Isle officials hope new
skills site helps employers
find right match

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Star-Bulletin staff

State officials and local businesses hope a new online database will lead to a better-trained work force.

The Hawaii Skills Community Web site allows employers to input skills required for certain jobs, helping them to customize job descriptions, figure out which skills are most critical and identify where their current employees may need more training.

This information can then be used by the University of Hawaii and the Department of Education to create courses that will provide students with the skills employers are looking for.

First Hawaiian Bank was one of the first private companies to sign on to the partnership with the state Department of Education and the university.

"Our thought is to find a way to partner with education so that they can assist us in developing the work force that we need tomorrow," said Sheila Sumida, executive vice president of human resources for the bank.

"Businesses are going to drive the process. At least now, business can identify what it is that they need in the skills for the workers for tomorrow so that we're able to have the employees complete the online questionnaire of skills," she said.

The results can be used by businesses to develop training classes or by employees to determine which skills they need to advance, she said.

Michael Brown, founder and chief executive officer of the Texas-based company that designed the job profiling software, said, "SkillsNET is a mechanism which is designed to build employers, make employers more productive, so they can hire the right people at the right time and provide education and the right information for skills-building behaviors."

For more details about the program, call 734-9442 or go to www.hawaii.edu/cte/skills.