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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

 

The quotes below are about this issue:
Some employers mention hiring machine operators and others without fundamental technical skills because of an inadequate labor supply. They would also like to see an increase in the technical skills of those coming in with four-year degrees as well.

Employer Quote Region
"I'd recommend more hands-on skills for those four-year degree folks. Because I was in industrial/technical back in the 70s, and we had more hands-on experiences back then. And my nephew just graduated from the same school, and he didn't have anywhere near the hands-on experience that I did. Even in a four-year college, they got rid of the welding course in agricultural engineering." Central
"I've been in manufacturing engineering for over 30 years, and what I've seen is that my two-year degree people can only get to a certain level because they don't have soft skills. So, I could go to [MnSCU college] and pick up a manufacturer engineer. They've got all those soft skills. They can do project management. They can plan safe innovative thinking and everything else, but they don't know the technical side. They've only skimmed it in school. And they don't know how to square block. They don't know how to make a lathe tool out of a high speed steel block like I learned when I was maybe in middle school. So, what we did at our company, which was good, is that anybody who started—and they all had their two-year degrees on the floor—if anybody jumped into a four-year degree, we'd bring them in the office and say, 'Good!' That was their chance for promotion, getting that four-year degree. But you couldn't get that two-year degree to advance. They needed the soft skills. They just don't have them. So how do we combine those—teaching both the technical skills and the soft skills?" Central
"Another employer talked about the high bar there is as far as the technology level being much stronger today. One of my past jobs, I worked at a machine fabrication shop, and there were some folks coming out of technical college that tried to run the machines. We did not have the most current equipment, but it was good equipment, but they didn't understand the fundamentals. They could put a piece in, and they could hit the button, but beyond that, they didn't have a real understanding of what was going on with the machine process. And so that's kind of true with everybody else, with some of the fundamental pieces, learning how to machine. There was a machinist with 30 years of experience and he said, 'He is running it too fast. He's going to break the tool.' And sure enough, he broke the tool. He just didn't understand it." Central
"They don't have any skills as a machine operator, but since we have the need, we just accept that we'll be training them on how to work with the machine—everything about the basics of the machine. We also do a safety-training program, so they will know what not to do with the machine. But we don't have anyone that is really a machine operator—we haven't had anybody that has come in and already knows everything on the machine. So, we need some people that have more of an idea how to really work the machine. And we don't have many young people applying for these jobs, at least entry-level. But, at the same time, they need to have certain skills to know how to logically work those machines, so they can be safe and they can fully produce everything. We don't really have anybody with any education. Not even high school. But they work with these machines, and we train them, and it's a little while until they're fully trained." Metro
"Because we're all resourceful, when we see a need we develop a program and take care of it. But, as long as we get to voice our wish list, if kids come in with that base level of knowledge and skill, it is that much less a burden. Because eventually you get it—if you're there a couple of years—you get those pieces. But you can accelerate the growth of the individual and of the organization if they come in with more knowledge of basic processes." Northwest
"When I think about the past—everything was much more labor intensive, like manually husking the corn. And now we have machines that do that, so we need machine operators. We don't need people who can work in the field all day. We need someone who can operate that machine in the plant. Our company is very good about bringing in return workers over the summer. But you can only absorb so many unskilled employees, and then you have to cut it off or try to train them. When I first started, we had 30 people walk in the door every day to drop off applications. That was crazy because we weren't going to hire any of those people. Even if they have a high school education, if they don't have any experience beyond that, I just don't need people who can do manual labor. I guess that's probably our biggest hurdle for the future." Southeast