Category: Workforce Development

Bill Aimed at Helping Younger Fishermen

As young Alaskans gather in Juneau for the sixth annual Young Fishermen’s Summit this week to explore ways to get a leg up in an increasingly challenging and expensive industry, Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a member of the House Fisheries Committee, is trying to help. Kreiss-Tomkins and other members of the committee are working on a bill to create community banks to buy limited entry permits from people selling out in order to be able to lease them to people primarily in rural communities who cannot afford to buy them outright.

Read the full article here.

Source: Cristy Fry | Homer News

Workforce Wednesday: Hands-on internships in Alaska | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Finding great careers in Alaska, for Alaskans. This week on workforce Wednesday, we’re helping you land that all important internship.

The position is typically a win in the workforce. Businesses get eager workers while interns get hands-on experience in a chosen career field.

Cari-Ann Ketterling with Alaska Process Industry Career Consortium joined Daybreak to talk about the numerous businesses in Alaska who are currently looking for interns.

“Granite Construction, Chugach Corporation, Alyeska Pipeline,” Ketterling said. “And in addition to internships we also offer externships. Internships are within your field of study. Externships are outside your field of study. So we offer those to secondary teachers to get experience in the industries in Alaska and bring that information to their students who are planning their future careers.”

Calista Corporation is also looking for interns.

Watch the video on KTVA to hear what kinds of internships are available and how you can get started.

Source: Workforce Wednesday: Hands-on internships in Alaska | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Workforce Wednesday: Culinary Arts career in Alaska | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Alaskans hungry for a career in the culinary arts don’t have to look very far.

Wednesday,  Cari-Ann Ketterling with Alaska Process Industry Career Consortium and Rachel Saul, manager and part-owner of Fire Island Bakery in Anchorage, joined Daybreak to serve up a solution to those looking for a career in the Culinary Arts field.

NANA Management Services has approximately 120 positions open every other month. The majority of them are food service jobs such as catering coordinator, remote kitchen helper and cook. General manager positions in this area can make up to $90,000 per year.

Those looking for training have plenty of training options to choose from across the state.

“There’s training all over the state,” Ketterling said. “AV Tech, KCC, UAA, UAF, training in high school.  There’s high demand and high career.”

Visit NANA’s employment website to check for job openings in food services.

Source: Workforce Wednesday: Culinary Arts career in Alaska | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Listen to UAA’s Debate Team: Should UAA Prioritize Workforce Development Over a Liberal Arts Education

debate_it_green_copyThe Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence, Difficult Dialogues Initiative and Seawolf Debate Program hosted a public debate, faculty forum and discussion: “UAA should prioritize workforce development over a liberal arts education.”

The media contains numerous reports of U.S. jobs going unfilled, or being outsourced to distant lands, because too few American workers have the requisite skills to perform them well. In Alaska, with the fiscal crisis expected to last into the foreseeable future, and with student debt rising, the pressure on students to have highly marketable skills is on the increase. More than two dozen universities in Japan are reducing or eliminating academic programs in the humanities and social sciences, following a dictum from Tokyo to focus on disciplines that “better meet society’s needs.” But don’t we need citizens capable of navigating their way through the complex social and political challenges we face, using skills and perspectives provided by a well-rounded liberal arts education? Listen to the debate recorded on November 14, 2015.

Source: University of Alaska Anchorage Podcasts

January Alaska Economic Trends

Jan2016Trends

January Trends is the annual employment forecast issue. For 2016, the forecast is that Alaska will lose 2,500 jobs, a 0.7 percent decline. The losses will be spread throughout the state with Anchorage forecast to see a job loss of 0.8 percent, Fairbanks 0.5 percent, and Southeast Alaska 1.4 percent.

Source: Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development