In This Issue..

• Hot 50 Jobs in Indiana
• Major Opportunities graduates
• Checks Debit cards are in the mail
• Chamber of Commerce Launches Ready Indiana
• WorkOne of Northern Indiana nabs web award
• New Business Foundations Certificate Program

About this Newsletter

Welcome to the latest issue of Workforce Developments, a monthly e-mail newsletter from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

This newsletter is designed to keep Indiana policy and opinion makers and other officials up to date on activities taking place in workforce development across the state. Please forward it to others you believe might find the content useful. If you prefer not to receive this newsletter, unsubscribe information is available at the bottom of this mailing.

Hot 50 Jobs in Indiana

What's the secret ingredient in securing a high wage job in an industry projected to grow in Indiana in the next few years? Education and training, according to a new listing compiled by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

In its second installation, the state has published The Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs - a listing of the jobs most in demand for the state of Indiana.

Registered nurses, post-secondary teachers, elementary and kindergarten teachers, surgeons and computer software engineers are among the top occupations projected to grow strongly from 2004 through 2014, according to the listing.

"The message we hope to communicate about this listing is simple: the more you learn, the more you earn," said Andrew Penca, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. "We hope this message will resonate with students and those already in the workforce looking for career guidance. Almost all these occupations require, at the very least, a two-year associate degree, with many others requiring a bachelor's degree and/or professional degree."

According to the department, the top 10 hot jobs and education required are:

• Registered nurses - Associate Degree
• Post-secondary teachers - Doctoral Degree
• Teachers, elementary and kindergarten - Bachelor's Degree
• Surgeons - First professional degree
• Computer software engineers, applications - Bachelor's degree
• Dentists - First professional degree
• Computer systems analysts - Bachelor's degree
• Dental hygienists - Associate degree
• Network systems/data comm. analysts - Bachelor's degree
• First-line supervisors/Managers of construction trades and extraction - Work experience in a related construction trades

For more information,go here.

Major Opportunities program sees first graduates of classroom training

The first class of students in the state's new Major Opportunities pre-apprenticeship training program recently completed the classroom training portion of the program.

The first class of twelve students was offered by Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (ABC) in Indianapolis. A graduation ceremony was held at ABC Headquarters in Indianapolis on Tuesday, December 5.

The Major Opportunities program seeks to provide young minority members with the skills to succeed in the building and construction trades. Participants receive life skill and job readiness training, as well as construction skill training.

Other classes have recently begun or will get underway early next year. The program is offered in Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend, Evansville and Fort Wayne.

Checks Debit cards are in the mail

Indiana's new unemployment insurance debit card program is underway, as the first Visa-branded debit cards have been mailed to recipients.

About 5,000 of the debit cards were mailed to recipients last week. The debit cards will replace unemployment checks and will result in quicker access to funds, increased security and cost-savings to taxpayers. The 5.000 cards represent about 20 percent of unemployment insurance recipients in the state. The remaining 80 percent will receive their cards after the first of the year.

To inform recipients of the transition, the department has mailed informational flyers on the new debit cards to recipients. In addition, a customer-service center has been set up in Gas City to answer questions and help recipients use their cards.

"As we've said before, this is a win-win situation for both recipients and taxpayers," said Andrew Penca, Commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development. "Recipients will receive their benefits in a more timely fashion, and easily have access to their funds at banks, ATM machines, or at thousands of merchants throughout the state. In addition, the state will save approximately $1.8 million per year by discontinuing the printing and mailing of weekly unemployment checks."

For more information, go here.

Chamber of Commerce Launches Ready Indiana

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has launched Ready Indiana, a three-year program designed to upgrade the literacy level of Indiana’s incumbent adult workforce through the development of employer-driven programs.

The new effort comes on the heels of the Chamber’s 2005 study A Demand Side Strategy to Meet Indiana’s Workforce Basic Skills Challenge, which found that one in three working Hoosiers have literacy skills below what is needed for successful employment in a knowledge-based economy.

Ready Indiana will:
• Educate businesses so they may serve as an intermediary between incumbent adult workers in need of services and quality service providers.
• Be the single point of contact for Indiana businesses by providing relevant and helpful assistance to Indiana employers. This includes providing a web site and a helpline to take advantage of national, state and community literacy resources.
• Develop toolkits for employers that make it easy to implement effective basic-skill literacy programs and measure return on investment.
• Communicate case studies of national and state best practices to help employers' tailor-make programs that meet their needs.
• Enhance awareness through regional workshops and statewide summits.
• Focus additional resources toward improving Indiana's workforce.

Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Andrew Penca will sit on the program's business advisory council.

For more information, go here.

WorkOne of Northern Indiana nabs web award

Congratulations are in order for the managers and staffers of WorkOne of Northern Indiana for receiving an Award of Excellence for their web site. The award competition was sponsored by the City-County Communications & Marketing Association (3CMA) of Dulles, Virginia.

Here's what the judges had to say about the web site: "The new web site for Northern Indiana's regional employment networking program (WorkOne) means business. The site has a professional look and feel, and is well organized to help businesses and job seekers find each other. At the same time, the web site does a good job of promoting the economic profile and initiatives of the region. The special section for youth is a particularly noteworthy effort that recognizes the value of education in workforce development and future economic growth."

The award-winning web site can be found here: http://www.gotoworkone.com/

IU Kelley School of Business launches Business Foundations Certificate Program

The Indiana University Kelley School of Business has launched a new business foundations certificate program which allows participants to take web-based courses and acquire working knowledge of a variety of business subjects including management, accounting, finance, operations, human resources and marketing. The Business Foundations certificate gives workers the ability to upgrade their business skills to succeed in their current jobs or seek new career opportunities. For more information on the program, go to mainstreet and click on Business Foundations Certificate on the left hand menu.

For companies with 100 or fewer employees, the costs of enrolling workers in the Business Foundations program may be eligible for a Training Acceleration Grant (TAG) from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. More information on the TAG program can be found here: TAG's website.

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