Funding Sources to Fuel Your Workforce
Increase your talent pool, gain access to tax credits and offset training expenses
August 10, 2022 | 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Recruiting, hiring and training workers is quite a challenge for many employers. It takes time and funding. There are programs and incentives available, however, to help employers complete these important tasks and build a skilled staff.
This free, virtual workshop highlights how Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC) benefit employers and job seekers, as well as funding available to support registered apprenticeships and on-the-job training
WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS:
- How the WOTC program provides employers with cost savings
- Applying to the WOTC program and hiring eligible employees
- Building a registered apprenticeship program Measuring the progress and effectiveness of the newly embraced practices
- Leveraging on-the-job training programs and state funding sources to nurture talent
Hiring Through An Equity Lens Pivot from tradition and change your company’s culture
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 | 10:00 a.m.
More and more business leaders are striving to embrace equity in their organizations. A key to achieving this is to reflect on your traditional hiring practices that may encourage an unhealthy workplace culture and then enacting real change.
Join us in July for a free, virtual workshop to learn how to pivot from this historical approach to hiring staff and greatly impact two key areas: the evaluation of an applicant’s experience and the steps taken to actually hire someone
WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS:
- Evaluating examples of how racism and historical hiring systems impact the workforce
- Identifying best practices in the hiring process in order to create more equitable and inclusive hiring practices
- Measuring the progress and effectiveness of the newly embraced practices
Tapping the Non-Traditional Talent Pool: Tackle Your Staffing Challenges by Building A More Inclusive Workforce
Tuesday, May 17, 2022 | 1:00 p.m.
Hiring, building and retaining a quality team are arguably the greatest obstacles to success for virtually all employers in today’s post-pandemic world. You can address them by building a more inclusive workforce through the recruitment of non-traditional workers.
Join us in May for a free, virtual workshop featuring a panel discussion on the benefits of hiring returning citizens and others with justice-related hurdles, workers with disabilities, and older citizens who want to extend their careers.
WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS:
- Attracting candidates from targeted populations – tips and techniques
- Making the most of work incentives, including fidelity bonding and WOTC
- Creating a more inclusive workforce within your organization
- Changing lives and making a difference in your community
BUSTING Employee Burnout: How to Stop It from Taking Over Your Business
Tuesday, April 26, 2022 | 1:00 p.m.
Employees have faced unprecedented challenges over the past couple of years, learning how to survive at work amidst a global pandemic that only now seems to be waning.
We have all seen how today’s “always on” culture can quickly deplete a person’s energy and drive, leading to the burnout, including your team’s best talent. This can increase your costs associated with recruitment and retention and, unfortunately, impact the company’s worth and competitiveness.
Join us in April for a free, virtual workshop on the measurable steps you can take to ensure you are not fostering a culture of burnout in your organization.
WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS:
- Defining burnout and how it differs from stress
- Recognizing the impact of burnout on your organization
- Understanding common misconceptions and mistakes in identifying and preventing burnout
- Promoting burnout recovery and creating lasting change
Workforce Retention: Culture, Leadership and Law
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 | 1:00 p.m.
With four million Americans quitting their jobs last November alone, perhaps the greatest challenge facing U.S. employers today is the retention of their best employees.
According to business and labor experts, overcoming this obstacle focuses on creating a retention culture for employees that benefits everyone. Join us this month for a free, virtual workshop where hosts and participants will discuss how to accomplish this and position employers for success.
Workshop Structure:
- Creating a culture
- Leading to retain and attract
- Understanding of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Recognizing what employees want
- Managing virtual and flex work
- Increasing employer protections
- Examining recent employment case laws
This program is approved for 1.0 (General) credit hour. Dinsmore & Shohl LLP is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®. This program is valid for PDCs for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit
www.shrmcertification.org.
Business Succession: Do you have a plan in place?
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 | 1:00 p.m.
Learn about the succession planning tools that increase the stability of the business you’ve built for those who depend on it.
Business owners invest so much work, sacrifice and stress to make their businesses grow and succeed. The best also focus on making sure their employees develop and grow professionally. The goal is to assure a change in leadership goes smoothly, with minimal if any, business disruption. Succession planning involves a broad array of tools that can be customized for each business to help provide stability, both for those running your business today and those driving decisions tomorrow.
Workshop Structure:
- Common Legal Issues and How to Spot Them: Every business is unique, but we will discuss some of the more common legal hurdles to succession planning.
- Common Financial Gaps and Which Tools Can Help: While there are many financial tools available, we will review some prevalent ones and how they can assist with succession planning
Veterans + Apprenticeships: The Perfect Equation
Tuesday, November 16, 2021 | 1:00 p.m.
Those who served our country want to build civilian careers and apprenticeship programs provide the ideal setting to showcase their various skills and obtain others.
