Empowering businesses and fostering collaboration in skills-based hiring

When it comes to growth and development, rural states face unique challenges. In Montana's vast landscapes, where communities thrive on interconnectedness and resilience, Accelerate Montana (AMT) is fostering economic empowerment and collaboration. 

AMT’s mission is to support inclusive economic prosperity for all Montanans by offering services tailored to fuel business and professional growth and expansion and supporting businesses at every stage of their journey. AMT offers tailored courses, programs, and services to businesses and communities of all sizes, providing a collaborative and tailored approach to realizing innovative ideas and entrepreneurial dreams.

As a SkillsFWD grantee, the AMT team is working to pilot statewide adoption of learning and employment records (LERs) among employers in the construction trades and technology industries across urban, rural, and tribal communities. 

We recently spoke with Jenny Harms, director of finance and operations at AMT, to learn more about how they empower businesses to thrive while nurturing a skilled workforce through various workforce programs. 

Can you provide an overview of your services and how Accelerate Montana partners with both individuals and businesses? 

JENNY: We have a broad mission of supporting inclusive economic prosperity for Montana's workers, companies and communities. Our programs serve companies in every stage of development, from early-stage to more mature, that are looking to grow and expand and we offer workforce programs that range from entry level to career changers and more seasoned professionals

Our programs include Rocky Mountain Women’s Business Center, which helps women-owned businesses implement their ideas and the recently launched Native Women Launch, a program providing entrepreneurial education to Native communities. Our Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) focus on growth, while our World Trade Center assists Montana’s businesses to access global markets and capital.

AMT’s workforce development and training programs work closely with two-year colleges, tribal colleges, employers, and other training providers to develop and deliver fast, affordable, and accessible training for in-demand skills.

Let’s discuss employer partnerships and small businesses. How are these relationships vital to Accelerate Montana's success and the goal of supporting inclusive economic prosperity? 

JENNY: We’re nothing without the employers in our state. Without those strong relationships, we won't know what skills employers need and the training programs that are needed. Montana feels like one big Main Street. Geographically, we’re very large, but with a smaller population; and we’re super connected despite the physical distances between us. Two-thirds of our workers are employed by small businesses, so they’re our lifeline. 

Employers often return to us after finding that they like the workers from our programs, or they’ll consider taking our training and offering it to their team internally. Ultimately, it boils down to this — we both need each other. Our small businesses don't always have the capacity and may rely on us to train quality workers for them. 

Share more about what’s been gathered, or learned, from your efforts working in partnership with Montana’s Tribal Nations. 

JENNY: We partner with Montana’s tribal nations through both our economic development and workforce development programs. As mentioned earlier, for example, our Native Women Launch program supports Native women in starting and expanding their businesses. We operate this program in partnership with two tribal colleges: Salish Kootenai College and Blackfeet Community College. 

Additionally, we have a team devoted to Indigenous programs and outreach leading our partnerships and programming. We’ve learned that one of the best ways we can work with our tribal nations is to have them lead, tell us what will work in each community, and work with us to determine how best we can support their vision. 

Specifically in our SkillsFWD project, we are working with 4 Poles Educational Consulting Group from the Blackfeet Nation to ensure our learning and employment record ecosystem is one where our Montana’s tribal citizens see value in having and using LERs.

What challenges does your SkillsFWD project team plan to tackle this year? 

JENNY: We often talk about challenges as opportunities. Our opportunity in Montana is to illustrate what an LER ecosystem can look like where two-thirds of our workers are employed by small businesses that often lack the human resources capacity to operate robust HR processes and systems. 

We also have the opportunity to show what scale can look like in a geographically large state with low population density. As reference, Montana’s total workforce is about 580,000 people, which is smaller than a lot of U.S. cities. Our training program cohorts typically range from three to 15 people. When developing and delivering programs in rural areas, we also need to take into consideration the multiple roles people hold in their communities. For example, trainees in our rural EMT program last spring in Glasgow, Mont. were not only training to become EMTs but also held roles such as diesel mechanics, farm hands for the spring wheat harvest and, in one case, as a city council member. That is not uncommon in our smaller communities. So adoption across a diverse set of learners, industries, employers, communities, responsibilities and cultures is key to success in our state. 

Lastly, Montana currently ranks near the bottom in broadband access and digital readiness. As the state continues to invest in both of these areas, we will need to build an LER ecosystem that can meet us where we are now but can also grow with us as access and readiness improves.

In your opinion, what’s the most misunderstood thing about this work? Where does your team encounter the most pushback or difficulty in getting buy-in? 

JENNY: While tech and digital tools are an important part of an LER ecosystem, the base of this work is really about change management and culture change. 

We’re asking employers to rethink and update how they hire and manage talent. We’re asking learners to adopt a new way of managing and sharing their skills and competencies. And we’re asking training providers to evaluate how they offer and assess their training related to skills validation. When we encounter skepticism, we have conversations to clarify the return on investment (ROI) for each constituency. For example, for employers the ROI may be a stronger, larger and more diverse talent pool; better retention; and better understanding of the skills gaps in their staff.

What additional information is important for readers to know? 

JENNY: We’re really excited about what Montana’s SkillsFWD project means for our state. It’s helping us in our effort to lay the groundwork for a skills-based economy. We’re honored to be in this cohort. We’ve already learned so much from our peers and look forward to what's to come over the next year.