By Kylie Parks, Arvada Chamber Director of Talent Pipeline Development
The Metro-West Advanced Manufacturing Alliance held its quarterly meeting on Thursday, September 7th. In this meeting, we started to work on the next phase of the Talent Pipeline Management process. In our last meeting, the manufacturing businesses identified three critical positions, including: quality control, engineering, and machinists. After the meeting, we asked them to complete a competency survey to identify how many positions were needed in each of these roles from an entry, mid, or senior level.
In the meeting this week we focused on working through a competency exercise for Machinists. Through this competency exercise, everyone was asked to share their thoughts on years of experience for each level, required technical and essential skills and daily tasks, comparing them with what is currently in their job descriptions and what is being shared by others.
This exercise highlighted most manufacturers (in the room) are okay with hands-on experience and/or college experience for entry-level. It’s also not important for an entry-level applicant to have leadership skills, planning, or troubleshooting experience, however, it is important for them to have a basic understanding of the importance of safety.
So where do we go from here? In our next meeting, we will take the feedback from the group and aggregate an updated Job Description based on their feedback, and continue working through the additional positions on this same exercise.
This sector partnership only emphasizes the need for more businesses to be at the table, to be a part of the solution!
Manufacturing employers are invited to participate in the Manufacturing Day industry panel and job fair, taking place on October 12!
B.O.L.D. 2026 is a five-year regional economic strength and resiliency initiative of the Arvada Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber developed BOLD 2026 in consultation with private and public sector leaders and partners in Arvada, Jefferson / Adams Counties, Metro Denver and the state of Colorado. One goal of B.O.L.D. 2026 is to grow our talent to meet the needs of employers and job seekers. Learn more about our talent challenges and work here.
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