March 10, 2021
With a labor force encompassing a 19-county region, your Chamber and Industrial Foundation team, in partnership with the Development Corporation of Abilene, want to ensure we’re representing the collective interests of our local employers by helping to serve as a bridge between the education and talent needs of our Abilene business community. Starting every other week, our team is pleased to introduce to you a twist on our Daily Business Brief - Workforce Wednesday. We’ll be highlighting workforce data, local job opportunities, training resources and more to help provide you with more tools for your team to succeed.

For questions about Workforce Wednesday, please reach out to our Director of Talent and Development, Marissa Ransted.

Creating a talent pipeline that is skilled and diverse is a top priority of the Abilene Industrial Foundation and our community partners. The AIF works to help in the promotion to Develop Abilene with both our core local and regional support partners. To promote the career opportunities available and the local education institutions, we have partnered with Workforce Solutions of West Central Texas in the career video campaign initiative to highlight Demand Occupations for our region. If you are a business that supports a demand occupation we would like to connect with you as we bring awareness to our community about your organization and the career opportunities you provide.

Demand Occupations include; Accountant and Auditors, Auto Service Technicians, Construction Trades, Correctional Officers & Jailers, Electricians, Electro-Mechanical Technicians, HVAC, Office & Admin Support, Plumbers & Pipefitters, Wind Turbine Services Technicians and more.

If you are interested in partnering and highlighting your organization and demand occupation please email Marissa Ransted.
UNEMPLOYMENT AT A GLANCE
FREE VIRTUAL TRAINING AND RESOURCES
Wednesday March 10, 2021 | 12-1pm EST 

Why educators must be a critical part of any region’s workforce and economic development strategy. Practical tips on how educators can engage their local workforce and EDOs. Why innovative labor market information is the key to bringing education, workforce, and economic development together.


Wednesday, March 17th, 2021 (multiple sessions available)

According to recent research, over 70% of employees in the US want to utilize self-service HR tools and say it'd improve their employee experience.
GET INVOLVED!
Are you interested in hosting 1 or more Teacher Externs this summer? This is a unique and innovative professional development opportunity for educators from the Big Country region to come and learn from our industry leaders about their career field. Click here to learn more about the opportunity and to sign up to host a summer extern.
ABILENE IS STILL HIRING

Check out openings in Abilene!! Postings are a free benefit for Abilene businesses - let us know if you'd like to add yours to the listing! 



WE NEED YOUR INPUT

Abilene Industrial Foundation is wanting to learn more about remote working with our area businesses. Give your feedback on this new style that allows professionals to work outside of a traditional office environment. We appreciate your time!

Click here to take the survey.
NEXTUniversity: A CAREER EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
NEXTU is a career empowerment program funded by the Development Corporation of Abilene in partnership with Abilene Independent School District.

Students interested in studying career fields within Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways that lead to primary jobs can apply to be a part of NEXTU.

NEXTU provides students with workforce development "scholarship" dollars to attend dual credit classes as well as post-secondary classes at Cisco College or Texas State Technical College.
NEXTUniversity, Career Coach, Elisha Seca sits down with some of Abilene Independent School District's senior students to talk about why they choose their career field of study and how NEXTU has helped them reach their goals.
WHAT WE'RE READING

Texas businesses must decide whether to require face masks. Some worry they could lose customers either way.


A day after Gov. Greg Abbott announced plans to fully reopen businesses and end the state’s mask mandate, small business owners across Texas found themselves struggling to decide what to do next.



Texas lawmakers plan slate of bills in response to power outages, but experts skeptical there will be meaningful change


The proposals include overhauling the governance of the state’s electric grid operator, mandating “weatherization” of power facilities, and establishing a statewide disaster alert system.

ABOUT: Workforce Wednesday content and newsletter is created in partnership with the Abilene Chamber, the Abilene Industrial Foundation and the Development Corporation of Abilene - Develop Abilene Team.