While the workforce spotlight has been on the efforts of the South Central Workforce Development Board, Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College has been offering workforce solutions for people since the 1990s.

SKYCTC is currently accepting resumes for a director of workforce solutions, a management post overseeing eight staff members. Many of the director’s duties have been carried out recently by James McCaslin, SKYCTC vice president of outreach and community development.

“The entire mission of community colleges is provide for the local needs of communities and that includes access to training,” McCaslin said Tuesday.

According to the advertised job description, the minimum monthly salary for the SKYCTC director of workforce solutions is $4,454 under a 12-month contract.

The director of workforce solutions provides administrative leadership to SKYCTC’s customized corporate and industry training, continuing education, assessment center and adult agriculture program, according to the job description. 

The resume deadline for the post is Feb. 13 and applications can be submitted online.

McCaslin said SKYCTC Workforce Solutions department has existed since the college joined the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in the late nineties. He said with the growth of the program, it is time to put a director of workforce solutions post back on the payroll.

“KCTCS is Kentucky’s primary provider of workforce education, delivering programs and services that address the full spectrum of needs faced by business and industry, as well as programs for individuals who want to upgrade their skills,” McCaslin said.

The Office of Workforce Solutions goals are to develop a better workforce with the knowledge and skills for the jobs of the future; to assist the commonwealth in competing for and sustaining businesses and industries that thrive on innovative ideas and technologies; to provide Kentucky workers with world-class transferable, portable skills; to improve the employability of Kentucky citizens; and to strengthen and improve state and local economies.

Among the 16 KCTCS colleges, the SKYCTC Workforce Solutions department is consistently one of the leading departments in terms of the number of individuals served annually, the number of businesses served, and the number of high-stakes assessments administered by the SKYCTC Assessment Center, he said.

One aspect of the college’s mission has recently been infused with new state money.

SKYCTC received $179,000 from the Kentucky Cabinet of Education and Workforce Development during the first round of the Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, a college release said Tuesday.

SKYCTC, in partnership with the Southcentral Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education, or SKY FAME chapter, has been awarded the money for equipment in SKY FAME’s Advanced Manufacturing Technician program. The college retained all 23 students who are in the first class and already 27 students have signed up for the second class that starts this fall, McCaslin said.

Students participating in the AMT program at SKYCTC will work at a sponsoring manufacturing company for 95 weeks while simultaneously earning an associate degree in applied sciences.

The students will work, earn competitive wages, and learn about safety culture, workplace organization, lean manufacturing, problem solving and machine maintenance and reliability skills.

The AMT program can serve up to 60 students annually.

The Kentucky Work Ready Skills funding will be used to purchase an AMTEC Advanced Manufacturing System Simulator for SKYCTC’s AMT program. The AMTEC simulator introduces the students to the fundamentals of real-world integrated systems all on one machine. The systems include safety, robotics, pneumatics, hydraulics, lubrication, introductory faults and troubleshooting.

Students, who are already working on the shop floors of area industries Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week under the program, have an opportunity to solve machine problems in a less intense environment, McCaslin said.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.