Workforce Readiness 
With Michelle Ratcliff

Free for WCASHRM chapter members. $5 for non-wcashrm members.

VIRTUAL - LINK WILL BE EMAILED CLOSER TO THE EVENT.

Workforce is “the” most pressing issue across the country and across all business sectors.  It is the main topic of conversation among business leaders and affects everyone – from Fortune 500 companies to the ‘Mom and Pop’ restaurants down the street.   Communities everywhere are trying to find the piece to this puzzle that makes them unique and sets them above the rest, to do something to help with this workforce ecosystem.  For many, reaching out to high school students seems to be the best opportunity to create the workforce pipeline our companies need.  But how does one go about this?  We will touch on a few different ways of connecting with students that many communities still use and still work for reaching some students today and explore the newest, most exciting online platform Arkansas students now have at their fingertips – Ready for Life.   

Ready for Life brings together students/users, industry and education and offers opportunity for high school students to explore different careers, find the educational or training pathways needed for those careers and actually apply for jobs all in one place – RFL is the perfect dating site for the workforce pipeline.

Michelle Ratcliff is currently the Economic Development and Workforce Manager for the Hot Springs Metro Partnership, where she is responsible for working with existing business and industry in a business retention and expansion role and assists with attraction of other businesses to our area as well as liaison between industry and seven Garland County school districts for workforce education and workforce development.  For a year prior to coming to the Partnership, she was the Mentor Coordinator for Cooperative Christian Ministries and Clinic, where she served as the liaison between community volunteers and the graduates of the Bridges out of Poverty program.  From 1998 until 2015, she and her husband, Mike, owned and operated Lawn Doctor of Hot Springs, a chemical lawn care company, where she assisted with the day-to-day operations of the company, serving over 3,000 customers in the surrounding area.  Before moving to Hot Springs in 1998, Michelle served as the Personnel Manager for a home health care agency in Mississippi for 9 years, providing assistance to executive leadership in all aspects of HR functions for over 800 employees in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Colorado.  Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from Louisiana Tech University and has attended numerous continuing education programs on nonprofit management, grant writing, and economic and workforce development.  She is currently the Assistant Governor for Rotary District 6170 and President of Hot Springs National Park Rotary club from 2019-2020 and Rotarian of the Year 2015-2016. She serves on the board for United Way of the Ouachitas, working on the Campaign and Community Impact committees and the Personnel and Governance committee as co-chair.  She and husband Mike have 2 daughters, Emily, who is married and is a pediatric occupational therapist in Fayetteville, and Megan, a Cardiac/Neuro RN for Mercy Hospital in Rogers and now are brand-new grandparents to granddaughter, Hallie.

One hour of SHRM PDC & HRCI is approved.

WCASHRM is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP.

The use of this seal confirms that this activity has met HR Certification Institute’s® (HRCI®) criteria for recertification credit pre-approval.

SPONSOR

The Hot Springs Metro Partnership is the area’s public/private economic development organization, serving all of Garland County and the surrounding area.  We specialize in assisting businesses with relocating or expanding in the Greater Hot Springs area.  The Mission of the HSMP is to create economic opportunity by retaining, expanding and attracting higher paying jobs, expanding and diversifying our local economy, increasing incomes and investment, and generating positive growth throughout the Hot Springs region.

Contact [email protected] about this opportunity or visit Marketing Opportunities for more information.

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