Woodwork Career Alliance to Highlight Workforce Development in Vegas

The North American woodworking industry’s best chance to grow a skilled workforce will be on full display at the 2017 AWFS Fair.

The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America (WCA), celebrating its 10th anniversary as the champion of woodworking skill standards, will present a well-rounded collection of workforce development tools and strategies at the AWFS Fair July 19-22 in Las Vegas.

Since it was chartered in 2007, the WCA has developed Skill Standards for more than 240 woodworking machines and operations and issued nearly 1,400 individual skill credential passports. The standards and passports are recognized by educational institutions and woodworking companies operating throughout the United States and Canada. The overarching goal of the WCA is to develop and grow the industry’s workforce by creating pathways for woodworkers to advance their careers and income as they learn new skills.

The WCA’s integral participation at the AWFS Fair will include previewing new training tools, offering seven Accredited Skill Evaluator Training sessions and leading three of the AWFS Fair’s College of Woodworking Knowledge seminars.

The WCA’s booth #9846 will anchor the AWFS Fair’s new “Higher Education Learning Pavilion” (HELP). Woodworking instructors can stop by the WCA’s booth to learn about the benefits of becoming an EDUcation® member. Woodworkers and suppliers can learn about the value of WCA INDustry® membership. The WCA also will preview first generation training materials developed by Madison College instructor Patrick Molzahn, a WCA Chief Evaluator. In addition to more than 50 videos, Molzahn has assembled training outlines, teaching notes, exercises and activities to help build a woodworking candidate’s skill and knowledge. All of these training tools are correlated to his recently revised textbook, Modern Cabinetmaking, and represent a major new benefit for INDustry and EDUcation members.

Molzahn will be joined by fellow WCA chief evaluators Kent Gilchrist and Greg Larson, to present accredited skill evaluator training sessions slated for each day of the show. These train-the-trainer workshops teach woodworking program instructors how to evaluate passport holders’ skill standard achievements. Woodworking instructors interested in reserving a seat for one of the evaluator training sessions should contact WCA President Scott Nelson at snelson@gmail.com
​
The WCA will be well represented in the AWFS Fair College of Woodworking Knowledge education program. Each of the three programs presented by WCA members will focus on workforce development. These timely WCA-led sessions include:
 

• Workforce Crisis – Job One, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 19 – Kent Gilchrist will explain how to find qualified woodworking candidates and how to educate, train and retain valued woodworking employees.

 

• Create Your Own In-House Training Program with WCA Skill Standards & Passport Program, 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 19 - Scott Nelson, President of the WCA, will present how woodworking companies can use the WCA Skill Standards to develop a training program to evaluate and reward the skill levels of new and existing employees.

 

• Tools for Teaching and Evaluating the WCA Standards, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, July 21 - Patrick Molzahn and Bert Christiansen will show how schools or woodworking shops can implement the WCA’s credentialing Passport system and access the WCA’s training tools to develop an effective training program.

 
Learn more about the Woodwork Career Alliance and its Skill Standards and Passport programs at www.WoodworkCareer.org.
 
About the Woodwork Career Alliance
The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America was founded in 2007 as a 501C(3) non-profit corporation and is governed by a volunteer board of directors. The WCA’s mission is to develop and administer a unified set of Skill Standards for the wood products industry. Since 2011, WCA has developed observable and measurable performance standards and assessments for more than 240 woodworking machine operations. In addition, WCA has issued more than 1,300 Passports, a portable, personal permanent record documenting each holder’s record of achievements as a woodworking professional. More than 165 high schools and post-secondary schools throughout North America are WCA EDUcation® members. To learn more about the WCA and how to get involved with its programs, visit www.WoodworkCareer.org.