Case Study 25 – ShaleNet.org Talent Matching System
Marcellus ShaleNET is a coalition between Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC), Pennsylvania College of Technology (PCT), and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA). With WCCC serving as the western hub and PCT serving as the eastern hub, the collation is designing a comprehensive recruitment, training, placement, and retention program for six high-priority occupations in the natural gas drilling and production industry. ShaleNET brings Workforce Investment Boards, One Stops, industry, and training providers together to build a Marcellus-wide industry-recognized uniform training and certification program aggregating and augmenting existing curricula and adopting best practices. This effort is funded by a three-year, $4.9 million grant from the United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The Challenge:
To enable potential job candidates access to job overviews, industry overviews, and access to grant funds and training providers, and to enable CareerLink and other workforce counselors to identify job candidates for the six High-Priority natural gas jobs, the collation needed to develop the ShaleNet.org Talent Matching System.
The Solution:
Five Star is currently working with the Marcellus ShaleNET to develop the ShaleNet.org Talent Matching System that contains:
- Video-based realistic job previews that accurately portray the positive and negative work characteristics for each job.
- Screening questions that clearly identify candidates who are motivated to work in the conditions presented by one or more of these jobs.
- Prepare job counselors to efficiently and effectively use the tools and data available through a job-matching system.
- Match motivated candidates who are not currently qualified for these HPOs with training and development opportunities so that they can become qualified.
- Track candidates who are actively pursuing training and development programs so that they are identified as qualified when they complete the required training and education.
The Result:
Currently in production, Talent Matching System will better equip CareerLink counselors and other workforce counselors to match qualified candidates with available gas industry job openings. The system will also enhance the counselor’s ability to identify skill and behavioral gaps in candidates who are interested in gas industry employment and match them with available training and development programs. As candidates complete education and development programs, this application will update the candidates’ qualifications and notify the counselors as the candidates make progress toward closing their skill and/or behavioral gaps.
