Weatherford Corporate College Launch

Weatherford College kicked off registration for Corporate College to offer several kinds of training for business professionals during an event on Wednesday morning.

The process to begin creating Corporate College began last fall when WC Workforce and Continuing Education Coordinator Hayden Harbold met Growth Development Associates CEO Eric Richardson at a conference. Harbold said WC wanted Corporate College to serve needs of the local business community that were not being met.

“Corporate College in general, when you think of it, it’s hard to put it in a box because it’s not just soft skills training, it’s not just technical training or proprietary training — it’s all of those things,” Harbold said. “When you think of the type of maybe shortfalls your employees have or the training needs you have, please don’t think it’s just inside a box because really with the resources the college has and the funding available we can really meet all your needs, whatever it is really.”

Richardson is scheduled to teach sales institute classes on consultative sales training, workplace communication, leadership training and account management. Those are three-day classes that take place in late June and July.

“Sales institute classes are $1,185 per course. Large and small businesses can use funding available through the Texas Workforce Commission," Harbold said.

Richardson gave a presentation on what topics would be covered in the classes and examples of how Growth Development Associates has helped large and small businesses, like IBM, American Express and Apple, with sales, workplace communication and management training.

“About four or five years ago, I decided it was time that our colleges had this same kind of workplace communication training for the students who come to our colleges to be better employees at your company and for continuing education for people who work for your company,” Richardson said.

Other Corporate College classes cover several other areas of training and can fit the training needs of employers, Harbold said. WC faculty will teach trainings in the upcoming fall and spring, and those classes can be held on campus or delivered to businesses.

“We want to help you grow, we want to help you become even more successful,” Workforce and Technical Education Dean Janetta Kruse said to the audience of business leaders who attended the event. “So, we needed to step up our game.”

For more information, call 817-598-8871.