Support the education of your future employees

Companies have long relied on academic programs to provide trained employees. When trained with relevant, modern skills, graduates of these programs can minimize costs to businesses, including recruiting and on-the-job training expenses. Particularly in technical roles, such as optics, a pipeline from academia to industry may be created through partnerships among the academic program and the regional industries. However, graduates can only be as informed as the academic program that fosters their education. When industry members find ways to influence this educational process, graduates earn useful, in-demand skills, while industry members see applicants with the right mix of these skills apply for their job openings. This paper discusses some ways industry can impact the educational process to ensure that their applicant pool is loaded with potential.