Aerospace Employers in East Kern Forging Data Link With Local Schools, Colleges

Jan. 31—Northrup Grumman and other aerospace companies are taking steps to engage closer than ever with local colleges and schools to place more students in a variety of specialized jobs within an industry cluster focused in and around eastern Kern County.

An initiative announced this week aims to create a data link that aerospace employers would use to inform schools when positions become available, along with specific information on what skills, certificates or degrees the jobs require.

Involving the region's largest educational institutions, the workforce development effort builds on work begun in 2020 by the B3K Prosperity economic collaboration to improve the region's competitiveness and employment prospects by, in part, convening diverse parties with a shared interest in working together.

Participants in the B3K initiative identified aerospace as one of five sectors with potential to drive local economic growth. That led to a meeting of industry employers in May, followed by a gathering in November that included concrete steps toward sharing data on job openings.

The link appears to be six to 10 months from implementation, said Kristen Watson, chief of staff to the president of Cal State Bakersfield, who added that there are important hurdles to overcome first.

Before data may be shared, the parties involved must establish trusting relationships, said Watson, one of B3K's earliest proponents. For example, there will have to be signed nondisclosure agreements — and that work has begun, she noted.

The data link, if successful, could be adopted by some of B3K's other groups working with targeted sectors such as advanced manufacturing, Watson said.

"Kind of revolutionary, huh?" she asked.

A Northrop Grumman representative said in a news release Monday that the company is experiencing strong demand for aircraft mechanics and services.

___

Visit The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.) at www.bakersfield.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.