October 30, 2014
Burning Glass Technologies
Labor/Insight™ Answers Specific Needs by
Community Colleges for Labor Market
Information
PRESENTED BY:
James Shanahan, Ph.D., Shanahan Resources, Inc.
Kelly R. Bailey, Burning Glass Technologies
Matching People
& Jobs
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
Reemployment &
Education
Pathways
Resume Parsing &
Management
Real-Time Jobs
Intelligence
What is Planned for This Session
> We want Labor/Insight™ colleges to
make maximum use of this unique
and powerful system of data on Labor
Market Demand.
> We will provide real examples of how
Labor/Insight™ was used to address
pointed needs for better/actionable
data on labor market demand.
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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What is Planned for This Session (cont.)
> We will emphasis the importance of
framing the need statement and
research questions before beginning
analysis.
> We will focus on real cases where what
colleges need to know starts with
matching skills developed by students
against those employers are seeking.
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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About Labor/Insight™ from Burning Glass
> We have compiled a database of over 150 million job listings,
updated daily from roughly 40,000 websites
> Database includes listings from major job boards, newspapers,
government agencies, and a broad array of small-, medium-, and
large employers
> 51% of sites we visit produce 20 or fewer jobs, reflecting the strong
representation of the small businesses driving economic recovery.
> 76% of our sources are employer sites.
> We leverage patented text mining to code 70+ data elements to
render detailed skills-level intelligence
> Who’s hiring and where?
> What jobs are in demand?
> What skills and credentials do employers require for those jobs?
> Historical data available back to 2007
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Often Educators Encounter Difficulty in
Finding Data They Need to Drive Decisions
> Burning Glass’s Labor/Insight™ is a powerful source
of information on what employers need from new
hires.
> These data can be used to inform a wide variety of
questions that colleges have when the goal is to
better align their career and technical education
degrees and certificates with in-demand jobs and
skills.
> But, just how do we go about this?
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Typical Reasons Why Community Colleges Need
Specific Labor Market Analysis
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Case 1: Major and Courses Suffering
Declining Enrollment
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Why Are We Seeing These Trends?
> “We are considering packaging our quality courses as a
certificate or option within one of our Manufacturing
Engineering Technology (MET) degrees. But, we are having a
difficult time enrolling students into the Quality Program and
need to understand if there is really an industry demand (as we
think) or if the industry is changing ;(now everyone learns/is
responsible for quality principles as part of the their job) or if the
market is truly saturated.
> In recent years, it appears that demand for traditional quality
discipline learning interest – at college level, course enrollment
has been on decline. We would like labor demand data on
‘quality technician’ jobs in design and development,
manufacturing and production or calibration and service industry.
> If you could share such data it will help us to redesign the
quality program contents and delivery structures and encourage
focused marketing to fulfill the emerging needs.”
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Three Possible Questions are Posed
> Are Quality Skills emerging as in demand within a
broader range of positions—what are the occupations
now demanding these skills?
> Is Quality control still a primary responsibility for
specific occupations that remain in demand—how
many of these jobs are technician level?
> Do the number of new job ads, emphasizing Quality
Skills, suggest that these skills remain important to
employers?
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Two Separate Strategies Were Used to Assess Demand
> The first was to start with
searching for jobs that utilize
skills of “quality assurance and
control”. This definition of
“quality” courses seems closest
to those of concern to college;
many other seem
inappropriate such as “air
quality” or “data quality”.
> The second, more narrow, way
to search for job postings
would be to search using
“Quality Technician” as the job
title.
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Occupations with Greatest Demand for Quality
Assurance in Manufacturing Sector
0
50
100
150
200
250
Quality Inspector / Technician
Quality Manager
Jobs Requiring Quality
All Job Postings
Validation Engineer
Quality Control Analyst
>
>
>
505 Job Postings in Last 12 Months by employers in Manufacturing
Occupations are defined using BLS’s Standard Occupational Classifications
Cleveland MSA
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Always Check to See if BG Occupational Titles Are
More Employer-Friendly
Quality Inspector/
Technician rather than
Inspectors, Testers,
Sorters, Samplers, and
Weighers—this is
closer to language
employers use.
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Limiting Occupations to Those Most Often
Requiring Quality Skills
Clearly, though three of these match closely to jobs where quality
assurance and control is a major, if not primary, job responsibility:
> Quality Inspector/Technician—“Inspects and evaluates products
according to company quality control standards. Inspects goods or
packaging in a production or manufacturing facility.”
> Quality Control Analyst—In the biotech and medical device
industries, works in laboratories performing biological,
microbiological, and chemical tests on products and materials.
> Quality Manager—Manages quality control in an organization or
for a project.
> Validation Engineer—Evaluates and maintains machinery and
equipment used in manufacturing and supervises workers that use
and repair the machines.
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What About Industry Certifications?
Only 3 in 10 Ads
mention any
certification for these
positions—either as
required or
preferred.
> No strong
preferences for
particular
certificates
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Case 2: What Career Employment
Opportunities Best Match the Skills Student
Develop in Our Major?
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Associate Degree in Network Communications Tech
Where are the gobs for graduates
from your college degree programs?
With Labor/Insight™, you can identify
jobs that require many of the skills
taught in specific college majors.
> Example: Network Communication
Technology Major
> This program prepares students to
design, install, configure, test, and
support business networks.
Primary focus will be on network
servers, network operating
systems, network services, client
workstations in an integrated and
converged services environment.
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Top Four Computer/IT Occupations Seeking Network
Administration & Security Skills
Job Postings: October 1, 2013 to
September 30, 2014
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
>
From 43% to 72%
of all postings for
these positions
reference skills
that are part of
the Network
Administration or
Security Skill Subcluster of IT Skills.
