Workforce training, hiring and education are top priorities in Georgia’s efforts to help businesses grow. Few factors are more crucial to a company’s success than recruiting, training and keeping talent. Here’s how Georgia better serves businesses seeking a well-prepared workforce:
SUPPLY OF GRADUATES. Georgia’s university system is one of the nation’s largest, and more than 50,000 graduates emerge each year from the state’s colleges and technical colleges. GeorgiaHIRE, a free online recruiting service, helps companies find and attract college-educated talent.
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EMPLOYEE TRAINING. A free service, Georgia Quick Start has been rated the nation’s top-ranked workforce training program. It provides customized training to qualified companies in an array of industries. Nearly 1 million workers at 6,200 companies of all sizes have benefited from Quick Start.
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GEORGIA WORK READY ASSESSMENTS. Strengthening a team begins with understanding the capabilities of current and prospective employees. Georgia Work Ready measures an individual’s “real world” skills that are critical for job success and provides employers with a certification of those skills.
More than 100 Georgia counties are (or are becoming) Certified Work Ready Communities, meaning they have committed to achieving a number of goals to better prepare the workforce. Goals range from driving workers and candidates to earn Work Ready Certificates to improving high school graduation rates.
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HIRING ASSISTANCE. To support company recruitment, Georgia’s Department of Labor posts job notices, collects and screens applications and resumés, provides interview space, schedules interviews and hosts job fairs. The department also works with private employment agencies that list jobs with the state.
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SPECIALIZED EDUCATION. Georgia’s Intellectual Capital Partnership Program offers qualified companies customized, accelerated education for knowledge workers in high-demand occupations. Through ICAPP, select companies can partner with a college or university to design a program of study that prepares students for specific knowledge jobs.
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Georgia also has a dedicated office - the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development - that bridges employee education and development with the economic needs of the state. The office administers Georgia Work Ready.
Georgia also encourages workforce development through tax credits and incentives that promote growth, enrichment, training or retraining. For example, the retraining tax credit allows companies to deduct certain retraining costs from income tax - as much as $1,250 per employee each year. The credit can be used to offset up to half of a company’s state corporate income tax liability.