area's future workforce to learn about job opportunities in their hometown. Skilled employees are needed in key areas, including welding, industrial maintenance, quality control, physics, electronics, healthcare and more.

Bridging the gap between young talent and local businesses, the Chamber’s program allows both parties access to each other in an effort to fill jobs.

Hanover Area Apprenticeship Program

In March of 2017, the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce become the first chamber in Pennsylvania to submit a Chamber Apprenticeship Model that was approved by the PA Department of Labor and Industry.

The application, a group, non-joint model for apprentices started with four companies (Elsner Engineering Works; Inc., KLK Welding; R. H. Sheppard Co. Inc., a Bendix CVS Company; and Utz Quality Foods, Inc.) and two school districts (Hanover Public School District and South Western School District) under the umbrella of the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce. The program has since grown to include nine business partners and three school districts.

Through the apprenticeship program, high school students begin as a pre-apprentice in their junior year, with the program structured around their high school curriculum and work within one of the participating companies. Upon graduation, students have the opportunity to complete a paid apprenticeship within a partner company.

Since 2017 the Chamber has secured $300,000 in grants to purchase equipment for high schools and pay training costs for pre-apprentices and apprentices.

The Chamber's model is unique in that it is based on employer-driven collaboratives that determine how the talent development models are created and maintained. As such, the Chamber made great strides towards adding a healthcare track to the program in 2020. The Hanover Area Apprenticeship Program will continue to grow throughout 2021.

Talent Pipeline Management

A key objective identified in the Chamber’s 2019-2021 strategic plan is the development of Talent Pipeline Management (TPM). The TPM model, a process developed by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, will create structure around the Chamber’s current and future workforce development efforts.

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, TPM is a “strategic alignment between classroom and career.”

The TPM approach builds external pipelines—adequately preparing talent that has yet to walk through the door—as well as long-term strategies for backfilling, upskilling, career pathway development, and succession planning.

The Chamber is currently following the TPM model through the Hanover Apprenticeship Program. Looking forward, the Chamber has identified opportunities to extend the TPM model to other occupations and industries within the workforce development program.

WorkPath

In 2019, the Chamber supported the launch of Hanover’s latest workforce development initiative, WorkPath.

This program aims to create an accessible and accelerated bridge for job seekers to gain skills for high priority positions in the region. A unique facet of the new program is that participants are “pre-hired” by participating employers. This allows the training to be paid from day one, eliminating the financial barriers which often discourage job seekers from gaining new skills.

Employer partners R. H. Sheppard Co. Inc, a Bendix CVS Company and Schindler Elevator stepped up to the plate to pioneer this effort in partnership with The Manufacturer’s Association and Manpower.

For more information on WorkPath, please contact Julia Groft, Market Principal at Manpower: Julia.Groft@manpower.com.

Future Growth

Chamber staff has continued to participate in learning opportunities to make sure its Workforce Development initiatives remain relevant.

Chamber President Gary Laird was a graduate of the inaugural Business Leads Fellowship Program by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The program trained and equipped leaders from state and local chambers of commerce with resources, access to experts, and a network of peers to build their capacity to address the most pressing education and workforce challenges.

“The Workforce Fellowship Program introduced me to individuals, organizations, and many best practices in education and workforce development. I plan to use the tools and resources shared through the fellowship to enhance our current business education partnerships, introduce new ideas to enhance existing initiatives, and develop new initiatives to support our local employer base.” says Laird.

Following a competitive application and selection process, Laird was selected along with 34 other state and local chamber executives to participate in the inaugural class. The four-month program covered the entire talent pipeline, including early childhood education, K-12, higher education, and workforce development.

Upon completion, Business Leads Fellows join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s dedicated network of 200 chambers of commerce and statewide associations from around the nation who regularly engage on education and workforce initiatives.

In addition to the Business Leads Fellowship Program, Gary Laird also joined the chamber’s Membership & Events Director, Haley Briggs, at the US Chamber's Talent Forward 2019 Conference.

The conference brought a national education and workforce audience together for a day of inspiring, educational content and networking in Washington, D.C.

The focus of the event was talent—educating and training, talent tech and data, recruiting, hiring, and upskilling. With no shortage of talent challenges, the opportunities for informative discussion were endless.

Get Involved or Donate

As demonstrated above, the Hanover Chamber will continue to devote its time to cultivating and preparing Hanover’s future workforce for the benefit of our local students and businesses.

To get involved or make a contribution to the Hanover Chamber of Commerce's workforce initiatives, please contact Gary Laird at glaird@hanoverchamber.com.