1. Career Lattice: Year One Report
Meeting at the:
Puget Sound Energy
Olympia, WA
June 22, 2011
Alan
Bigelow Canyon sunrise
Photo courtesy of Portland General Electric

2. Career Lattice
Framework for depicting relationships between and among jobs.
More complex than career ladder; information based on industry input.
Includes information about training, certificates and job requirements.
Sally

3. Career Lattice in Action
Educators use lattice to identify training gaps and develop or improve programs.
Industry uses lattice to clarify career path with new and incumbent workers and design internal training.
Workers/students use lattice to navigate career options and develop new skills.
sally

4. Career Lattice Deliverables
Summary and analysis of Skill Standards
Sample job descriptions
Identify and illustrate connections and gaps between and among specific jobs
Narrative overview of Career Lattice
Draft of lattice web images
Post findings on project website
Alan

5. Lattice Components Alternate titles for occupations
Narrative description of career path
Sample job descriptions for each occupation
Skill Standards information/links
Relevant education and training program links
Connections between occupations
Sally
For each of the ten occupations there are these components.
Wage and data information is included in some cases.

6. Career Lattice Process
Background research conducted
Skill Standards and sample job descriptions collected
30 industry interviews conducted; 13 employers across five state region
Connections between and among jobs identified; summary prepared
Connected to training and education info
Sally
Company sponsored training, college programs and certificates and apprenticeships

7. Interview Participants
WASHINGTON
Centralia City Light
Seattle City Light
Avista Utilities
Puget Sound Energy
Evergreen School District
Evergreen Power
McKinstry
OREGON
Portland General Electric
Energy Trust of Oregon
MONTANA
NorthWestern Energy
IDAHO
Idaho Power
REGIONAL
Bonneville Power Administration
PacifiCorp
sally

8. A Career Lattice Does: Focus on pathways, not skills
Include more information than originally sought
Include corporate and education training info
Need additional focus in Year Two
Does Not:
Provide company specific information
Develop Skill Standards or Skills Panels
Include all energy occupations
Provide complete gap analysis information
Alan

9. Career Lattice Findings
Jobs are Distinct
Jobs are Changing
Occupations vary among employers
Smart Grid will require more IT, Data Management & Analysis, and Communication skills
Sally
Distinct Jobs:
there is not a clear linear career growth trajectory that connects these specific jobs.
On the supply side, it seemed fairly common for the occupations to be quite distinct with little opportunity to move between the crafts.
moving among supply-side occupations is difficult unless an existing worker is willing to undergo significant re-training
‘silos’ are sometimes dictated by the highly-specialized, technology-specific skills required by the job and is sometimes a function of company-union agreements and apprenticeship requirements that are in place.
While each occupation has its own path, there are not many connecting points between or among the ten occupations.
Jobs are Changing:
Jobs in the energy field are changing as technology evolves and regulations change.
Meter Techs were erroneously understood to be synonymous with Meter Readers. In fact, Meter Reader is an occupation that is becoming obsolete for most utilities and is likely to be completely phased out
As new reporting regulations are put in place, more organizations are likely to need Resource Conservation Managers (RCMs). RCMs are more likely to be employed by an organization that is a large energy user (i.e. city, school district) rather than directly by a utility.
In some cases, the RCM role encompasses sustainability skills, which reflects the changing nature of the work.
Variation Among Employers:
Occupation titles, duties, and levels vary some from employer to employer.
Training offered to incumbent workers also varies widely.
Smart Grid Impact:
Smart Grid will surely impact programs and training but details of the impacts have not yet been identified.
Utilities are predicting an increased demand for IT skills, data management and analysis professionals and Communication Technicians.
Utilities consistently noted that they do not currently have systems or personnel in place to deal with the influx of data.
One specific use of the data will be to help consumers understand and manage their energy use. This means that a translation of the data from the utility to the consumer will be needed so people in the Energy Conversation Program and Customer Service roles will need additional training in this area.

10. Sally
Five supply side occupations share a foundation of ground crew-type position as the entry point, requirements for apprenticeship.
Movement between occupation is rare
All four crafts can bid into Relay Tech positions which also require add’l training.
Relay Tech can move back to any craft regardless of starting craft, except line worker.

11. Supply Side Options
alan

12. Demand Side Connections
Sally
Connection between demand side occupations is more fluid that supply side.
CSR is entry point into utilities.
There is a line between occupations employed by utilities and those that aren’t.
Thinner bars indicate less demand – meter reader and energy auditor
Thin line connects meter reader to Meter Tech on Supply Side.

13. New Skills/Functions Connect Occupations
alan

14. Next Steps Create on-line tool to make data accessible (proposed)
Plot occupations into Smart Grid image (see samples)
Follow up industry interviews, refine data
Connect Career Lattice to supply and demand information (proposed)
alan

15. Request for Ed Taskforce Input
Provide input on draft Smart Grid images
Review Career Lattice content posted on
Sally
The ten occupations are not connected in traditionally recognizable career path model. They are linked by role in the smart grid.
Therefore our recommendation is to illustrate the career lattice using a smart grid image.
We’ll show two options and gather initial feedback to move the illustration part forward.

16. Career Lattice Option #1
sally

17. Career Lattice Option #2
sally

18. alan

19. WSU Extension Energy Program – Workforce
3/31/2017
Thank you!
Alan Hardcastle, Senior Research Associate
(360)
Sally Zeiger Hanson, Workforce Research Associate
(360)
alan
WSU Extension Energy Program – Workforce
WSU Ext Energy Program SWH