Trapshooting Target
Over the next ten years, there will be approximately two million job openings in manufacturing nationwide. Sadly, students and their parents are hearing repeatedly that attending a four-year college is in the best interest of the children, regardless of what the market needs.
What many may not realize is that a four-year degree is not the only option for a successful career. Unfortunately, a significant number of four-year graduates are underemployed because their four-year degrees do not fit the available jobs today.
It is critical that students consider shorter-term technical career options to take advantage of the many openings for high-demand skills, which happen to also provide higher incomes.
To address the skills mismatch versus available jobs, manufacturers need to have a perception-versus-reality conversation. At Alexandria Industries, we are having these conversations with students and their parents to change the way they think about "college," and to ask whether a career in manufacturing is even on their radar.
Trapshooting, a Different Kind of Venue
Doing things differently, we decided to host a booth exhibit at the Minnesota State High School Trap Shooting Championship. The tournament, held in Alexandria, Minn., brings in 7,000 student shooters and more than 25,000 spectators – their parents, grandparents, siblings and other extended family members.
Our goal was to educate students and their parents about the career choices they have and how they can get a good return on their educational investment. We provided parents with interesting facts and statistics about manufacturing, describing what is is and what it isn't:
- Manufacturing has evolved over the years.
- Manufacturing is not the same old, dirty, unsafe, male-dominated, and low skilled work environment it used to be.
- Manufacturing is a clean, fun, and high-tech.
- Manufacturing offers a diverse, innovative, and rewarding work environment.
- Manufacturing workers get to make great things every day.
Our conversations started with asking students if they ever wonder how things get made or who makes them. We showed a variety of manufactured components and talked about the raw materials and processes used to make them. We shared information about the products' end-uses to prompt discussions about manufacturing so they can understand that these components are part of products they see and use everyday.
Feedback was hugely positive. The students enjoyed learning about manufacturing and some even won some fabulous prizes. Throughout the eight-day tournament, we talked with approximately 1,500 students.
One student at a time, we will continue targeting our efforts to change the conversations from, "Did you know there are great careers in manufacturing?" to "What do you want to make today?"
We plan to exhibit at the 2017 trapshooting tournament to be held in mid-June. If this sounds like something your company is interested in becoming part of by exhibiting or contributing to our prize pool, contact Cindy Frederick at cfrederick@alexandriaindustries.com.