Haverhill and Lawrence, MA (August 5, 2022)— For nearly 30 years, Linda Schildkraut had a successful career in business-to-business solutions, sales, and team development in the New York City area. During that time, she saw firsthand how both employees and managers benefit when their employers invest in continued training.

Linda Schildkraut is the new director of the Center for Corporate and Community Education.

“I had a lot of good fortune, but not without help and training and other people investing in my future,” remembers Schildkraut.

When she and her husband decided to move back to her hometown of Lexington, MA, Schildkraut seized the opportunity to help others benefit from that same type of investment. She started at Northern Essex as the Program Manager for Corporate Education for the Center for Corporate and Community Education in March of 2021 and was recently promoted to director of the Center for Corporate and Community Education.

In addition to offering general personal and professional development courses, NECC’s Center for Corporate and Community Education staff connects with local businesses to provide specific and specialized training to provide the skills most in demand in their industries. That can range from basic computer literacy and English language skills courses to CPR certification and management training.

“If you can hire someone for aptitude, we can upskill them,” says Schildkraut. “Jobs have changed since the pandemic started, and there’s a disconnect between skills employers are looking to hire and the skills job seekers have. We can help bridge that gap.”

Schildkraut says they’re constantly working to evolve courses to make sure they’re relevant to the local community and focused on the changing needs of local employers. “We recently revamped our Supervisory Skills course, for example,” she says. “We added topics such as generational and cultural awareness and how to manage a remote workforce.”

NECC’s Center for Corporate and Community Education also offers a variety of personal development courses, like the popular noncredit cooking classes and Microsoft Office Basics. For more information, email communityeducation@necc.mass.edu, call 978 556-3060, or visit the webpage.

Northern Essex Community College has campuses in both Haverhill and Lawrence. It offers approximately 60 associate degree and certificate programs and hundreds of noncredit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth.  Each year, 6,000 students enroll in credit associate degree and certificate programs on the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses; another 2,000 take noncredit workforce development and community education classes on campus and at businesses and community sites across the Merrimack Valley.  For more information, visit the website or call 978-556-3700.