Principles of Workforce Development

There are numerous underlying principles of workforce development. But in the context of creating a workforce that is able to meet film industry requirements, the following are some of the most useful:

1. Comprehensive, Flexible, Needs-Driven Programs.
o Your workforce development programs should be comprehensive and flexible and centered on the needs of your local communities AND of the production community you serve. Focus on the delivery of responsive, consistent, credible, quality programs and services that are readily understood and accessible to workers, job seekers, students, and businesses.

2. Lifelong Learning Opportunities.
o Another principle of workforce development is that education programs and job-related training should be available to the workforce and the business community as part of a continuum of lifelong learning. There are practical obstacles to ongoing classes – one of which is simply the need to keep the paychecks coming in. This is where on-the-job training comes in. A truly success workforce development effort will never be completed as we do not just want to get someone a job, we want to give them a career, and that means moving up over their lifetime to higher and higher positions with more responsibility and skills.

3. Community Participation.
o Workforce development has two major groups of customers—workers (both current and future) and businesses. Businesses, unions, schools, colleges and universities, community- based organizations, teachers, students, and all levels of government must share the responsibility to ensure that workforce development programs produce economic success for participants. Initiatives should be designed to support existing state-based programs, particularly state efforts to build partnerships with business.