Career Development

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 »

Saied Alavi, operations manager at Marek Brothers Systems Houston, recently visited Guadalupe “Lupe” Ramos at a job site where Marek is installing drywall in medical office space for Baylor Clinic & Hospital.  Lupe came through Marek’s workforce development program, and is currently an employee with the rank of “Helper” on the Marek Career Path.  In the video below, Saied talks with Lupe and his Marek “Coach”, Kevin Mathews, about how Lupe came to work for Marek and the difference his job has made in his life.

Lupe was familiar with the construction industry growing up because some of his uncles install ceilings for companies in California and Texas.  A few weeks after graduating high school, he filled out an application at Marek in Houston after hearing about the company from one of his uncles.  He was initially planning to apply to be an acoustical ceiling trainee, but while he was at the office applying for work, someone pointed out Buddy Britt, training coordinator at Marek, Read more »

Join SER's 47th Anniversary Gala in Houston on April 20, 2012.

A few months ago the Construction Citizen team toured the offices and training facilities of SER – Jobs for Progress and wrote about this Houston organization which helps people from low-income neighborhoods turn their lives around by finding careers in a variety of fields including construction. In the video below, Executive Director Nory Angel walks through the facility explaining room by room many of the services SER offers.

She talks about the variety of clients who come to SER and the steps a client takes when coming to SER for help getting a job.  These include evaluation, working with a “career coach”, and “business etiquette training”, which goes beyond job-readiness skills such as resume writing and includes tips for building rapport with interviewers.  Client/students also take different training courses, depending on their interest.  These courses include classroom training as well as “hands on” training.  Some of the products which have been produced such as traditional rustic wooden ice chests and Adirondack chairs may be available for purchase online next year.   Read more »

I am quite certain that I let out an audible gasp when they first caught my eye.  Red plaid, patent leather, and high heeled: sophisticated and playful at the same time.  Definitely love at first sight . . . and on sale!  Then the practical side of me took over.  I don’t wear a lot of high heels, and the size of heel was a little intimidating.  Not only was the heel high, it had a bit of a platform to it.  Could I walk in them without looking like a 6-year-old trying on her mom’s shoes?  Would I be able to stand around for an hour or more at a reception without the balls of my feet screaming out in pain?  I took them for a test-walk around the store and found that not only could I walk in them, they were actually pretty comfortable.  I smiled for days after I purchased them.  Several times I took them out of the closet just to admire them.  When the day finally came for me to wear them, I was thrilled that they met Read more »

Representatives from Construction Citizen recently visited the offices and training facilities of Houston’s SER-Jobs for Progress, guided by the executive director of SER, Nory Angel.  SER, which means “to be” in Spanish, was originally started in 1965 as a volunteer organization to help Hispanic veterans find jobs, but has since grown into a multifaceted organization which provides a variety of services to individuals living in low-income communities.

SER offers vocational job training to veterans, youth and adults in areas such as Green Core Construction, Weatherization and Retrofitting, Home Energy Rating Systems, and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC).  They also offer career assessment and counseling, classes in business etiquette, help with resume preparation, and many other services to help individuals find and maintain employment.  Read more »

The National AGC Safety and Health Conference] was held in San Antonio in January and I had the opportunity to present the Construction Career Collaborative (C³) industry initiative to over 160 safety professionals.  The initiative was well received by our safety professionals as a means to verifiably provide safety training to each craft worker and supervisor.   Read more »

The National Public Radio debate show Intelligence Squared U.S. recently aired a deliberation on whether or not “Too Many Kids Are Going To College”.  Held in Chicago on October 12 in front of a live audience, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and political scientist and author Charles Murray argued that yes, too many students in the United States are persuaded to go to college when that might not be the best option for all of them in the long run.  Vivek Wadhwa, the director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University as well as columnist for the Washington Post, and Henry Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern University, faced off against Thiel and Murray in defense of the value of a college education.   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 »

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 »

Today, the Work-Faith Connection of Houston held its 4th annual fundraising breakfast with keynote speaker Herman Cain.  There was an overflow crowd.

The WorkFaith Connection is a group who works with individuals in transition from prison to the workplace.  The message is that it is possible to make the right choices and decisions that will give you a productive life for the future.  The Connection shows individuals that someone cares for them and that they can learn new skills, through God’s help, that will enable them to transition back into the workforce in a responsible manner.  Many of their clients find work in the construction industry.  Several of their clients spoke about their experiences.  One of the most poignant stories was Freda Smith’s story.

Ms. Smith was introduced by her son, Dominic Miller, who attends the “5-0” University of Houston on a full football scholarship.  Freda’s story is that she served 24 months in a federal prison facility for accepting child support money that was later proven to be drug money.  She served her time and then, in her transition, became a client at the WorkFaith Connection.  Through the team at WorkFaith, she found a job where Read more »