Employers need qualified workers today, but preparing people for specialized jobs can take years. For Placer County, that raises an important question: Are we identifying future workforce needs early enough to prepare for them?
When a business struggles to fill an open position, the shortage is easy to see. What's less visible is the time it takes to develop the workers who could fill it.
Colleges need to understand which skills employers are looking for, build or adapt training programs, and give students time to complete them. By the time businesses are struggling to hire, it may be too late to respond quickly.
That timing creates a challenge for Placer County's growing economy. Employers are focused on meeting their immediate staffing needs, while colleges must prepare students for jobs that may still be years away.
Closing that gap means finding ways for businesses and educational institutions to recognize emerging workforce needs and plan for them together.
The cost of recognizing a need too late
Sierra College Superintendent/President Willy Duncan has spent more than 15 years working with local employers to understand the skills they need and how the college can help develop them.
The college's surgical technology program offers an example of what that takes.
Hospitals depend on surgical technologists to support procedures in the operating room. Preparing students for those positions requires specialized instruction and hands-on training. Sierra College has now begun graduating students from its program, helping build a pipeline of qualified workers for the region's health care industry.
But programs like this take time to develop. If hospitals wait until they're struggling to fill positions before raising the need, a new training program can't produce qualified graduates overnight.
The same challenge applies to other industries that depend on specialized skills.
Businesses typically plan around their own hiring needs. Colleges have to look further ahead, considering what multiple employers will need and how many students must be trained to meet that demand.
For Placer County, the opportunity is to bring those perspectives together sooner, while there's still time to prepare workers for the jobs employers expect to fill.
One employer's challenge may signal a broader need
When one business struggles to find workers with specialized skills, there's a good chance other employers are facing similar challenges.
The difficulty is recognizing those shared needs. Businesses understand their own hiring challenges but may not know that companies in other industries are looking for the same skills. Colleges work across industries but rely on employers to help them understand where demand is growing. Without these conversations, workforce shortages can develop before anyone recognizes the larger pattern.
Duncan wants Sierra College to be a place where employers can raise those concerns early.
"If a business raises its hand and says it has a problem, we're going to bring them in and have a conversation," he said.
That commitment extends beyond Duncan's office. Dr. Amy Schulz, Sierra College's Executive Dean of Workforce and Strategic Initiatives, works directly with businesses to understand their needs and explore how the college can respond.
Sometimes the solution may involve developing a new program. Other times, it could mean adapting existing courses or providing additional training for current employees.
Those relationships also give Sierra College a broader view of what's happening across the regional economy. A challenge raised by one employer may help identify an emerging workforce need that affects dozens of businesses. Finding common pain points and holistic solutions drove Sierra College to convene the first Sierra College Workforce Summit in each of the past three years.
A training solution doesn't always require a new program
Responding to changing workforce needs doesn't always mean developing an entirely new training program.
Duncan says Sierra College often finds that it already teaches many of the skills an employer is looking for. The challenge is figuring out how to bring those pieces together.
"Often, we already have the components needed to meet an employer's needs," he explained. "We just have to put them together in the right way."
For example, a business may need employees with a specific combination of technical skills that aren't covered by a single existing program. Sierra College may be able to combine courses into a certificate or develop targeted training that meets the employer's needs without starting from scratch.
That flexibility can help businesses respond more quickly, particularly when they need to develop the skills of employees already on the job.
It also reinforces the value of early conversations. The sooner a college understands what employers need workers to know and do, the more options it has for providing relevant training.
Workforce planning starts with employers
Colleges play an important role in preparing workers, but employers often have the earliest insight into which skills the region will need next. A company planning to expand may know it will need more technicians. A hospital preparing to offer new services may anticipate demand for specialized clinical workers. Businesses investing in new technology may see the need to retrain employees well before those changes affect hiring.
That information can help colleges prepare, provided it reaches them early enough.
For Placer County, the challenge is finding better ways to connect business plans with workforce development. When employers share what they're anticipating, educational institutions have more time to evaluate training options and prepare students.
Those conversations can also reveal needs that extend across industries, helping the region make better decisions about where to invest in workforce training.
Building that capacity takes a longer view than the next round of hiring. The decisions businesses and colleges make today will influence whether Placer County has the skilled workers it needs several years from now.
Where business leaders fit in
Placer Business Alliance brings together business, education, and community leaders who share an interest in the region's economic future. Those relationships can help identify workforce needs that might otherwise go unnoticed beyond individual organizations.
Duncan encourages employers to connect with Sierra College, whether directly or through PBA, local chambers, and economic development organizations.
Sometimes, that conversation may lead to a training solution for one business. Other times, it may reveal a challenge affecting employers across the region.
A company planning to expand can share the skills it expects to need. Industry leaders can identify emerging workforce demands, while Sierra College can assess whether existing programs can help meet them or whether new training is needed.
These conversations won't solve every hiring challenge overnight. Developing qualified workers still takes time, and some needs will require longer-term investments.
But they give Placer County a better chance to prepare.
For employers, that means looking beyond the positions they need to fill today and sharing what they see coming. The earlier those conversations happen, the more time the region has to develop the workforce its businesses will need.