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Construction Career Days – a way to Build Your Future.

~ J. Hughes ~ Leave a comment

On October 25th the Construction Education Foundation (CEF) along with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) hosted their annual Build Your Future Career Day.  The event was  held at North Lake College West and CEF’s  DFW Training Center, which is a 60,000 sq ft facility that has a combination of Class Rooms and Labs on the DFW International Airport property. The purpose of the event is to help high school students who may be interested in learning about construction trades and inform them of what options are available within each craft.  This event and show aligns closely with TEXOs Build Texas Proud! campaign and their desire to promote construction in North Texas as a great opportunity as a career choice and a way to build your future.

There were over 2000 students brought in from school districts around Dallas / Fort Worth, each of these schools selected from their own career training program a select group of interested and qualified students. I had the opportunity to speak with a number of these teachers and students during the day and came away with mostly good comments and questions about opportunities in the construction field.

I have written on this topic in the past, Build Texas Proud!  High School Outreach. As we continue to experience a sever shortage in manpower and qualified craftsmen how does reaching out and helping to develop this talent benefit our community? At what point is the contact most important and where will we see the most impact for the effort provided high school or possibly middle school? Can a partnership be developed between the Student, Parent and School to help identify and guide potential students through high school and then provide them a construction job when they graduate.

One of the most important facets of a construction career day like Build Your Future is the students are able to see the representatives from the various craft companies and they will be able discuss which craft seems most in demand, what is your day going to be like, what kind of pay could be expected and where the benefits in construction lay.

In addition to the booths and equipment there were a number of competitions set up to show case various fields in the industry providing a hands on opportunity at doing the work.

There were numerous booths set up by General Contractors, Sub Contractors, Suppliers and Manufacturers each there to talk about their industry and where the jobs are and what benefits you would enjoy by working with them. They fielded a number of questions about their specific industry.

CEF was created as an alliance between the members of the Associated Builders and Contractors of America, the Associated General Contractors and the American Subcontractors Association and began around 1981. Its purpose and goal is to provide the construction industry with the most qualified technically trained people from Craft Workers to Supervisory level employees. The program has in place relationship with North Lake College to allow college credit for some of their courses.

TEXO is the largest commercial contractors association in Texas and is a blend of the Associated Builders and Contractors and the Associated General Contractors of America and is made up of over 300 commercial contractors who perform about 5 billion in work annually. Its primary focus is in 5 areas, Safety/Health and Environmental Issues/Skill-Craft workforce development/Professional Training and Education/Community and Networking Events.

The relationship between these two organizations allow for a harmonization between the development of a work force by CEF and a connection to the contractor membership that TEXO serves. By connecting each of these organizations with our future workforce by way of our high schools craft programs hopefully we will soon see the benefits and gains from programs like Build Your Future.

If you are in North Texas and are currently managing a high school career program and you would like to have a group come speak at your career fair you can reach out to me  or TEXO and we can help facilitate the conversation.

Also if you have any ideas on how this type program has been successful to you or your organization I would like to hear about it. You can reach out to me directly by connecting on the link below.

 

J. Hughes
Project Superintendent

If you like this article please go see my blog at Construction-Daily.com and follow me for more articles and updates.

Construction-Daily.com

Build Texas Proud! High School Outreach

~ J. Hughes ~ 1 Comment

HS Interns

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.

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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

If you like this article please go see my blog at Construction-Daily.com and follow me for more articles and updates.

Construction-Daily.com

Build Texas Proud!

~ J. Hughes ~ 1 Comment

Build Texas Proud

Recently TEXO the North Texas Contractors Association announced a new campaign to support work force development and counter what many  people may consider as a negative perception of a career in the construction industry. I fully support any movement that would bring the best and brightest into an industry that offers so many opportunities professionally and personally.

Whether you started in the trades and are working your way up or you went to college and are looking for a professional career, the construction industry in Texas has a place for you. I can’t think of another industry that has so many great people and companies that are looking to offer you an opportunity to build your career, support your family and live your dream.

As  most of you reading this already know construction offers an opportunity to see the difference you are making, watch as the project takes shape, work alongside others and build relationships that will span a lifetime. It is literally a career that will take you places.

So maybe you can hear it in my writing but, “I have pride in an industry that continues to lead in innovation, safety and helping to keep our economy strong by employing local craftsmen to build our jobs here in Texas.”,  this quote was taken from my LinkedIn profile that I wrote in 2010 when I first developed that page.

So tell me about your pride in this industry, I am interested in your story or your success, how has construction benefited you and if you were speaking to someone interested in joining our ranks what would you say about your experiences. How have you encouraged others to join our ranks and and lead in our industry.

I encourage you to post in the comments section below and tell us about how you have helped to Build Texas Proud!

J. Hughes
Project Superintendent

Also check out my blog at: Construction-Daily.com