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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing

They are talking about this topic: Occupation-Specific Skills

 

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Respondents who represent welding and fabrication occupations say it is difficult to find qualified welders; this is due, in part, to the lack of welding programs at high schools and junior colleges. Several employers hire workers with minimal experience and then train them on-site. Employers would like to see the creation of new welding programs.

Employer Quote Region
"Welding is what we need, very much." Central
"You would love to have candidates with experience, but the companies that we're talking to are willing to—with CNC, with welding—are looking for people in school right now, people in the feeder programs that we talked about. They'd be more than happy to take people right out of school if they could get them." Central
"Welding is what we need, too." Central
"Well, you mentioned welding. We have fabricating, too, and we're finding a disconnect there—in the education that's available in that area. There are, I know, some programs not near our facility but, well, we're just having a hard time finding quality people in the fabricating area." Metro
"We've been going around talking to many of the smaller and mid-size manufacturers about supply and demand for welding and fabrication. And what we're hearing from many businesses is that, for welding, supply and demand are not equal. There's actually more of a demand for welders, specifically for entry-level welders. What we're hearing from many businesses in our region is a bigger demand for the entry-level welders." Northeast
"I would agree with that. We have a lot of applicants who are backyard welders and sometimes it's difficult to teach them that, 'The way you're welding isn't the right way to do it, so follow the lead's example,' and they'll say, 'I know how to weld; I've been doing it for 20 years.'" Northwest
"Some of the things we see—we don't hire too many welders—but when we do, we rarely see a recent grad or someone who has a certificate. Most of the time, seven out of the ten people, are backyard welders. They'll come in, and they don't pass the test." Northwest
"Sheet technology and welding." Northwest
"And that's before it really hit out west in Dakota. We're losing people out there. And they're looking for welding programs just to supply welders out west." Northwest
"You stated in the last slide that the supply for welders is exceeding the demand at this point. But in the last four weeks, we have made four tours of which 245 welders are needed or wanted." Northwest
"We went to a statewide competition. There was a company there that wanted 200 welders. They were actually pulling people off the street saying, 'We will teach you how to weld. If you go through our program, we will pay you $9.50 an hour to learn this, and—if you pass—we will guarantee you a job.' So, they're really getting desperate in some of these areas." Northwest
"Employer 1: There is a lot of competition for that in this area.

Employer 2: We share back and forth.

Employer 1: We steal back and forth."		 Northwest
"Another thing that we're seeing that is going on is the welding fabrication. I know a company that is big on this—where they're starting to move into the high schools to try and fill that demand." Northwest
"Employer 1: Welding is one area where we have really struggled in terms of finding and hiring. We've hired a lot of direct—off-the-street—from some of the local colleges in Alexandria. But that is one thing we're really focusing on right now. Another respondent and I are working on a more defined training program to train our existing internal employees because we've had a hard time finding externals that can come in with the skills. So, we're kind of honing the skills that we have, and we're starting to do a more comprehensive training on-site.

Question: Where are those new hires coming from? Are they from your region? Where are you getting them from?

Employer 1: There is definitely more of a majority that we're pulling external. We've saturated our market, but with orientations and stuff it seems that there are more and more from outside our area."		 Northwest
"I think you were spot-on with welding and fabrication. We're all struggling to get welders. We've recently gone through a training session ourselves with colleges, and it was really helpful. But there is definitely a high demand for those folks." Northwest
"We're looking for welders, at least I am. We've got robotic welders, for example, and we've got to train more. How do we do that?" Southeast
"Employer 1: I would say the demand is higher, especially for welders and fabricators.

Employer2: Same for us. It's dramatically higher in some cases."		 Southeast
"Question: Okay, so one of the things that we've heard is that people will apply for welding because they're a backyard welder—maybe they can weld a bumper on a car. Are you taking those kinds of individuals and training them? Or is that not what you need?

Employer 1: That's not what we need, but that's what we find. And, in some cases, we're taking them and training them, but a lot of times they wind up not making it. So, you get a person who says, `Okay, I'm going to try it.' They're pretty desperate, and we have a high fall-out rate with those kinds of folks. The transitions are pretty dramatic to become the kind of welder that we need.

Question: Okay, so welders are not coming out of the programs. So, where are you finding the few that you are finding?

Employer 1: We're training 20 internally right now, for instance. We're taking a lot of the ranks of people that we have. We're back-filling the assembly people and those kinds of people. We tell them that they can skill up and increase their pay. So, we're actually doing internal training, and then stealing back-and-forth."		 Southeast
"That's the biggest issue we have—finding welders. We're training and coaxing people to become welders." Southeast
"Employer 1: There's no feeder here for welders. So, that's a major problem. And then we also have draftsmen, and yet we're not hiring those as much as we're hiring welders. But there's also no program for that at [MnSCU College].

Employer 2: So, there's a demand for the jobs, but there are no programs. And then MnSCU decided there was no program because no one enrolls."		 Southwest
"We do a lot of welding and custom fabrication. And coming up with our new plant that we're going to build, we'll need welding and fabrication skills there as well." Southwest