NEWARK, Del. — The Produce Marketing Association here has announced the launch of The PMA Advantage: Custom Training, a new professional development program designed to help member companies train and retain staff and future leaders. The program will offer access to 100 separate professional development courses in 17 different subject areas such as strategic thinking, communications skills and change management.
“The PMA Advantage: Custom Training program enables our members to provide important leadership and skills-building courses to their staff while encouraging longer employer/employee relationships,” PMA President Bryan Silbermann said in the announcement. “The constant need to attract and retain talent in our industry will only increase in light of the coming talent crunch, so it's important for our members to invest in skills training that will help keep their employees energized and engaged.”
The “talent crunch” Silbermann alluded to is the expected employee shortfall that will be created as a huge wave of Baby Boomers begin reaching retirement age in 2011. PMA's announcement noted that “younger workers are demanding a different work experience, including expecting more professional development opportunities as a condition of employment.”
Silbermann encouraged members to “look at investing in professional development as a powerful employee retention tool.”
Sample course subjects include “Developing and Retaining Talent,” “Providing Exceptional Customer Service” and “Public Speaking with Confidence.” All courses are conducted by the Business Learning Institute, Towson, Md., and are tailored to member businesses that request them. Additional information about the new program can be found at www.pma.com/advantage/custom-training.cfm.
In addition to these new courses, PMA's Foundation for Industry Talent — formerly the PMA Education Foundation — will soon celebrate its fifth year of attracting university students to careers in the produce industry with its student scholarship fund. This year, the fund is enabling nearly 50 students and faculty from seven domestic and five international colleges and universities to attend PMA's Fresh Summit conference in Orlando, Fla., Oct. 24-27.
There, the foundation will debut not only a new name and logo, but will also launch several new programs, including a career fair, a networking event for young professionals and a new scholarship program. PMA FIT executive director Cindy Seel will also introduce an educational workshop on strategies to retain and motivate younger employees.
“Since the inception of the foundation we have been committed to finding ways to attract, develop and retain produce industry leaders. This year's new programs support the community that we are trying to foster,” she said in a recent announcement.
Additional information about the Foundation for Industry Talent can be found at www.pmafit.com.
“Ensuring our industry has the talent it will need to grow and succeed in this century is one of our key goals,” said Silbermann.