How to Structure Partnerships

WAGE / Adult Education MeetingApril 14, 2015

• You have employers agreeing to use WAGE, so what now?

• Don’t lose your customers– It costs five times more to attract a new customer

than to keep a current one.– The average unhappy customer will tell eight to 16

people about it.

Source: Profiles International

• Don’t Burn Bridges!– Most (91%) of unhappy customers will never

purchase service from you again.

Source: Profiles International

• Just an idea….• Create metrics for your customer

– # certificates issued, expected next month– # employees/applicants through your doors– Average time it takes to complete WAGE– Strengths/weaknesses of applicants– Turnover reduction

• Leverage Existing Customers– Ask existing WAGE industries in your region to

come speak to your advisory council– Give your council examples of how WAGE has

been working for others– Be as specific as possible

Get to know the employer– Not just the HR Manager– Other facilities or suppliers in Arkansas

Let them get to know Adult Ed as a whole– Set a goal to bring in new employers for each

WAGE committee meeting– Gives you a chance to tell them about other

Adult Education services as well.

• Put your partnership in writing– MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)• Specify mutually accepted expectations• Are not legally binding• Doesn’t involve $

• Tie the WAGE certificate to a pre-employment training program– Identify a group of local companies with a common pre-

employment training need• Perhaps charge a $ fee for this training set up through local college• Employers need the same thing – qualified workers• Tie WAGE onto the back end of the training, where they have to

complete a certificate before applying to the company. • People w/ know they have a good chance of landing a job if the

employer is requiring the pre-employment training and the WAGE certificate, so they are more willing to stick it out through the training program.

• Employers will realize the company down the street is getting all the good workers, and then want to join in.

• Builds a sense of community when employers are working together.

• Chicken or the Egg?Employer: “Show me you’ve got people obtaining WAGE certificates first, and then I’ll think about getting my company signed up for WAGE and preferring those applicants”

ORCommunity: “ If we could just get one of our large employers to commit to the WAGE program first, then the applicants will start flowing into our Center to get the certificate.”

• Why WAGE? Companies need the skills it ensures, but WAGE is also a pre-employment program in and of itself.

– 53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information– 34% of all application forms contain outright lies about experience, education, and

ability to perform essential functions on the job– 9% of job applicants falsely claimed that they had a college degree, listed false

employers, or identified jobs that didn’t exist– FBI Studies estimate nearly 355,000 businesses will experience a workplace violence

episode in any given year– More than 75 percent of substance abusers are employed– 30 percent of all business failures are caused by employee theft– 75 percent of all employees steal at least once– Average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the first year’s potential

earnings.

Questions?

Justin SmithChief Business & Community Outreach Officer

Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus479-508-3348

jsmith30@atu.edu