Greetings!

Thank you to those of you who could join the Vermont Forest Industry Network either in person or virtually on Sept. 30 to discuss Vermont's workforce development landscape, challenges, and opportunities as they relate to our forest economy. And for those of you who were not able to make it, this email includes links to recordings of the sessions in case you want to see what you missed.

We covered a lot of ground in one short afternoon, from looking at statewide initiatives to address worker shortages to forest economy projects seeking to address gaps within the forest and wood products industry. We've gone through the notes and collected some key resources we wanted to share with you all, along with a list of everyone we invited and a way to contact them. Vermont has a tremendous amount of resources for employers and employees, but some of them are well-kept secrets!

One of the biggest takeaways for me was that our workforce system was built for a very different time, and it needs to adapt to a post-Covid world where finding employees is more challenging and businesses need to consider the culture of their workplaces and how attractive they are to a smaller pool of prospective employees. Gone are the days when a simple job ad resulted in lots of prospects. Today, employers need to take a proactive approach to building their own talent pipeline from high schools, technical centers, and universities around Vermont. The good news is, there are a lot of people and programs that can help. Below are links to many of them.

Our forest economy offers many wonderful opportunities for people who want to work in the woods, in wood shops, or in other ways contribute to our collective goal of keeping our forests as forests. I look forward to seeing a new generation discover the many great career options in our forest economy.

Best,
Christine McGowan