More than 1,300 new jobs in hospitality and tourism are expected to be created in the Northeast Kingdom in the next five years, but it’s going to take a lot of work to prepare local workers to fill them.
That’s the takeaway from a new report written in response to a sweeping set of projects underway by the owners of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain.
The plans — which include expansions at both ski areas, plus waterfront and downtown developments in Newport and a biomedical research park in Newport — are to create or preserve up to 10,000 jobs.
The challenge, according to the report, is developing an integrated educational system and workforce development plan to keep the operations staffed.
“Employers across industry sectors struggle to find entry level employees with basic job readiness skills including showing up on time, managing interpersonal/team relationships, critical thinking and basic customer service,” the authors say.
Jobs in construction, manufacturing and the biotech/medical fields will be created, too, but the assessment focuses primarily on what the hospitality and tourism sector will need to succeed in the Northeast Kingdom.
In addition to a current lack of work-ready, entry-level employees with basic skills, the assessment finds that prior efforts to support the state’s hospitality industry have been more focused on projects than the sector as a whole.
The authors recommend boosting current programs already aimed at developing workplace readiness and customer service training, and introducing experiential educational opportunities for students.
“Northeast Kingdom of Vermont Hospitality and Tourism Workforce Education and Training Needs Assessment” was authored by Penne Ciaraldi and Ann Nygard of the Vermont State Colleges system and Cindy Robillard of the Vt. Department of Labor.
CORRECTION: This article was corrected Aug. 5, 2013, to indicate that the planned biomedical research park is in Newport.
