By embracing a high-performance workforce, local governments and stakeholders can ensure that they have a workforce that can lure companies in growth industries into the region, and keep them there.

Huntsville’s recent embrace of cyber security is an incredible example of a city working towards a high-performance workforce.

With the knowledge that the battlefield of the future is in cyberspace, the city is looking to become a nationally recognized hub of expertise in cyber security, research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, experimentation and life cycle management.

The Mayor recently used the 13th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference at the city’s Von Braun Center as a launching pad for a new initiative that will include the construction of a multi-story “Cyber Systems Innovation and Security Center.” The focus of this center would be securing weapons systems and the technology supporting them against computer attacks.

While the city begins its march towards growing the cyber security industry within its borders, the city’s education institutions are doing their part on the backend to ensure that the workforce is prepared with the skills and knowledge it will need to flourish in the industry.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has established a new master’s program in cyber security that focuses on protecting information systems from attack. The Master of Science in Information Assurance and Security (MSIAS) is designed to emulate the real world challenges of engineers, managers, and scientists who must work together to resolve their IT security challenges.

Essentially, Huntsville is working to draw in a hot growth industry to the city that will provide jobs while simultaneously training the workforce that this industry will need to thrive. Huntsville is working to create a high-performance workforce in an industry that is not only emerging, but will have a positive economic impact over time. The end result will ensure that the city continues to be an example of economic and population growth even in the country’s ongoing economic downturn.

How could your region benefit from working towards a high-performance workforce?

During his speech (embedded below), Obama took the opportunity to not only deliver a pep-talk, but also to discuss the importance of education on future success. He discussed how, despite the hard times and the strain it is putting on families, it is more important now than ever to achieve academic success to open doors in the future.

He also added that the increasingly competitive global economy is putting pressure on American students to work harder to get ahead.

It’s almost like he’s been reading Unleash the Monster!

We clearly agree. The global economy is making our students work harder than ever. Unfortunately, not all students are like the students at Masterman. Many urban and “high poverty” school districts are struggling to get their students motivated and working toward academic achievement today, and career success in the future.

This is why we created iSucceed, a solution for local schools, regions and economic and workforce development boards designed to get students motivated and looking towards their future. The program also provides the keys for success that many students in “high poverty” regions lack: mentors, soft skills and career exploration opportunities. It’s designed to prepare our students for future careers, and create an American workforce than can compete with the rest of the globe.

If you’re interested in learning more about the iSucceed Program, we’ll be holding a Webinar on September 15, 2010 at 2PM ET to introduce the program and ways that it can help your region. Registration for the Webinar is available HERE.

The fact is that “high poverty” students are significantly less likely to score as high as “low poverty” students on assessments, to graduate and to earn post-secondary credentials. What’s worse is the end result: a national workforce that is getting outpaced by other countries and will begin to struggle to compete in our global economy.

But what causes these students to fall behind? What keeps them from excelling in their assessments, graduating and going on to higher education and successful, lucrative careers?

For many of these students in “high poverty” regions, it’s not one thing, but a combination of many factors, and a long timeline of obstacles and challenges that seems to intensify around middle school and continue into high school.

First off, let’s look at some of the factors at play in the environment and home lives of many of these students.

Violence and outside influences obviously play a large part in these students’ lives. Many of these students also tend to suffer from a lack of mentors, less parental involvement and other challenges. These problems are secondary to teacher skill and quality, with many talented teachers choosing suburban and “low poverty” regions due to improved working conditions and higher pay.

In addition to these outside issues, each step forward in a student’s academic career is met with a new series of challenges and obstacles.

Middle school – Students are preparing for and managing the transition to high school. There is greater pressure to make decisions about what academic and extra-curricular pursuits will best prepare the student for their personal future.

Freshman year – This year is pivotal in terms of adjustment and achievement. Course work intensifies and students are forced to deal with increased pressure, higher workloads and concerns about the impact of their success on their future. This seems to be an increasingly difficult period for students in “high poverty” schools since 40 percent of dropouts leave after ninth grade, compared to 27 percent in “low poverty” schools.

Sophomore year – This tends to be the end of the line for dropouts in “high poverty” schools, as a majority leave during sophomore year. A combination of outside pressures, violence and other societal factors influencing them, and an inability to find value in their lessons seems to be the catalyst. In one recent study of high school dropouts, nearly half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that classes were not interesting.

Junior year – Remaining students struggle from a lack of career exploration that could help them clearly evaluate career and educational options ahead of them. Many find themselves unprepared for college and higher education.

Senior year - By this year students should be well on their way to developing both the academic and social skills they need for their post-secondary career. Unfortunately, many do not have the full opportunity to develop the soft skills required to thrive in the business world. In fact, many experience burn-out and apathy, which leads to a lack of follow-through and disengagement.

These challenges are difficult, but not impossible to overcome. This is why Monster Public Sector & Education recently created the iSucceed Program. iSucceed is designed to help educational institutions, school boards and even local workforce and economic development organizations improve the educational experience for their students and help them overcome the challenges awaiting them at each step of their academic career.

iSucceed utilizes Monster’s Making It Count program and other inspirational, educational and motivational opportunities to drive students towards success Additional information about iSucceed is available HERE on a dedicated page of Unleash the Monster.

