Education & Training
Want to learn a new skill or trade?
West Alabama Works has many partners to help you prepare for a great career. From essential “soft” skills to two year marketable credentials. Please choose one of the links below to connect to a training provider.
Career Ready Alabama
Career Ready Alabama is a statewide initiative aimed at increasing career or work-ready skills for individuals and providing businesses a tool to help them identify career ready employees. The program offers access to WorkKeys assessments, WorkKeys job profiles, Alabama Career Readiness Certificates, and online training.
The Alabama Community College System
The Alabama Community College System’s commitment to access is characterized by statewide geographical locations, open enrollment, and low-cost tuition, as well as a variety of programs and services that remove barriers to college entrance, education pathways, and workforce training opportunities.
Four Year Colleges
West Alabama has three strong four year colleges to support your career goals. Each of these institutions stands on a reputation of excellence and can provide many options from four year degrees to certificate programs.
Planning for a career starts at day one.
Thinking about your career path starts early. Business and industry need great workers. Dual enrollment opportunities will save you valuable time and kick start your career. If you wonder about what it’s like to work in different high growth industries, events like West Alabama Works’ Worlds of Work (WOW) allow you to experience real world tasks.
Worlds of Work
The WOW Experience
More than 4,300 eighth graders and approximately 2,000 ninth through 12th graders got a hands-on look at high-paying jobs in West Alabama at Worlds of Work, a one-of-a-kind career expo, held October 13 and 14, 2016 at Shelton State Community College’s Martin Campus.
Designed to showcase a range of technical and high-wage careers in sectors such as energy and utilities; manufacturing; automotive and logistics; transportation; hospitality and tourism; engineering and environment and public safety and tourism, the expo welcomed students from nine counties to participate in interactive exhibits from local employers looking for highly skilled workers.
Student Success Stories
There are many good paying jobs in West Alabama. We at Nucor Steel are looking for individuals with strong workplace skills. Our workforce partners provide training opportunities through technical skills training and apprenticeships programs which prepare our employees for a successful career.
Phifer Wire employees over 1,200 citizens in West Alabama. We encourage anyone looking for a career with us to begin with the Ready to Work programs in our region. This program helps candidates gain basic employment skills we are looking for…