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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing
They are talking about this topic: Workforce Trends & Challenges
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers speak of competing for qualified candidates. Some say that many students in technical programs are hired before they have even completed their degree.
| "It's almost a wage war." | Central |
| "Do you have any data on how many students didn't actually graduate because they got grabbed up? Because we hired a young fellow who is great. But something like half of his class got snatched up, and then dropped out, which is really depressing to hear. Then, of course, it's hard for them to go anywhere else because they don't have the degree." | Central |
| "Some students get jobs after a year in a program—sometimes it's not even a year—and then they drop out of the program. When I was at the previous company I worked at for a number of years, we found out that the kids that we were putting on the second shift, were dropping out of school. So, we told them that we will hire you at one year or six months into your program, but you have to continue to go to school. If you drop out, you lose your job. So, that took care of that." | Central |
| "For our graduates, coming out college, they have three to four different offers to pick from without even having to venture out and actually look for a job. Part of it is, too, that we have companies that are coming in and wanting our students prior to their graduation." | Central |
| "I would say the large majority of students are hired before they're done with their first year. They keep going to school while they're working through their second year. So, they're snapped up before they ever hit graduation." | Central |
| "I'd be interested in hearing from the people at [MnSCU colleges] about how many of their students are getting taken before they even get through their degree program. Because that's another thing I've heard when talking to [MnSCU colleges]—is that their best and brightest aren't even getting their diploma. They're getting pulled right before they graduate for jobs." | Central |
| "We're looking outside the region. I personally don't think there are enough people to train in this region for what our needs are, whether it's here or Duluth. To give you an idea, 20 percent of our membership in the Iron Mining Association is in Duluth with the manufacturing." | Northeast |
| "It's a constant struggle because, as we ramp up, a lot of us are looking at adding second shifts, which are just notoriously a nightmare to staff from a supervision standpoint and an employee standpoint. You just collect a different group of people that want to work that shift." | Northwest |
| "It used to be that companies didn't take care of employees very well, and you could really scavenge from another employer. But, today, I think employers are doing a great job of taking care of their employees and making sure that they don't leave. So, you can't scavenge anymore, and we're having to find new people. And we're committed to getting a better employee than we had before." | Southeast |
| "[Company name] does mostly welding and fabrication. And we don't get to hire much of anybody in the way of associate degrees. There is not a program available. So, we steal them from other companies, or we try to recruit from community colleges." | Southwest |