Executive director of PA Workforce Development Association on staying relevant in the workplace

Carrie Amann, Executive director of the PA Workforce Development Association speaks to the roles that got her where she is today and current challenges facing Pennsylvania‘s workforce development.

Prior to PWDA, you worked in state agencies – including the Department of Labor and Industry – and for workforce investment boards. Did those roles steer you toward this one, or was workforce development always the path for you?

I think a lot of people go, “how do you get where you get?” but you just kind of find yourself here. I have almost 20 years in some way, shape or form, in workforce development, I started at a local workforce organization. I really had some opportunities when I was younger to jump into the public service side, and I’ve had some mentors who really believed in that public service focus of workforce development. When I went to the state, it just seemed like a natural progression for me . I did work in (the Department of) Labor and Industry, I actually worked in the state department of corrections for a couple years and then went back to Labor and Industry and was in the governor’s office before I came here. Workforce development has always been a part of me, it’s alway been an interest of mine, no matter where I sat – how do we help people make sure they have secure, stable work, and then how do we also help employers understand how they can fill their jobs?

What challenges are facing workforce development in Pennsylvania and how does PWDA seek to address those?

At the association we try to uncomplicate what workforce development actually is. Workforce development, to us, is  when you can help a business find and keep talent, when you can help that talent have the right ability to get connected to a quality job, and understanding the pathways to connect those two things. Workforce development, for us, is in the middle of that trifecta: helping the business, helping the job seeker, and being the education and training partners.

I would say some of the challenges, sitting in that intersection today, frankly is that there’s not enough people to fill the jobs. We see this in the data today and we actually see it reflected out through 2030. I think the Center for Rural Pennsylvania has indicated by 2030 we will have more senior citizens than working Pennsylvanians. We try to understand the needs of businesses, and jobseekers, and those pathways, we advocate for effective policy and investment, but we also are long-rooted. We need real, effective strategy and proven practices to help the 100 percent and that’s what PWDA gets involved in.

How can those in the workforce develop or enhance skills needed to remain nimble in their careers?

COVID really exacerbated the need to have a nimbleness in your workforce, but some of these things are also on the employer side. When we hear “how can a worker be nimble?” I hear “how can a worker make sure they stay relevant for the workplace today?” You can look at that as a worker-driven strategy as well as what can employers or industries do to support that. I think that’s a responsibility of the worker, and there’s also responsibility of the employer, because at the end of the day, it’s cheaper to keep someone retained and trained than to not train them and deal with your churning overhead costs for recruitment and onboarding and hiring. For workers, they need to have the ability to not just have the tech but know how to use it. I still think there’s this culture of expectation and this workplace culture that customer service still matters, the ability to have interactions with people is still important, and so we know education and technical skill development (is important) but your soft skills are still incredibly important.

I would be remiss if I didn’t know education and training has to be accessible and affordable no matter where you live in the Commonwealth. We also see remote training starting to happen as well. There’s also the policy level of it – is Pennsylvania crafting a workforcement system that meets the needs of Pennsylvania employers and workers. We need it to be easy for workers to get the education and training they need and we need employers to craft workplaces that can keep workers and develop them.

If you were to change jobs to Olympic athlete, in which sport would that be?

There’s so much with the summer Olympics my household loves. If you’re making me pick one, I’d probably say soccer because it’s been my loved sport. I talk to my kids about the sports and when you watch, there’s smiles, there’s heartbreak, there’s excitement, there’s disappointment and I think I love it so much because it can really show resiliency and dedication, but there’s incredible lessons to be learned about humanity. Simone Biles is great, she fell off the bean the other day and was she upset? Yeah, but she’s still smiling. I think if I were to go to the Olympics, I’d want to be a photographer and have a pass to go to all the different sports.

Freelance writer Jennifer Botchie-Deinlein

About Carrie Amann

Carrie Amann, 42, has spent most of her career in workforce development in one way or another. She has served as executive director of the Pa. Workforce Development Association since 2019; before that, she was deputy secretary of policy and planning, focusing on education and workforce development policy, for Gov. Tom Wolf. She has also worked for the Pa. Department of Labor and Industry, in the Pa. Department of Corrections, and with regional and state workforce investment boards.

Amann has a bachelor’s degree in policy studies and economics from Dickinson College and an MPA in human resource management and policy analysis from Penn State.

She and her husband, Kevin, and daughters Maddie and Morgan, live in Swatara Township.