HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Bethany Shockney knew about Project Axle before she even knew it was the project code name for Huntsville's recruiting of Polaris.

The project, announced last Friday, is expected to bring about 1,700 jobs to the plant building ATVs in rural Limestone County.

Shockney's exposure to the project came through her job as dean for technologies and workforce development at Calhoun Community College - the state's largest community college with campuses in Decatur and Huntsville. In that position, she routinely provides information and makes presentations to companies considering a location in north Alabama.

"When they are looking at different sites and trying to decide where to look at, nine times out of 10, Calhoun is part of the early-on discussions," she said. "We usually do a presentation to these companies when most of the time we don't know who they are yet."

Near the end of 2014, those presentations seemed to spike in frequency and Project Axle was among them, Shockney said.

"I worked with Project Axle at some point," she said. "I did provide information to the chamber or did a presentation. I can't remember; they all run together."

The takeaway is that Calhoun and Huntsville's Drake State Community & Technical College are integral components in north Alabama's appeal to companies.

Helen McAlpine, president at Drake State, said newly-hired Dean of Workforce Development Mary Jane Caylor attended the Polaris announcement with a specific eye toward involving the school in workforce training.

"She made some contacts there," McAlpine said. "We have some knowledge of (Polaris') expectations but it is our intent to be in contact with them to determine their needs and find how we can connect with them in training.

"As I understand, they are certainly going to be hiring a number of welders and we have an exceptional welding program. We are training students from all over the area and our program is in demand for student training."

Combined with the announcement last year of Remington coming to Huntsville that could bring another 2,000 manufacturing jobs to the area, community colleges are the destinations for potential workers who need to enhance their skill set.

Programs of study could include a certification that could be achieved in a matter of weeks to pursuing an associate's degree that could take about two years.

"We look at what the requirements are for a particular job, what the skill-sets are," Shockney said. "Then we take that and kind of do a cross-walk back to what our curriculum looks like and we start to look at what we can accommodate capacity-wise to accommodate the influx of people that we know will head our way to get training that are aligned with what these jobs are going to require.

"For instance, one of their big ones, I understand, is injection molding. So we will make sure that we have equipment that is not the same but similar to what they are going to have in their plant. That would shorten the on-the-job training that would be appealing to Polaris for us to have equipment that matches what they have so when they hire, there's minimal on-the-job training for them to be productive at the plant."

Said McAlpine, "We're always excited about new programs coming in but also those who are here (already) and sustaining the economic base for their community. That's why we're here. We're here to provide workers for the needs in the community."

For those who have an interest in pursuing a job at Polaris, Shockney advised to keep an eye on the Alabama Industrial Development Training website. Job information is expected to be posted on the website in about two weeks, she said.

"Once AIDT puts it up on their website and they will give some basic descriptions of what job categories they're looking for, then they will know more about what to approach if they don't have those particular skills already," Shockney said. "They'll know what to pursue and what program areas to get enrolled in."

 

Full Article: http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2015/01/are_you_ready_for_a_job_at_pol.html