>
These jobs are
most aligned with
the major
Network
Communication
Technology
Systems.
700
Network and Computer Systems
Administrators
Computer Systems
Engineers/Architects
Computer Network Architects
Information Security Analysts
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Specific Skills Listed for the Top Four Occupations
Top Skills for Network Systems & Security
Job Postings: Oct 1, 2013 to Sept 30, 2014
0
100
200
300
400
500
>
These specific
skills listed in the
job ads which
most often are
seeking applicants
with Network
Administration
and Security Skill
sets.
>
Confirmation that
we are isolating
those jobs closely
aligned with
graduates of the
college program
600
Cisco
System and Network Configuration
Network Engineering
Switches
Firewalls
Wide Area Network (WAN)
System Administration
Network Administration
LINUX
Transmission Control Protocol /…
Disaster Recovery Planning
Domain Name System (DNS)
UNIX
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Case 3: Employers Complain About Not Being
Able to Find Qualified Applicants with
Software Engineering Skills
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Software Engineering Plays an Important Role in Many
Northeast Ohio Industries
> Companies use software to design, operate and
maintain automation and controls necessary for the
manufacturing process;
> Companies use those systems in the manufacture of
their final products;
> Companies that manufacture software-enabled or
“smart” components and products;
> An active IT/software business sector, including
companies that work as contractors to manufacturers
and that make commercial software products;
> Other sectors with extensive software needs, such as
financial services and health care.
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Questions That Need Answers
> Is there a gap within the region
between the demand for workers
with an emphasis on software
engineering and the supply of
qualified applicants?
> How is the demand for software
engineering skills influencing
traditional jobs in IT and
engineering?
> Are the skills most important to
employers the same for
manufacturers as for the software
development firms?
> What are the complementary skills
that today’s jobs in software
engineering require?
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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NE Ohio Jobs Seeking Software Engineering
Northeast Ohio Top Job Titles Used
in Ads for Positions Listing Software
Engineering as Skill Job Openings
0
200
Software Engineer
Systems Engineer
Electrical Engineer
.Net Developer
.Net Architect
Programmer/Analyst
400
600
800
1,000
> Two-thirds of postings are
captured by these titles
> Software Engineer and
Network Engineer are top titles
> If we classify by Standard
Occupational Titles, almost all
are Software Developers,
Applications Specialists; this
masks the diversity of actual
assignments employers need
to have performed
Electronics Engineer
Network Analyst
Engineering Manager
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Who Has Jobs in Northeast Ohio?
NEO Top Employers with Ads for Positions Listing
Software Engineering as Skill Last 12 Months Job
Openings
0
Rockwell Automation…
The PNC Financial Services…
20
40
60
80
100
120
>
Many postings do not
identify employer name—
slightly more of these
postings do
>
Rockwell and Diebold by
far had the most job ads
since last March
>
Not all are in
manufacturing—
Professional, Scientific and
Technology Services
>
These companies are the
best prospects for
engaging to discuss issues
around talent acquisition
140
Micros Systems Incorporated
Brandmuscle Incorporated
Science Applications…
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Laird Technologies
Snap On Incorporated
Intel Corporation
General Electric Company
The Babcock & Wilcox Company
Src And Srctec
Compugain
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Skills Employers Include in Job Postings in NE Ohio
NEO Top Skills in Ads for Positions Listing
Software Engineering as Skill Last 12 Months
Job Openings
0
400
800
1,200
>
>
1,600
Software Engineering
Electrical Engineering
C++
.NET Programming
>
Software Development
Network Engineering
JavaScript
Network Hardware/Software…
Cisco
Systems Engineering
Wide Area Network (WAN)
>
Not surprisingly, the most
commonly mentioned skills
are IT-related.
However, aside from software
engineering, no specific skill
is listed in more than 23% of
the postings, and many are
listed less than 10% of the
time.
The diversity of specific skill
needs will make it difficult to
match against the region’s
college programs, and not all
can be included in specific
majors.
However, these make for a
useful list for discussions
among employers and
educators.
Software Testing
Oracle
Transmission Control Protocol /…
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Summing Up
> Most college majors are designed with careers in
mind, not specific occupations; the better
approach is to search by skills.
> Only Labor/Insight™ allows you to search by skills
embedded in recent job postings
> Appropriate use of Labor/Insight™ requires
repeated use and ability to make judgment calls
about the data results.
> Analysts usually need to better understand labor
market economics, and may need some help to
learn how to use Labor/Insight™ as I have
demonstrated.
> Burning Glass can help your campus move
forward.
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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Discussion
> With the three case examples in mind, what
specific needs do you have?
> How are you currently using Labor/Insight™
within your college?
> What help would you like from Burning
Glass?
© 2014 Burning Glass Technologies
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About Burning Glass
Burning Glass’s tools and data are playing a growing role in informing the global conversation on
education and the workforce by providing researchers, policy makers, educators, and employers with
detailed real-time awareness into skill gaps and labor market demand. Burning Glass’s job seeker
applications power several government workforce systems and have been shown to have substantive
impact on reemployment outcomes and on labor market literacy.
With headquarters in Boston, Burning Glass is proud to serve a client base that spans six continents,
including education institutions, government workforce agencies, academic research centers, global
recruitment and staffing agencies, major employers, and leading job boards.
For More Information
Kelly R. Bailey
t +1 (732) 800-2484
kbailey@burning-glass.com
www.burning-glass.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyrbailey
© 2013 Burning Glass Technologies
Jim Shanahan, Ph.D.
1(727) 631-8262
shanahan.jim.l@gmail.com
Shanahan Resources, Inc.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-jimshanahan/10/71a/6b6
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