HEART Trust/NTA To Provide Training For More Persons

The HEART Trust/NTA is positioning itself to provide training for more persons to work in key sectors that are expected experience growth over the next three to five years, through expansion of its facilities and the introduction of new courses.

Director of Marketing and Communication at HEART Trust/NTA, Natalie Fearon, told JIS News that the agency’s labour market research suggests that the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), hospitality and logistics sectors are projected to see growth.

This, she said, has inspired HEART Trust/NTA to lead an initiative, at the industry level, in collaboration with other training institutions and related Ministries, to increase the capacity of the workforce in those areas.

She said between 9,000 and 10,000 persons are trained by the institution per year in hospitality tourism. “We are looking to increase that and hopefully to double it over the next few years,” she added.

Mrs. Fearon said plans are already in place to expand the facilities of the HEART College of Hospitality Services in Runaway Bay, St. Ann, which is twinned with the training hotel, Cardiff Hotel and Spa.

Meanwhile, with the growth in the BPO industry, the training institution is looking to expand its support to investors in that area.

“We want to encourage young people to look to BPO as not just a starter, but as a career opportunity (in some cases),” she noted.

She said that several new programmes, such as logistics operations and alternative energy, are already being piloted and more are expected to come on stream.

All HEART Trust/NTA programmes, up to Level Three, are fully subsidised.

Mrs. Fearon said that as HEART continues to increase its presence in the media and its supply of information to the public, particularly through the institution’s Labour Market Information System (LMIS) portal, there has been an increase in the number of traditional high schools which are seeking to partner with the HEART Trust/NTA to offer opportunities to students.

“I think the main message from HEART, is that we have something for everyone and we want to take you from where you are to where you want to be. There is no limitation,” she explained.

Additionally, for the new financial year, the HEART Trust/NTA will be placing increased focus on employment placement and facilitation services of the institution.

The Marketing and Communication Director said research shows that 70 per cent of persons in the job market are untrained or unqualified for the job they occupy. She said HEART Trust/NTA is, therefore, seeking to deepen its engagement with employers to determine how they can work together to build the capacity of the employers’ existing workforce.

“They are very accustomed to us churning out graduates to come into the workforce and we are saying now, let’s extend that to the point where you are looking at your long-term workers, because they may want to do some up-skilling or refresher (course). Whatever your needs are, we want to engage you on that level and also look at on-the-job certification,” Mrs. Fearon added.