KAILUA-KONA— The goal was straightforward: Determine the existing and future needs of the Kona-Kohala business community. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA— The goal was straightforward: Determine the existing and future needs of the Kona-Kohala business community. The result was a complicated one, summed
KAILUA-KONA— The goal was straightforward: Determine the existing and future needs of the Kona-Kohala business community.
The result was a complicated one, summed up in the Workforce Needs Study released Tuesday by the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. The study found multiple needs, including employees with more education and improved job skills.
The survey was answered by 83 chamber companies, with the two largest categories as professional/business and tourism.
The companies involved included groups from the largest hotel chains to individual entrepreneurs, said Wendy Laros, who chaired the committee that produced the study.
“It’s important to know that it’s not the end-all, be-all. It’s a tool,” she said.
The 53 companies who reported hiring people in 2013 and 2014 hired 1,143 people. Of those hires, 45 percent were from the Big Island, with neighbor islands making up another 16 percent. Mainland hires were 25 percent and international were 14 percent.
One of the reasons given for the off-island recruiting was difficulty in finding qualified candidates, said Laros.
“We have no four-year university here,” she said, although she added the addition of the Palamanui campus on the west side has helped.
Formal degrees and certifications are required for 43 percent of the companies. These range from first aid certification to a medical doctor.
Getting a degree is not impossible, she said, as she earned her master’s remotely through the University of Hawaii system.
Also noted in the survey was a number of educational requirements that are commonly taught outside of the colleges, such as boat captain, PGA certification and Zumba certification.
Many of these are taught online, said Laros, and they hope the realization that such education is needed will attract more trainers to the area.
Formal education is not everything in a job, as the survey respondents pointed out.
The survey asked what skills were most important, with 90 percent or more replying customer service and communication skills. About 70 percent said logic, reason and problem-solving skills were also required.
And it’s not any one particular industry that seems to be hurting.
“There’s just no people,” said Kumai Obrey, staffing manager with Hawaii Employment.
Her company, a member of the Hawaii Group, provides career and temporary employees. And she’s running into trouble with the people she does contact. Of 10 interviews she sets up, six won’t bother showing up, she said.
She attributed that, in part, to a big fraction of people who are not interested in working. But it’s also a sign of how few people there are out there. The economic growth has led to people job-hopping and not planning for their future, she said, including disdaining training and education.
“It’s not going to be this way forever,” she said.
Some of those missing work traits include having a successful work ethic, said Obrey, such as a willingness to come in on time and work hard. That’s a desired work trait, the companies in the focus group agreed, as are skills in entrepreneurship, social media and writing.
Although many of the skills are taught in the school system, other skills are developed in extracurricular activities, said Kona-Kohala Chamber Executive Director Kirstin Kahaloa.
But one of the complicating factors for employers has been the improving economy.
Anuhea Alapai, director of operations for Hawaii HR, echoed Obrey’s concern that the talent pool has been plucked thin. Alapai’s company provides outsourced administration to companies.
“All of the good employees are already working,” she said.
That makes it all the more imperative for companies to train their employees, she said.
The local job market has been improving, creating what Alapai called an “employee marketplace.”
There were an average of 54,543 people employed in private companies from July to September of last year, according to federal Department of Labor data.
Employment by private companies on the Big Island increased 4.4 percent. The average annual wage increased by 4.8 percent to $35,720 a year.
The fact the county is treated as a single entity was one of the reasons the chamber pursued the study, Kahaloa said, and it should help provide a more precise idea of what is going on in the area.
Online: https://www.kona-kohala.com/
