Joseph F. Bastian

Have you received your No Worker Left Behind Training dollars yet? If you have been able to jump through the many hoops and wait for months and months for the federal program to catch up, then consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

After chatting with Michigan’s leaders in workforce development over the past few months, it is very clear to me that training is one of the keys to success in Michigan’s strategy for economic recovery.

I had been offered an opportunity to chat with Michigan’s Deputy Director of Labor and Economic Growth, Andy Levin, and I jumped at it.

From my vantage point, I can see things are starting to pick up. Just this past week, I got three calls from businesses that had been holding my resume since last year.

For the past few years, I have spent a lot of time working with technology firms, trying to bring useful technology directly into the hands of workforce agencies and their clients.

Have you ever heard of an elevator pitch? In the sales world, the concept of the elevator pitch is built around the premise of running into a key prospect on an elevator.

Well, we did it. We made it through what will probably be the worst year in many of our lives. I am not one wish time away; however, I must say that I was not sad to see 2009 go.

OK, now we are seeing the public opinion pendulum really start to swing. On one hand, you have experts predicting doom and gloom in the job market.

Well, the holidays are upon us and distraction is in the air.

As job seekers turn to career development and workforce professionals for more and more help, the old methods of support are becoming like antiquated fishing techniques — few people are getting a bite or reeling anything in.