Three HR programs catch national attention
ITD's workforce abstracts
Idaho’s Wounded Warrior ITD, FHWA and the Idaho Department of Labor collaborated to help injured military veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan find meaningful employment in the transportation field. Nineteen wounded veterans have graduated from the program to date. ITD Volunteer Program – building a pipeline to transportation careers ITD and the Nampa School District partnered to reach students early in their educational development to encourage them to stay in school, seek out advanced science and mathematics classes, and plan for a career within the transportation industry. Transportation department volunteers provide outreach, mentoring and hands-on activities to encourage interest in transportation careers. ITD Career Outreach In order to attract qualified and diverse job applicants, ITD created a notification database that reaches hundreds of targeted engineering contacts, minority advocacy groups and the general public. Career opportunities are posted and distributed within minutes using social media. |
It came as a request for more information about ITD’s Wounded Warrior program and turned into an invitation to submit an abstract of the project for the National Transportation Workforce Summit April 24-26 in Washington, D.C.
Abstracts for two additional ITD workforce-related programs – Volunteer Program and building a pipeline to careers and Career Outreach – also were submitted and accepted.
“We’re very excited that ITD’s education and outreach programs are receiving this kind of national attention,” said Michelle George, senior human resource specialist.
More than 100 abstracts from across the country were submitted to summit organizers for consideration, covering a full range of topics related to transportation workforce pathways including:
- Transportation workforce needs now and in the future
- Career awareness
- Career preparation and advancement
- Transportation professional and continuing education
The department’s HR staff will prepare and submit full papers of ITD’s three projects to the summit planning committee.
After a jury review, ITD representatives may be asked to make a presentation at the summit, include the papers in the Pre-conference Participant Information Web Center and/or the Summit Proceedings and Recommendations Report, and have the papers considered for the Transportation Research Record or Transportation Research Board Circular.
The summit will address key workforce challenges, identify administrative and legislative actions for effective workforce policies and programs and establish a National Strategic Framework for Transportation Workforce Development that will link education and training to workforce development policies and programs.
The Summit Steering and Program committees invited abstracts on any discipline related to the transportation workforce from educators, researchers, practitioners and organizations.
Published 1-20-2012