Every organization I work with, every project I stumble into, and every partner I partner with is built around this: How do we help individuals get the opportunity to win a workforce lottery? EARL BUFORD President, Council for Adult and Experiential Learning
model. You’re able to bring on someone in a traditional way as a common worker, but instead of it being four years based on their competencies, it was two years in scope, and because of their background, they could test out of some portions of it. It shortened apprenticeship time and gave the employer more flexibility in what they wanted to train workers for. It’s still relevant, and we’re still having conversations about IMT and related instruction and how higher education partners with that. We talk about it almost daily with a variety of employers, because it really changed the paradigm for employers deciding to use it moving forward. Now, it’s not universally used, but the point is that it’s there for manufacturing partners looking for a solution. El Koubi: Virginia is known for its large veteran population. What advice do you have for policymakers and workforce professionals to help ensure that military veterans are positioned to thrive in the workforce after their service? Buford: I was involved in a national project with the refrigeration workers and the steamfitters on the Veterans in Piping
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Program. There was a point system, like Credit for Prior Learning. A veteran can come into those trades and take a test, but their skills are also assessed. Sometimes you see a tendency with nontraditional learners to focus too much on the challenges instead of the depths of framing. First, what’s the right approach to make sure they understand what’s available? There are a ton of veterans’ programs out here, and they’re all meaningful, but they aren’t really connected to the armed services. You can’t have an onboarding process if you don’t have a relationship. Higher education, employers — these organizations that are veteran-focused — need to be connected directly to the armed services. Second is making sure that there’s a true skills assessment. CAEL directly has worked really hard on that. We’ve helped create the Veterans Higher Education Affinity Group, or VHEAG. Over the last decade, we’ve been able to leverage the collective voice of VHEAG members and advocacy efforts, encouraging cross-learning and development of best practices, addressing issues around military benefits, military learning, things like that. That part of the learning assessment was the key.