Howard L. Goff Middle School Career Day!
It seems that no matter where you are in the world and no matter the industry – every business is facing their own unique workforce challenges. While demand continues to grow for craft workers – like electricians – the supply continues to be squeezed by an aging workforce and continued stigma of blue-collar jobs.
Understanding that the sustainability of not only our 81-year-old company but also country, relies upon a pipeline of future, talented electricians, our company is committed to being a public partner when it comes to workforce development initiatives.
In January 2020, we hosted 25 eighth grade students from Howard L. Goff Middle School for an interactive discussion on what a career in the electrical industry looks like; what employers are looking for in a candidate; how to be successful; and the advantages and disadvantages of a career in this field.
In an effort to keep the attention of these energetic students, we structure the program with a short presentation on who we are, what we do, and how we do it followed by an activity where students built a simple battery motor. During lunch, the students heard from a panel of electricians at various stages in their career. The program concluded with a “Speed Networking” session where students had the opportunity to break out into small groups to meet with our back-office team members based on their top three position preferences such as Project and Warehouse Managers, Estimators, Engineers, and Mechanics.
While we wished we had more time with the students, it was a great success and we hope to be able to partner with other schools in the future.
Interested in teaming up for a workforce development event? Please reach out to kendrah@martinelectric.com.