With 76 Years of Experience, GBCC Helps Businesses Fill Staffing Gaps With In-Demand Training
By: Lynn Szymanski (October 7, 2021)
We are in an unprecedented time in which businesses need skilled workers across every industry. These needs come in different forms, some focused on employees that need to be upskilled while others are simply understaffed and need to hire. Both issues are creating challenges that are forcing businesses to close or reduce operational hours just to stay afloat. This is impacting businesses big and small across the country, including right here in New Hampshire’s seacoast region.
As a leader in comprehensive postsecondary learning, Great Bay Community College’s Business and Training Center (GBCC BTC) has adapted its programs and delivery methods to support these needs in the local community through high demand skills training for employees and employers. Lessons learned through COVID, including the shift to online and identifying other creative ways to deliver training, have broadened our resources and expertise. As the seacoast’s community college, we’re applying these lessons into new approaches to help area businesses address these needs and support them to help drive our economy forward.
Dating back to 1945, GBCC has been a key resource in the region. We are backed by a reputation for responsiveness and experience that started by training N.H.’s veterans with the skills needed to reintegrate into the workforce after they returned from World War II. GBCC has been meeting regional workforce needs ever since. Our faculty have a depth of industry expertise, classroom knowledge and an understanding of adult learners and are well-positioned as a go-to for business training needs. These traditional assets, combined with current workforce trends, new expertise and robust technology are the basis for re-envisioning the role the GBCC BTC fills.
To meet current training and hiring needs, GBCC has adapted course offerings for flexibility and convenience for businesses and their current and prospective employees. Classes can be taught online, on location and at GBCC’s simulated workspace and state-of-the art facility in Rochester. We know that staffing interruptions and absence can affect workflow and productivity. To meet these challenges, we train onsite at company facilities throughout the seacoast. Our online classes are also recorded, allowing students to access content at the time that works best, offering flexibility in scheduling and learning modalities. We are proud of our faculty who collaborate with businesses to ensure the most up-to-date curriculum based on current industry trends.
We understand the distinct and unique challenges that businesses currently face and can create custom training programs that meet critical needs. We start with a needs analysis, build training plans and follow-up with course evaluations – all while gathering data to craft future programs. GBCC courses are designed to minimize onboarding and training time, to elevate productivity and efficiency, fill skills gaps, improve employee safety and meet compliance needs.
We have business training options for a variety of industries such as healthcare, transportation and retail. We are excited to launch new manufacturing and industrial training programs starting this October that can be completed in just four weeks. Also starting in October are courses in digital design, excel, data visualization and social media marketing. These courses, and the other BTC courses offered year-round are ideal to upgrade the skills of those seeking new opportunities, or current workers looking to increase their value. They also provide a great resource for entrepreneurs who may not have the benefit of assistance from other employees or corporate training programs.
As part of our commitment to the community, we will continue to stay in tune with current needs and trends while offering support that is responsive, flexible and has a solid return on investment. We thank our community partners that have put faith in us for their training needs such as Teledyne DGO in Portsmouth, Cobham in Exeter and US Foods in Seabrook, just to name a few. As the region’s community college, we encourage local businesses to connect with us to help develop ways we can make our community – and local economy – as vibrant as possible.
Lynn Szymanski is the director of workforce development at Great Bay Community College, a comprehensive postsecondary institution in Portsmouth and Rochester offering quality academic and professional and technical education in support of workforce development and lifelong learning.