Employers looking for a competitive edge, an advantage over their competition that will pay dividends today and well into the future, should consider launching a registered apprenticeship program. Veterans who served our country are ideal candidates for apprentice positions, given their work ethic, loyalty and skills sets. What they
may not know they are eager to learn.
Celebrate National Apprenticeship Week with Oakland County Michigan Works! and its partners, as they make a case for hiring veterans to complete registered apprenticeships in a variety of industries. Also learn about funding provided by Oakland County Michigan Works! to help offset the costs of launching an apprenticeship program.
Workshop Structure:
- Overview of registered apprenticeships – requirements and structure
- How companies can build apprenticeship programs that enable veterans to use their earned benefits
- Hiring veterans – employer and apprentice testimonials, personal experiences
- Summary of apprenticeship-focused grants available to employers
- Other county resources available to employers and veterans
Recruiting Employees Today and Tomorrow
Using traditional and modern marketing tools to reach the best candidates available
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 | 10:00 a.m.
In today’s tight labor market, undoubtedly impacted by the pandemic and worker shortage, recruiting quality candidates is more challenging than ever. Hiring managers are employing innovative strategies to find the best
people available to employ today and the future, including a combination of traditional and modern marketing tools. Learn how these can ignite your organization’s recruiting efforts from an experienced newspaper advertising professional and the “Job Doctor” featured on WXYZ Channel 7.
Workshop Structure:
- Using newspapers to recruit – a fresh look at a proven method
- Advertising a job opening most effectively via print media
- Preparing the perfect job and recruitment ad
- Understanding the new mindset of today’s job candidates
- Leveraging “social recruiting” to grab their attention
- Selecting the right social media platforms for your industry
- Executing a social media recruiting strategy with guerilla marketing engagement
Networking for Talent in a Pandemic World
Tuesday, September 21, 2021 | 10 a.m. - Noon
There is no going back to the pre-pandemic workplace. Organizations and individuals have no choice but to discover new ways of working together. It's critical to learn how to adapt to this new environment and recognize how networking has changed, and what skills are required to truly succeed in engaging with your customers and workforce. Oakland County Michigan Works! is hosting a virtual panel discussion, "Networking for Talent in a Pandemic World," led by experts in workforce recruitment and marketing, business growth, and culture-shifting efforts for business.
- Learn how to effectively brand your company in a pandemic world
- Identify new networking tools available to everyone
- Improve your networking skills, adapting to the new normal as our country moves forward
- Enhance your recruiting efforts, build your workforce and grow your business
The pandemic has uncovered new networking trends and opportunities. We can now network from anywhere and at any time. With networking tools and platforms, we can gain more insight about a person than ever before.
Hosted by:
Emma Gougeo, Marketing and Community Affairs Coordinator, Entech Staffing Solutions – workforce recruitment / development / marketing
Marie Hauswirth, Executive Director, Waterford Chamber
Chad Ever, Founder/COO, Ever Studios – culture-shifting efforts for business professionals
Opening Your Doors to International Talent
Closing the skills gap and building your future workforce with people from other countries.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. EST
Southeast Michigan faces a critical STEM talent gap that is only expected to widen in the future, as baby boomer retirements accelerate. Unless something changes, experts predict the continuous introduction of advanced technologies will lead to more than 2.4 million unfilled jobs in STEM fields by 2028, due to a lack of skilled candidates.
There is a solution, however, to address this workforce challenge: highly qualified international students can fill the skills gap. They can use OPT to work for American employers for up to three years without visa sponsorship. This interactive workshop, led by the professionals at Global Detroit, will show companies how to take advantage of this international STEM talent pipeline and others. In addition, they will also discuss the topic of hiring skilled immigrants and refugees.
Global Detroit is a regional economic and community development organization, focusing on immigrants and global talent
Get an Inside Look at Internship
Engage talented young people and build your future workforce.
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 | 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Internship programs continue to grow in popularity despite the COVID-19 pandemic, providing employers in a variety of industries with access to young talent, while young people ages 16-24 obtain valuable work experience.
A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers this spring indicated 43 percent of businesses plan to offer hybrid internship programs this summer and beyond, featuring both in-person and remote experiences. The poll also revealed 38 percent plan to exclusively offer virtual internships, with 13 percent plan to offer just in-person experiences.
This free workshop hosted by Oakland County Michigan Works! in partnership with Oakland Community College will provide you with a valuable introduction to internship programs:
Workshop Structure:
- Discussion of the frustrations that entrepreneurs face in building a company for long-term success in today’s business environment
- Overview of the Entrepreneurial Operating System® or EOS®, a set a simple, practical concepts and practical tools to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals by attracting great people, customers and investors
- Importance of maintaining discipline and transparency to build a business that thrives on a consistent use of proven processes