In
an announcement that may be old-hat to pros in the construction
industry, the National Symposium on Veterans Employment in
Construction (say that three times quickly) announced the Department
of Labor initiative.
The
DOL and Joining Forces (a political group) announced that it was
joining forces with more than 100 construction industry companies for
the 100,000 five year new-hires goal. An additional 80 other firms
have also pledged to help veterans into construction jobs with their
existing training and employment programs.
The
February 10, 2014 symposium held in Washington, DC and was designed
to bring awareness to a skilled labor shortage. The DC venue included
Joining Forces, a political initiative headed by the wives of
President Obama and Vice President Biden.
For
Quad State and U.S. Veterans in general including active-duty
personnel this initiative will provide men and women transitioning to
civilian life more opportunities to join a growing industry with a
diverse range of careers in good-paying jobs with many pathways for
career advancement.
The
Washington, D.C. Symposium included a series of roundtable
discussions that focused on the details of ideas and concepts of how
the initiative’s goal to hire over 100,000 veterans can be actually
accomplished.
Topics discussed included how veterans can get
credentials and licensed for specialty trade work, identifying
training programs and included apprenticeships that veterans can
apply their G.I. Bills toward and how construction companies and
veterans can connect and discuss job opportunities.
Two
current programs, Helmets to Hardhats and the American Job Centers
were also mentioned. The construction industry has a hurdle in
getting to the 100,000 new hires first in the developing and
advertising the availability of the new jobs.
Newspapers will like
this opportunity for increased revenue, of course, but also other
media that reaches potential veteran markets such as radio. They
must develop sound strategy to not just make the positions
attractive, but to make construction careers attractive as well.
There
will be other industries vying for the qualities of returning vets as
they translate to business so making construction careers from
architects to engineers and estimators to site management and others
towards that 2019 goal. One of questions that needs to be asked and
answered by construction marketing personnel is “What makes the
construction industry more viable than other fields.”
Another
obstacles the US construction industry faces is developing best
practices in identifying the skills and experience gained through
military service matching them up with careers in construction. Now,
with over 180 companies and organizations committed to training and
hiring veterans for construction industry jobs should make this a
fairly easy task...maybe.
As
of this date the Quad State Business Journal attempted to gain a
complete list of participating companies but we were told that it is
not yet available. We will bring the list to you as it is release—if
indeed a list will be released. The Journal finds this strange as the
Symposium must have already counted at least 180 of the companies.
The companies and organizations mentioned in the announcement include
Jacobs Engineering, Bechtel Corporation, Cianbro Construction, the
National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), the
Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Home Builders
Institute (HBI) which is the workforce development arm of the
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
QSBJ
applauds the commitment to hire 'over 100,000' veterans. The actual
work-out of the goal is yet to be realized, but we welcome any QSBJ
reader adds to this story—especially if you are in the construction
industry or are tied to the Helments to Hardhats or other related
programs.
###
First
published in Quad State Business Journal:
www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com
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Resources: www.TheBusinessSolutionNetwork.com
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