Josh Thompson is the founder and leader of Thompson Field Servicea construction and building maintenance company.
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As a leader in the construction industry, I have seen the power that providing mentorship to the younger generation can have.
When I was 16 I got the chance to work at a window cleaning company. This experience led me to enter the facade maintenance and construction industry for the first time. The training and mentorship I received on the job helped me gain hard skills to work in the industry and taught me what it means to work. It also helped me gain the confidence needed to start my own business.
Based on my personal experience and the statistics around the aging workforceI think it’s important that we start finding ways to get young people into industries like construction.
An aging workforce
To best determine how to get younger people into many blue-collar jobs, you first need to understand why many blue-collar industries, such as construction, so desperately need people from younger generations. Statistics on the construction industry emphasize this point. From 2021, according to the US Bureau of Laborabout 43% of construction workers are 45 or older, while only about 32% are under 35 years old. retire.
Possibilities to make connections
Career Fairs and Classroom Education
If younger people want to enter industries like construction, leaders can’t just expect young people to come to them. They need to go out and make contacts, for example at career fairs at school. Career fairs are a great way to find young people who are specifically looking for job opportunities and want to learn more about different industries.
Another good example is cooperation with schools or classes. I actually did this with a business class at the local state school and through this found two interns who joined my company upon completion of the class. In these types of opportunities, the students get a better understanding of business and industry, and you, as a business leader, get help from the students. Looking for these types of opportunities is a great way to actually meet young people and put your industry on their radar as a potential career choice.
Internships and Internships
Another way to bring young people into the industry is to create apprenticeship programs. Internship programs allow students to truly experience the industry in a way that is appropriate to their age and skill set. They can help to boost the participants’ self-confidence.
Like internships, apprenticeships are another great option for industries such as construction. Apprentice programs are usually for people slightly older than what internships are for and can act as a direct pipeline to your company. One of the greatest benefits of an internship program is that it can serve as a direct pipeline to positions within your company. Ultimately, the young people are all sufficiently trained to take on full-fledged roles within your company.
Ultimately, to get younger generations into work, we need to understand what they want. An example that has proven important for younger generations is flexibility. Even before the pandemic research, a report from Marcum LLP showed that millennials desired flexible working hours. Ultimately, however, this is not a one-size-fits-all problem. It will probably depend a lot on the industry, and not all young people are the same. The best gauge of what younger generations want is to find and talk to younger people.
We must take active steps to sustain many working-class industries, such as construction. This includes reaching out to younger people and creating programs such as internships to immerse them in the work culture. It also includes understanding what these younger generations are looking for in their careers. Working-class careers are important to the daily lives of so many, and they need young people to survive and thrive.
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