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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Transportation
They are talking about this topic: Educational Partnerships
The quotes below are about this issue:
Many request increased efforts in recruiting students into the automotive repair and commercial trucking industries, mostly at the K-12 level, as well as to recruit students with greater aptitudes for IT work (for technician positions). This was often related to the above-mentioned need to promote a more positive image of automotive careers and the variety of skills, both mechanical and technological, to succeed in the industry. Several respondents are already involved in K-12 partnerships in educating students about the industry.
| "You know, speaking from the recent positions that we've been hiring for, it's virtually zero [women applicants]. Not just on the service side of things, but also in the sales consultants. But absolutely, I think if there was a woman that had good work ethic and drive, they could slaughter anybody. I guarantee it. Guarantee it." | Northwest |
| "I think the health care is kind of a poster child for getting their story out. Everybody understands requirements. For 77 hours I can be a Certified Nursing Assistant, and if I go two years I be a Licensed Practical Nurse. When I was a CNA I made this, and I do that. When I get to LPN I'm going to make this, and I do that. Then I go to Registered Nurse and I make this, and I do that. If I want to go on and become a Nurse Practitioner, I make this and I do that. I don't know if that story is as widely told in the transportation industry or some of those other industries. I think that's part of that perception issue that you have out there in schools and amongst young people. Because young people today are different. They want instant gratification. They want to know what's next and how it's going to work. And seeing that picture of what they want, I think the more we can get that out, I think that's positive." | Northwest |
| "What you need is [students with an aptitude for IT and mechanics]. 'Well now, you seem to be kind of good with your hands. Let's put you into an auto tech program.' That's the problem we have." | Northwest |
| "Heavy equipment operator...to be a heavy equipment operator 25 years ago versus today. Hey, it's hugely easier today. The working environment is air conditioned, heated, comfort controlled...versus sitting outside. How do you get the person with [the right] capabilities...?" | Northwest |
| "I think it's an image thing, first. Everyone's said it's just a mechanic, or it's just this or that. And I don't think [that's] the right way to look at it. I mean, the mechanic has to be an extremely skilled individual." | Northwest |
| "That would be my challenge to the educators: how are they portraying [the transportation industry] to get people into their programs, and how are they going to the second-year level and saying, yeah, this is a great career. You can come up...look at the placement. This is 95 to 100 percent, and they're making more [money] than nurses or a person who gets a four-year degree." | Northwest |
| "And that is really one of the end results: trying to identify these high demand careers, and encouraging students to look at them as opposed to other careers?" | Northwest |
| "Now's the time to start growing [the automotive workforce]...but when you can't even get them to come in the door..." | Northwest |
| "I think somehow you have to recruit a better [student body] to start with. I'm extraordinarily fortunate, because I have a retired tech guy in my back pocket who works for me part time. But every year they get one, two, three, four students that are the superstars. They got the whole package. And then they got a metal class. They're never going to be the top 10. It's not going to happen. And then they got the rest of them...a waste of time and space. I know that's brutal, but you've got to be able to somehow recruit more [good students]. You've got to get rid of that perception that, okay, you're not quite smart enough to do this, so let's put you over in the auto program. You've got to change the image of the program." | Northwest |