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Best Kept Secret
Community Colleges Deliver Affordable, Customized Employee Training By Kristina Testa-Buzzee, Ed.D
R
ecognizing that it often takes additional learning for workers to fulfill the roles they’re hired to perform, community colleges throughout our region are expanding their employee training services to help employers fill the skills gap.
skills training, and for the last five years that has included contract training to meet the unique employee development needs of Connecticut’s workforce.
If the term “Contract Training” is new to you, welcome to effective employee training that is affordable, customizable, and on-demand. In short, contract training is when a business, industry, nonprofit organization, municipality or government agency contracts with a community college to provide training and education to its employees.
The benefits to employers abound. With locations in our backyard, instructors that are industry experts, and prices that smash those of traditional corporate training programs, companies and organizations large and small are turning to our region’s community colleges as their new employee training team. The colleges make training available when and where firms need it, with courses delivered either online or in-person, at their workplace location or at the colleges themselves.
Employers work directly with community colleges to ‘upskill’ their existing employees with the practical training they need to perform effectively on the job. For the colleges, the service is a natural, as providing employee training perfectly aligns with their mission of economic and workforce development. Norwalk, Housatonic, and Gateway Community Colleges can develop and deliver customized workforce training programs and certification courses for employers throughout the state. Community colleges are professionals at advancing economic growth through
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Whether the priority is improving people skills, leadership development or technical knowhow, employers are discovering that our region’s community colleges provide certifications and training that meet their needs. Some of the most popular training areas offered include Customer Service, Human Resources, Information Technology/Computers, Finance, Leadership and Management Development, Ethical and Legal Issues, Quickbooks/Bookkeeping, Healthcare, Safety & Security/OSHA, Manufacturing, STEM training, ESL and more.
