Life-like simulation mimics real world road conditions as part of Del Mar College’s training for a commercial driver’s license. The Del Mar transportation classroom rolls to the students on a big rig truck. Courtesy photo.
Employers will no longer have to send employees four hours away to Houston for workplace safety courses. Del Mar College opens its new safety institute this fall as part of its Corporate Services department, which trains employees for local companies in everything from welding to leadership to firefighting techniques. In fact, if your company needs it, Del Mar College will make it happen, said Mary Afuso, director of Corporate Services.
“Our goal is to be the premiere outsource training partner in the Coastal Bend,” Afuso said. “If a company has to send an employee to another city to learn something, then we haven’t done our job.”
Corporate Services offers custom-designed training for companies small, medium and large including manufacturing, health care and government. Company needs, no matter the size, often overlap, said Daniel Korus, interim dean of Work Force Development and Continuing Education at Del Mar.
Large industrial companies usually send employees to the Del Mar campus, 3290 S. Staples at Kostoryz. Those classes can be held in the workplace as well and are designed to meet the specific needs of each company.
Medium-sized businesses send one or more employees for training in already existing classes, or a class put together for several businesses to utilize. For example: Leadership classes such as Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” are expensive to conduct but appeal to a broad range of companies. Del Mar opens these to the public to benefit anyone interested.
Small and start-up businesses can turn to the Small Business Development Center, which is also under the Corporate Services umbrella. The center helps develop business plans and seek financing.
“With the billion-dollar industries coming in, there are going to be many tier two, three and four companies coming in behind them to provide services for them and the people they move here,” Korus said. “We provide options for continuing education and new opportunities for every level of business.”
A company’s needs usually fall into four essential competencies: leadership, supervisory, change management and customer service. For example: A recent company that had not expanded in about seven years suddenly needed to almost double its workforce. The new hires were younger and less experienced than the longtime employees but looked down on the “old-timers.” The veterans were resentful of the “kids.” Del Mar designed a knowledge transfer program that promoted mentorship and communication between the two generations.
“It was an extreme case of generational differences,” Afuso said. “And our training was highly successful.”
The city of Corpus Christi often utilizes Del Mar to design customized classes for employees, including leadership programs to facilitate promoting from within.
“The city has engineers, attorneys, garbage workers, accountants, police officers,” Afuso said. “Each group is going to have very different challenges and needs. We can accommodate that.”
Classes can be held at any time of the day or night, including a class taught at 4 a.m. to accommodate overnight crews. Classes can also be taught at any location. Transportation classes for commercial driver’s licenses, for example, are always on the road. Even the classroom is on wheels.
“When you see these big rigs coming at you with the Del Mar ad on them, that’s us,” Afuso said. “We get our students on the road driving. If they are going to be driving on caliche roads with a 17-ton payload, we train them to do exactly that. That’s very different than driving on the highway with a load of apples.”
To utilize Del Mar’s services, call the department at 361-698-2122. From there, each company is referred to the right expert for a needs analysis.
Every business in the area should make a point of getting on the mailing list to receive regular information about classes offered on a regular basis, Korus said.
“We are always looking for more opportunities to partner with businesses to serve our community,” Korus said. “This department follows industry trends of growth in our region. The most important thing is to communicate. Let us know how Del Mar might be able to provide a service to your business.”
