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November 29, 2023
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – The skills job seekers need for today’s evolving workforce oftentimes center around the equally evolving advances in technology.
With this in mind, gener8tor – in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, specifically the Worker Connection Program and the Bay Area Workforce Development Board (Bay Area WDB) – launched a job training program that combines generative AI (artificial intelligence) and project management skills.
Joe Kirgues, co-founder of gener8tor, said the free program is designed to support job seekers with the project management skills needed and tactical knowledge on how to understand and use generative AI in the workplace.
“We believe it is our responsibility to skill our workforce in generative AI along with the skills for the in-demand role of project management so our citizens can compete in the global workforce of today and tomorrow,” he said.
Vickie Patterson, CEO of Bay Area WDB, said the organization is excited to partner with gener8tor.
“This innovative training offers an opportunity to develop the skills needed to shape an evolving workforce,” she said.
gener8tor Skills Accelerator
The gener8tor Skills Accelerator – which was founded in 2020 – is a virtual, rapid job training and placement program for people looking for jobs in high-demand roles.
Kirgues said participants build confidence and technical knowledge in a cohort-based model where they receive one-on-one support from experienced career coaches.
The programs, he said, have been working well for participants.
Of its 13 cohorts of 290 total participants thus far – which includes 55% women and 32% persons of color – Kirgues said 221 have graduated from the program (a 76% graduation rate).
Kirgues said the gener8tor Skills Accelerator is designed for participants to gain not just skills and certificates, but career guidance and gainful employment.
“Everyone’s assigned a career coach when they come into the program, and they schedule time with them through the program weekly,” he said. “The goal, in addition to the curriculum, is to talk about where it is they want to go in their career and how this program can help prepare them.”
The program’s career coaching, Kirgues said, includes mock interviews, resume preparation, application assistance and access to gener8tor-aggregated job opportunities.
He said for program graduates – 134 of whom have gained new employment, for a placement rate of 61% – the career assistance is offered indefinitely.
“People will come back to us as they’re looking at salary negotiations, for example, for advice,” he said. “It’s that support they’re getting through the career coaching. During the program, that is offered weekly. Alumni are welcome to come back during scheduled office hours and meet with our career coaches to help gain support.”
Artificial intelligence, local benefits
Though the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted systems, economies and communities worldwide, Kirgues said technologies continued to evolve – which most recently includes AI.
The gener8tor Skills Accelerator, he said, kept pace with the new prevalence of remote work and the changes in demand for certain careers – and continues to do the same with AI through the new program offering.
“We’re looking at what is clearly the workforce challenge of the next few years, which is generative artificial intelligence,” he said. “We felt like this was a challenge for the country, and we could try to use this as an opportunity to have the region be a step ahead.”
Kirgues said generative AI is effectively “the next iteration of the search engine,” capable of not merely providing a list of potentially relevant websites, but researching, categorizing and summarizing information to answer questions and solve problems.
Joe Kirgues said the skills acquired through the Generative AI with Project Management Skills program can help boost job applicants’ resumes, thereby increasing their opportunities. Stock Image
He said generative AI can make project management in particular much more efficient, and that even a cursory knowledge of the technology can give aspiring project managers a competitive edge.
A six-week session of gener8tor’s Project Management with Generative AI skills program, Kirgues said, is currently accepting applications for January 2024.
“It’s got to be one of the first, if not the first (curricula) to be launching generative AI as a workforce skilling program,” he said. “How cool is that? We’re proud we’re moving at the speed of the opportunity.”
This skills session, he said, like all others offered through gener8tor, will likely attract a wide range of participants, though it’s “designed to be more entry-level, or for someone who’s trying to supplement a resume that’s competitive on two or three other features as well.”
Kirgues said due to the sessions being geared toward the un- or underemployed, a timeline of six weeks felt appropriate.
“We want to create a balance of giving a long enough period with intensive enough learning that people are getting real credentials, but also not extending it so long they’re out of the workforce longer than they need to be,” he said. “It’s been a good fit.”
Kirgues said the duration also mirrored gener8tor’s approach for new businesses.
“Historically, it’s about that long to help startups go from an idea to a legal entity, to getting them their first pitches, so we used that as a template, and then the curriculum and the timing fit into it nicely,” he said.
The sessions – which are offered to cohorts of 15-25 participants – Kirgues said typically require about 15-20 hours per week in a semi-self-paced and somewhat flexible schedule.
However, he said program support and advising are flexible and accommodating, with availability during evenings at night.
“With generative AI, the game is going faster than the rules,” he said. “And as people are trying to learn it, oftentimes through the program, it may be their first attempt at opening up a generative AI platform and using it.”
Kirgues said organizers want to be somewhere where people feel comfortable learning not only what it is, but how to use these tools to be productive.
“Even to our own team, the learning is at this novice stage, because the tech itself is at a novice stage,” he said.
Kirgues said he assures participants the continuously updated curriculum and technology shouldn’t intimidate them, though he understands how that can be the case.
“With terminology that’s new and not yet understood, there’s naturally some apprehension,” he said. “We’re trying to design the coursework in a way where people can feel comfortable that everyone’s learning from scratch. It’s meant to welcome people with no prior knowledge of this.”
By way of online participation and skilling modules, as well as completing career preparation and a mock interview, Kirgues said participants in the upcoming session will learn project management skills regarding workflows, database technology, industry-standard software, organizational skills and generative AI knowledge, from basic terms to large language models.
Though, he said, that one particular takeaway for participants is more of a side effect than an explicitly taught skill.
“The single most common feedback that we get is, ‘I’m better when I’m more confident – thank you for helping me feel confident in this new field,’” he said.
Kirgues said he’s encouraged by the progress of the program so far.
“We feel lucky we’ve been a part of this community now for two years, and meeting people who have the courage to stand up and say, ‘I want to fight for myself and my family to have a better career,’” he said. “We count ourselves as lucky to try to help those individuals to go from where they are to a better future.”
Kirgues said gener8tor maintains its integrity by applying a start-up mindset to its own operations, too.
“We view ourselves as a startup,” he said. “We want our product to improve 30% year-over-year, so we’re hoping next year’s efforts from us are going to be better than last year’s, and so on.”
Kirgues said the confluence of challenges and changes – economical, societal and technological – only inspire more passion.
“We feel like we’re getting to work on some of the hardest problems in the state,” he said. “And for start-up people, that’s what you want to do.”
For more, visit gener8tor.com/skills/ne-wisconsin.
