Local workforce training presented at SHRM meeting

The Society for Human Resource Management CNMI Chapter invited three speakers on Thursday to talk about the CNMI’s future workforce needs and the options businesses have following the expiration of the CW program in 2019.

Staff from various organizations, government agencies, and businesses who work in human resources listened to presentations from the three speakers at the SHRM monthly membership meeting at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan’s Charley’s Cabaret.

Delta Management Corp. president Jim Arenovski, Hyatt Regency Saipan human resources director Josephine DLG-Mesta, and G4S Training Academy project manager Dr. Julie Ulloa-Heath presented their respective institutions’ training programs.

Arenovski spoke about Latte Training Academy and the AHLEI START program that they are offering to the Public School System.

Arenovski spoke about the great effort and dedication the graduates of his local workforce training programs have shown. He also spoke about the courses that they offer beyond the AHLEI START program.

Ulloa-Heath spoke of the training academy she manages in G4S. Located at the TSL Plaza in Garapan, trainees undergo security and lifeguard training for possible employment elsewhere and within the company.

Mesta talked about how the Northern Marianas Trade Institute and Hyatt have partnered up and how contract workers were transitioned out of Hyatt and replaced with resident workers.

Mesta later told Saipan Tribune that the whole reason for the presentations was to illustrate the different ways that are now being pursued to create a stronger workforce in the local community.

“We have three companies on island actually doing training and we’re all here to share what training opportunities they are offering for our local workforce,” she said.

SHRM board president Frank Gibson said these are great programs that the agencies are offering, considering that the end of the CW program is a problem for all the employers and human resources staff in the CNMI.

“All the HR staff and the present workforce are making sure that the staff isn’t a problem now because we’re trying to focus on training our local workforce toward the ending of the CW period and the expansion of the new companies coming into the CNMI. This will help them and they are here to share those type of opportunities and it is a great thing,” he said.

SHRM’s next meeting is set for April 30. For more information about the NMI Chapter, you can visit their website at http://nmichapter.shrm.org.