We’ll also be holding a Webinar on September 15, 2010 to introduce the program and ways that it can help your region. Registration for the Webinar is available HERE.

Some of the most interesting and telling statistics in this year’s report relate to the achievement gap between “high poverty” and “low poverty” schools.

On average, students from “high poverty” schools scored sometimes as much as 30-40 points lower on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading, mathematics, music, and art assessments as students from “low poverty” schools. Also 23% fewer 12^th grade students graduated from “high poverty” schools with a diploma than they did in “low poverty” schools.

Based on the data, it’s fair to assume that “high poverty” schools are falling behind schools with large populations of students from more prosperous households. But what’s the cause of this achievement gap?

One of the most fundamental problems is that young people in “high poverty” areas lack a vision of what they can become and do not have ready access to the opportunities for achieving their highest potential.

While many young people in “high poverty” areas have firm beliefs that a good education can lead to opportunity and success in careers and wealth-building over one’s lifetime, they also hold strong beliefs in the reality of their individual lives that continue to translate into underachievement.

Many of these students ‘believe’ in the power of education, but they self-exclude due to personal challenges at home and in school. While it is widely accepted in America that education is important to career success, the concept loses its meaning for young people who are exposed to a different set of concrete experiences on a day-to-day basis.

The result is a population of students that believe that education can lead to a better life via better, more profitable careers, but feel that they don’t have the ability, avenues and tools needed to get an education and compete in the workforce.

In addition to this negative attitude, students in “high poverty” areas often suffer from low self-esteem and very low self-efficacy which has a negative impact on motivation and future success. They also tend to come from family backgrounds and communities where the presence of positive role models and positive feedback are hard to come by.

The achievement gap and the ongoing education challenges facing “high poverty” areas create more problems than just contributing to the cycle of poverty in our country. With increased competition in the global economy for jobs as a result of increasingly skilled and educated workforces abroad, America can no longer afford to have entire populations not entering the mainstream workforce.

Changes have to be made, and programs put into place to ensure that students in both “high poverty” and “low poverty” regions are educated in the skills and abilities needed in today’s growth industries before all children are left behind.

Monster Public Sector & Education is working with local regions to implement solutions and programs that will make a difference. In an upcoming post, we’ll take a look at the things that need to change to illicit positive change in “high poverty” regions and discuss our new iSucceed Program, which is designed to provide the support, opportunity and motivation needed to close the achievement gap in America’s school system.

We’ll also be holding a Webinar on September 15, 2010 to introduce the program and ways that it can help your region. Check back often for new posts and additional details on the upcoming Webinar.

Agencies are just starting to put policies in place that outline how employees can engage within these new social circles, but many still have not decided if they should even offer their employees the option of participating.

The fact is, social media is here to stay. Younger generations and future employees to your prospective agencies are actively involved now.  Currently employees are likely checking out how social networks can impact them.  Now the question is, how can HR professionals engage to recruit and retain?

Unleash the Monster is hosting an event on February 24^th in Washington D.C. to discuss these topics.  Our speakers are joining us from Federal News Radio, NASA, and Strategic Communications Group to discuss how attendees can get started in social media.

If you are local to the area and interested in attending please visit our events page for registration details.  If you are not in the area, but would still like insight into what was discussed, we’ll be posting video clips to our YouTube page.

For all of you that are already involved in social media and understand the hurdles of getting started, we’d love for you to share your best practices here on Unleash the Monster.  Post a comment below or click on “Share your story” to submit content for our site.

This is extraordinarily important in the current economic environment because the growth industries that have the most promise for future employment require significant knowledge and an understanding of STEM subjects. In the past, the US was at the forefront of science, technology, engineering and math education, but over time, other countries have improved and the US has taken steps backward when it comes to teaching STEM subjects to the employees of tomorrow.

Public-private partnerships such as the one proposed by the Obama Administration are instrumental in helping fund and create programs designed to educate and get students excited about STEM subjects. It’s programs such as these and Making It Count, which is sponsored by Monster and functions to get students excited and empowered in their own education, which are essential for preparing students to compete in the global economy and giving them the skills, knowledge and abilities they need to fill the hi-tech jobs of today and tomorrow.

How will your school system take advantage of this investment in STEM programs?

• The hiring process. For a number of agencies the hiring process continues to be a challenge and one that many are working to address. Recent OPM mandates require a certain level of communication to candidates who are somewhere in the pipeline. This is the number one complaint with candidates in the federal hiring process.
• Automation of the recruitment process. Most agencies have already incorporated a level of automation into the process. Now they are struggling with how to make this process even more effective. The quality of candidates getting into the hiring pool continues to be a problem and agencies are looking for solutions to improve the talent pool and ask the right questions to identify just the right talent. We addressed this topic last month on our blog in, “Asking the Right Questions.”
• BRAC is also going to continue to make a huge impact on the recruiting and retention of civilian government employees. By 2011 it is mandated for the transition of all bases and units. Each geographical area that is faced with a closure or realignment will continue to struggle with branding, recruiting and retaining.
• In 2010, with the end of the recession, there is hope that the country is rebuilding its economic structure and with that there is a need for continued training to meet the demands of the job market. Education, training and work with economic development authorities will continue to be a top priority.
• Baby Boomer Retirement. The delayed departure of the initial retirement bubble has allowed for the creation of a second bubble of potential retirees. Now there is a huge concern on how to capture the knowledge of these potential retirees and transfer that knowledge throughout the agency.

