I wrote a brief article last week discussing the value of Retaining your Best Employees vs Retraining New. Another idea worth considering is a High School Out Reach program, what better way is there to develop a work force than to reach potential employees before they get out of High School.  By partnering with your local school district and helping them develop and manage a quality career center you can influence the skills and the knowledge of the next generation of craftsman. By throwing a broad net our schools have the ability to bring in a wide variety of potential candidates and educate them in a way that makes them immediately valuable to the construction work force.  As they get closer to graduation and they start to identify a potential trade with specialized training and the opportunity to get some scheduled job site experience in the form of in school on the job training and summer internships it might allow them to graduate from high school with a license or journeyman’s card and a job offer from a company who would continue investing in their future and building their career. Part of this initiative would be the education and craft training but another aspect would be informing and educating the parents who would be instrumental in guiding these students and supporting their decision to enter the construction field.

Now you might be thinking this could be monumental task, convincing the school districts to take on this challenge, developing the program, assisting with its management but the reality is we are in a industry that needs young motivated individuals who can start and grow into a industry that by all accounts is losing and retiring more than its bringing into the field.

Here’s where we can make a difference, many school districts are already working in this direction and our local building associations are also moving forward with initiatives that will develop these programs as well but what they are lacking is volunteers to help spearhead and organize the programs and also companies willing to hire these recently trained workers into the industry.

So how can you continue to grow your industry, to lead in your community and to meet the demands of a growing construction marketplace, get involved, become part of the solution and make your mark on the next generation of builders. Help develop a High School Outreach Program and you will be part of the BuildTexasProud! campaign.

So I am interested in what your company or you are doing to assist in a High School Outreach program, where are you success stories, please post in the comments below.

In addition if you have a interest in this type of investment in our future reach out to me and lets discuss how to get this moving forward, I would like to help.

J. Hughes
Project Superintendent

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