The word of the day is "upskill."
You'll probably be hearing a lot of it when it comes to employers as they provide additional training for their staff.
"This is an employee market now," said Christine Mackay, the Phoenix Community, and Economic Director. "Much like it's a home sellers’ market, it's an employee market and the employees are in demand, and they know they're in demand."
Mackay says one of the main perks employees are looking for now in a job is potential.
"They're looking for that location where they can see a path in educational increases and job increases and really getting upskilling," said Mackay. "They're not really interested in going to a job where they're going to be for 25 years and get a gold watch at the end."
This is where the city's Incumbent Worker Training can help. It's a grant for businesses to invest in additional training for their employees to gain competitive skills.
"We want to set people up for success and make sure they feel comfortable and confident on the phone with their client and their customers," said Jana Randall. Randall heads up human resources at Valor Global, a family-owned company providing business services to other companies. They employ several hundred people in the Valley. Valor applied and got the grant to help with its extensive training curriculum.
The goal is to not only help the employer, but it makes the employee more valuable on the open market. There's upward mobility and potential for better pay.
"I think that's what's so key now about these job training grants," said Mackay. "It lets that worker feel valued. It lets that worker learn new skills and stay with the company instead of having to jump from job to job."
For more information on applying for the Incumbent Workforce Program Training Program, click here.
Valor Global is hiring for several hundred positions in the Valley.