Each of these areas is going to have a significant impact on the processes and procedures that impact our government and education customers. We’ll continue to provide our insight on these topics throughout 2010 and hope that you’ll also provide us with your comments and thoughts.

Happy New Year!

Here are the highlights from the year that stood out to us from this past year:

• When President Obama said, “Change is here”, there was a huge opportunity for state and local governments to take advantage of stimulus dollars and invest them into developing High Performance Workforces that could re-energize the economy. States like Ohio and Tallahassee created programs that did just that.
• The federal government also faced a great deal of challenges this past year. The Partnership for Public Service released its report on Where the Jobs Are, which outlined thousands of positions that needed to be filled within the federal government. Recruiting the right talent to fill these jobs and creating a positive experience at the beginning of employment has been a challenge for federal HR departments.
• This past year, there has also been a stronger emphasis in the federal government placed on hiring military spouses and veterans, hiring reform initiatives. Recently the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a regulation that requires federal agencies to evaluate their training programs for improvements that will result in creating better managers.  The regulation appears to be right in step with President Obama’s message to transform the federal government into the nation’s model workplace.
• In the education market, training students to meet the demands of the job market and train future workforces is critical. Programs and grants have been put into place as part of the stimulus dollars to invest back into education to help students in the race to the top.

There is no doubt that 2009 was a year where change has started to take place in how government agencies recruit and retain and how states and local government developed partnerships with educators and economic development boards to boost workforces.

What will 2010 bring? We hope the change continues and we are dedicated to helping our customers as they improve their processes.

Happy holidays to all of our Unleash the Monster readers!

Well…wrong. There’s a lot more to being a high school guidance counselor than that. There’s pointing students towards the right career paths, keeping them motivated, helping them apply and get accepted to colleges, and the incessant letter-of-recommendation writing. And the number of students that each counselor handles is high. In fact, according to a recent New York Times article, it’s rising.

In the article, author Jacques Steinberg quotes a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling that shows the average caseload for guidance counselors increasing by an average of 53 students. What’s worse, this increase is occurring in a time when students are under more pressure than ever.

With the numbers of students passing through schools, the competition for spots at four-year colleges is enormous. This has led to students applying to more schools in hopes of being accepted. The additional applications and competition mean more work for counselors as they try to help students identify and rank schools and write increasing numbers of recommendation letters.

With counselors struggling to keep up with their expanding workloads, it’s no surprise that they tend to focus the bulk of their attention on the percentage of students who have the most potential to go on to four-year colleges and universities. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily include as many as half or more of the students in some schools.

Luckily, there are tools available to help these overburdened guidance counselors keep their young charges focused on their education and the career paths ahead of them. Programs like Monster’s Making It Count do an excellent job of showing students how their schooling today is preparing them for their jobs tomorrow and keeping them excited and active in their education.

Guidance Counselors struggling with keeping college-prep and other students focused on their education should also look to available programs designed to give students a window into the workforce. Programs that provide career exposure and show students the possibilities awaiting them following graduation are a powerful tool for motivating students to succeed.

Above all else, guidance counselors need to stay informed about the job market in their region to ensure that the career paths being chosen by their students are viable. Students studying Sanskrit may not be destined for immediate job placement in a market with all hi-tech jobs. By making real-time employment statistics available for guidance counselors, regions can reduce the amount of research counselors need to conduct and ensure that students are being prepared and educated for the jobs available to them.

The job of a guidance counselor is definitely filled with less soap opera viewing in the teachers’ lounge than meetings with students. By providing the information and programs needed, regions can ensure that their students are well prepared for their careers ahead, and that counselors can effectively and efficiently guide and motivate their students on the paths to the rest of their lives.

We couldn’t ignore a call to action from our fearless leader. In fact, just last week, our CEO, Sal Iannuzzi, took part in a White House forum on jobs and economic growth. Agreeing with President Obama, we at Monster believe that we have a responsibility to help in accelerating job creation in our country.

With so many Americas struggling just to make ends meet, we have taken on the initiative to get America back to work. We are hoping that others in our industry will join our efforts and together we can all roll up our sleeves and Keep America Working.

At Monster, we are doing all we can to bring together our customers who are seeking highly qualified candidates with job seekers who can fit their job openings. We’re introducing powerful new search tools that help seekers uncover jobs they might have missed before, and help employers find the best people for the jobs they have open now.

We have also joined forces with the Department of Labor to support the “Tools for America’s Job Seekers Challenge,” which connects workers with online career resources and offers businesses and other organizations an opportunity to showcase best products and services.

With the New Year quickly approaching, we hope that we can collaborate with President Obama’s team and our industry peers to rebuild our workforces across America.