Katrina Kersch's blog

Last year I reported that Go Build has its roots in Alabama.  On January 17, 2012, Governor Nathan Deal announced the launch of the Go Build Georgia initiative.  The goal of the initiative is to address the shortage of workers for skilled trades.  Like Go Build Alabama, the initiative will focus on public outreach to educate the citizens of Georgia on the availability of career opportunities that exist today in construction.   In the following video, Governor Deal introduces the initiative.  He states:

“Everyone knows that this is a difficult job market, but not as many know that Georgia is projected to create approximately 16,500 openings in skilled trades in the next year alone.  Go Build is about providing Georgians with the training that they need to fill these positions.”   Read more »

A few years ago we began conducting an annual goals workshop at my company.  In many ways this workshop is really about communication.  Our office has approximately 80 folks.  Having a meeting with 80 people can be a bit challenging.  But we persevere because we have our own goal: learning how to ask.

“What do you think we should focus on in 2012?  What are the things that are keeping you from doing your job?  What can we do to help you achieve your goals?”

The goal setting meeting affords us an opportunity to listen and learn.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  Our leadership team is comprised of folks who are used to getting things done.  No time to talk about why we “have always done it this way”.  But our goal setting meetings have changed that.

I should clarify here that this process did not come quickly.  We still have a few folks that are uncomfortable being asked, and a few cynics who are hard to convince.  But again, we persevere because we know that Read more »

If you read my post about the Construction Education Foundation of North Texas, you might recall I recognized this organization as a pocket of excellence. In this post I would like inform you about a program that could provide a foundation for pockets of excellence across the country.

Their website explains the mission:  “Build Your Future is an NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) program that is being enhanced to support the Choose Construction Initiative (CCI), which is a collaborative grassroots Read more »

Did you know that research indicates that by the year 2040, there will be 7,919,901 Texans who will be eligible for adult education services?  By the way, that is a 99% increase from 2008.

How do I know this?  I learned this startling fact while serving on an advisory council to the Texas Legislature.  (See A Companion Paper to A Primer on Adult Education in Texas: Identifying the Current and Future Population in Need of Adult Education by the Texas Workforce Investment Council, published in March 2010.)  Just for clarification, to be eligible for services you must:   Read more »

One of my mentors, Tim Johnson, has always said that it is it important for us to seek out quality workforce programs and recognize these “pockets of excellence”.  I agree.

I recently attended a Construction Career Day held in Irving, Texas at the Construction Education Foundation of North Texas (CEF).  CEF was founded in 1981 and is supported by numerous industry partners and associations.  Through their agreement with North Lake College, students are able to receive college credit for their craft training classes.  Industry support for the foundation is broad based, and the foundation continues to offer quality craft training programs to the residents of North Texas.

I toured their facilities during my visit and viewed students competing for a coveted spot in the ABC National Craft Championship Competition.  If you have never attended a craft championship competition, you want to correct that.  It‘s a great event.

I enjoyed watching the high school students come and go and interact with craft competitors.  Read more »

There has been a lot of conversation in the news and on the web about the burden on young people who graduate from college with crushing student loans.  I cannot help but think that one of the solutions to this problem is to stop selling a college education as the only path to success.

The recent MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers reports that 76% of middle school students say that they plan to pursue a bachelor’s degree or higher.  Although only about 28% of these students will actually enter a university or community college, it’s clear that the message that college is the preferred career path has reached our youth.  However, according to the book Workforce 2020: Work and Workers in the 21st Century by Richard Judy and Carol D’Amico, only 20% of jobs by 2020 will require a four year degree, while 65% will require an associate’s degree or advanced training.

A college degree is indeed a worthy pursuit, but if there is no job at the end, then what?  Providing our Read more »

A favorite quote among training professionals is one from Zig Ziglar, “What’s worse than training your workers and losing them?  Not training them and keeping them.”

How appropriate for our industry!  The ManpowerGroup’s 2011 Talent Shortage Survey lists “skilled trades” as one of the top 10 in demand jobs and the most difficult to fill.  You can look back to previous surveys and one of the top 10 occupations listed every year is skilled trades workers.  (See chart below from page 6 of the report.)

In addition, construction, manufacturing, retail and technology industries are all competing for Read more »

In a previous post on Construction Citizen titled Strategic Realities, Pat Kiley wrote:

"In light of these conditions, the prudent path for senior executives is to:

• Maintain a focus on costs
• Stay close to your talent
• Invest in Business Development and Marketing
• Be a Learning Organization"

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly of the London School of Economics describes a learning organization as “one that is able to change its behavior and mind-sets as a result of experience.”   Read more »

As a workforce development professional in the construction industry, I am always excited to hear about new initiatives that support the skilled trades.

In 2009, Senator Wendell Mitchell and Senator Del Marsh co-sponsored Act 220 in the Alabama legislature that resulted in the creation of the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute.  The creation of the ACRI is significant for a couple of reasons.  It is funded through a fee levied on employers based on wages paid to skilled construction workers on commercial and industrial jobs across the state, and it represents a united effort from the private and public sector.

The ACRI’s Go Build Alabama campaign is a full out effort to inform and educate the citizens of Alabama about the opportunities for great careers in construction.  The campaign kicked off on Labor Day of 2010 and featured spokesperson Mike Rowe who is the creator, executive producer and host of the popular Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs.  The Go Build Alabama website offers information on the industry outlook, profiles of the various trades, links to training and apprenticeship opportunities, and a sign up page where readers can get assistance in navigating entry into the construction industry.   Read more »

I recently attended the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) 2011 Membership meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  CURT is closely aligned with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), but is itself involved at the owner level in addressing issues related to recruiting, training, and retaining a highly skilled construction workforce for the future.

Our welcome speaker was Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, Jay Dardenne.  In his speech, he referenced a Science Magazine poll that proclaimed Louisiana as the happiest state.  Now I live in the great state of Texas these days and love it, but I’m a Louisiana girl at heart so I was not surprised at this information.  It was his optimism about the future of his state that really resonated with the audience of 150 construction professionals focused on the improvement of industry practices.  There was a feeling of optimism for the future of our industry present in the crowd.

The Workforce Development Committee meeting covered the objectives of this committee including:   Read more »