Candy Slocum views workforce trends as vital signposts, and right now they’re all pointing in one direction: “The future belongs to the knowledge worker,” she said.
Slocum is executive director of North Central Texas InterLink, Inc., an alliance of educational institutions, private-sector entities and government agencies focused on workforce trends in this region.
She will join Tarrant County College’s Tech Prep Department Sept. 18 at a breakfast celebrating Career and Technology (CTE) directors and counselors from the 64 Tarrant County high schools that network with Tech Prep. Together, they offer students college-preparatory studies for technical careers and tuition-free college credit prior to graduation.
Tech Prep Coordinator Donna Reynolds said the event will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Trinity River Campus’ Action Room. TCC Interim Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley will welcome attendees prior to Slocum’s program on “Imagining the Future of Work.”
There is urgency, Reynolds said, in helping high school students prepare for careers in a workforce that increasingly requires specialization and certification. “Sixty-five percent of jobs already require postsecondary education,” she said.
Slocum noted that the need for multiple certifications applies to a growing number of career paths. “For instance, a biotechnology research technician might need to be certified to work with nanotechnology, because the technologies to develop a product overlap. We are beginning to see that with solar energy, where the ideal candidate to install solar (systems) might be an electrician with solar certification.”
Written by guest contributor David House