Economists dream of dynamic regional education and employer talent systems that are symbiotic: Schools equip grads with the experience and skills they need to propel them into their chosen careers while providing local employers with a reliable supply of well-prepared talent.
“The goal is to create pipelines to high-paying, high-demand jobs that keep top talent in the area,” says Hampton Roads Workforce Council (HRWC) president, Shawn Avery. They also ease hiring costs and uncertainty by making it “much easier for companies to find and hire great workers locally.”
It’s the HRWC’s job to do just that. The organization serves as a liaison between regional employers, state agencies, municipal and county governments, economic development authorities, schools, colleges and more to ensure those pipelines are not only in place, but flowing in the right direction and at peak capacity.
That mission recently got a shot in the arm from a $250,000 GO Virginia grant. The 2023 award funded strategic research to assess current talent pathways around a pair of tech-focused, high-growth business sectors. The first designated “jobs cluster” was data analytics, cybersecurity and computer modeling/simulation.
“A lot of this used to fall under the blanket of ‘computer science,’” says HRWC vice president of talent development, Whitney Lester. But the field has seen tremendous diversification and specialization in the past decade or so. “These are areas where, at least to some extent, the vast majority of [modern] businesses are going to have a need.”
Application for a digital tablet for wireless diagnostics and analysis of the technical condition of the electric motor in the car and the state of the battery. Car model shown in 3D projection
The second cluster was aerospace and unmanned systems. Lester describes the sector as more emergent, but explosive. He points to NASA, DroneUp, Amazon and the U.S. Department of Defense as high-profile employers, and highlights the growth potential of fields like electric vertical landing and takeoff vehicles (eVTOLs) or drone delivery. The latter is expected to soon become the fastest-growing segment of last-mile delivery for companies like Amazon, FedEx and UPS. While eVTOLs are now in the early stages of adaption, they’re expected to provide short-distance, carbon-free air taxi services to 66 million Virginians by 2045.
Taken collectively, the two clusters are projected to create more than 20,000 new regional jobs by 2033.
“And these are career paths with great trajectories, where about 45% of positions have median wages above $100,000 and 75% have median wages above $75,000,” says Lester. So these are jobs “that we can’t afford to miss out on; we need to be positioned to fill them with regional talent.”
Lester worked closely with Richmond-based labor market and talent intelligence firm, Chmura, to assess current talent pathways, identify potential areas of growth, and create a plan for strengthening pipelines to meet the coming demand.
Interviews were conducted with subject matter experts at regional powerhouses like Boeing, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Northrop Grumman, NASA, Sentara and Peraton Inc. to assess businesses’ current and projected needs within the identified sectors. Chmura then used that criteria to evaluate current education and training infrastructure, and make recommendations for improvements that would create targeted curriculum, maximize learner preparedness and overall pipeline output.
“The goal was to figure out what we have in place, what’s working well, what isn’t, and identify areas where we need to expand, improve, or refocus our energy and resources,” says Lester.
The 44-page report unearthed significant regionwide challenges like gaps around skills like Microsoft Excel, the Linux operating system and programming languages like JavaScript, R, or Python. Also notable was a datapoint that area universities would have to increase annual degree awards by 38% to match growth within the data analytics, cybersecurity, and modeling & simulation sector alone. Furthermore, Old Dominion University awarded just five four-year degrees and 16 advanced degrees in modeling & simulation in the 2022-2023 schoolyear— despite more than 1,400 industry-related job ads in the region.
Quadrocopter carrying a parcell. 3D illustration
The report also identified strongpoints and opportunities.
A large military presence at major bases like Langley Air Force Base and Naval Station Norfolk was a big plus, says Lester. “Employers specifically cited the ability to recruit new hires from exiting military as a strong benefit that supports expansion within Hampton Roads.”
The region’s strategic location and abundance of higher-ed institutions was also noted. “We have access to major ports and proximity to key military installations [like NASA’s Langley Research Center and Wallops Flight Facility],” says Lester. Meanwhile, Hampton Roads is home to 33 local universities, colleges and trade schools.
The report is just the opening salvo in a much larger and lengthier process to create a holistic, talent ecosystem that will unfold over the course of the next decade.
“This gives us a roadmap for how to proceed in a prioritized and targeted manner that will affect maximum results,” says Lester. The next step is to secure funds for implementation, “and we are very close to threading that needle.”
