With support from the GitLab Foundation, CAEL has completed cross-sector career pathway and competency maps that help adult learners and workers leverage transferable skills and training to enter and advance within rewarding professions in the energy sector, which is facing critical labor shortages and demographic recruiting challenges. The collaboration was part of a broader GitLab Foundation-funded initiative, including a new website, to support the Energy Providers Coalition for Education’s (EPCE) capacity to attract diverse talent to the energy sector. EPCE, which is administered by CAEL, is the energy sector’s leading source of 100% online degrees and other credentials and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The national initiative also included the Northwest Native Chamber (NWNC) in Portland, Oregon; Revolution Workshop (RW) in Chicago, Illinois; and the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The energy sector faces substantial labor shortages resulting from heavy demand for skilled labor, a wave of retirements, and recruiting competition from other sectors. The EPCE career pathway and competency maps lay out navigable routes from potentially lower-paying industries, revealing that many entry-level workers are standing on a firm foundation for advancement within the energy sector.
A lack of standardized occupational taxonomies within the energy sector's complex and diverse industries has made it a challenge to define “energy work,” limiting its accessibility to external talent, especially underrepresented workers, despite pressing talent needs. The EPCE maps benefit not only prospective workers but also hiring managers and their incumbent staff. Each pathway includes entry-level, mid-level, and senior-level occupations. By highlighting competencies that qualify workers for progressively rewarding occupations, the pathways provide valuable insight to employers and workforce developers seeking greater efficiency in recruiting, upskilling, and retaining workers.
Highlighted bridging occupations that can offer immediate pay increases of up to 77% to entry-level workers transitioning from other sectors is a key feature of the pathway maps. These occupations can serve both as an intermediate target for workers seeking a family-sustaining wage and as a jumping-off point for even more rewarding roles, all within a clearly defined career continuum.
Above is an example of a pathway. View all of them here.
CAEL identified 21 foundational competencies in constructing six career pathway and competency maps. Foundational competencies serve as fundamental skills necessary for both academic achievement and professional performance. Rather than shoehorning the competencies within traditional “hard skill” and “soft skill” taxonomies, CAEL categorized them into three areas based on its custom analysis of the sector’s career pathways: personal, education, and workplace competencies.
Development of the career pathway and competency maps included formulating potential crosswalks linking technical programs for college credit within EPCE’s education provider network. This included innovative educational pathways such as matriculation agreements between Bismarck State College and Excelsior University, and partnerships with local community colleges to offer online technical courses from BSC.
GitLab Foundation funding also enabled the completion of Bridging The Talent Gap surveys and industry convenings with key energy sector employers in support of the mapping work. The survey reveals performance gaps related to recruiting and retention targets plans and employee education and training needs. The EPCE deployment of the BTTG survey covered several major energy sector companies employing nearly 40,000.
EPCE’s education partners offer more than 100 online courses created in collaboration with the energy sector and tailored to its latest needs. Employees of EPCE’s 3,500+ members receive discounted tuition rates of up to 20%. In turn, EPCE members enjoy an average return on investment of more than 230% on EPCE membership, on top of the substantial recruiting and retention improvements created by education benefits.