Use Success as Guide

The development of a nurses’ and teachers’ programs have demonstrated that we can successfully produce good teachers and nurses however slow the process may be. That it is a slow process is a tale in itself that it takes years before the program bears fruition.

We venture to say that the same approach could be used to train unskilled indigenous people secure lifetime skills in concert with the private sector and the Northern Marianas College. Let’s face the beast and do something together in this endless and often contentious debate about training the local work force.

Most businesses, however, had to contend with high school graduates or high school drop-outs without skills. That they aren’t equip for the real world in “life after campus” (LAC) doesn’t mean they’re not willing to learn a trade upon which they can begin building a career. The business community is willing to help, but are applicants willing to help themselves?

This joint effort must come with incentives for employers in the private sector. A tax break of sort could be given by way of law to all private employers for investing in meaningful training programs that would allow indigenous employees a chance at acquiring lifetime skills.

When we say “meaningful” training programs, we simply mean demonstrating to prospective employees that private sector jobs do offer attractive rewards, including upward mobility for those who go through training and have in fact shown progress in their specific work assignments throughout the year. This may be a bit expensive for the private sector (perks and others), but it’s the only alternative to luring and keeping locals on your side of the fence. Duty Free Shoppers and Continental Airlines have successfully done this in years past. It’s one significant reason that we find fulfilled employees, current or those who have retired.

Vocational training should be on a continuing basis on-the-job, supplemented by pertinent courses at NMC’s campus. And in any and all training programs, use of basic computer must be taught. After all, it’s the fool of the next millennium.

We can begin moving in this direction by bringing the members of the business community and policymakers under a single roof to trump out their cards in candid discussions. The ultimate goal is to train locals on the various private sector jobs. This is more important than the goal to impose stay limitation against our guest workers. A trained local cadre would eventually ease-out foreign workers. But it should be understood that development of a fully trained local workforce takes years before we can begin seeing the fruits of our efforts.

The point is: we’ve done it succcessfully with teachers and nurses. We must allow this program to reach out to others who need to acquire lifetime skills. The acquisition of lifetime skills almost always renders entry level wage–what we call minimum wage–basically irrelevant. So let’s replicate and implement these training programs for others too!