February 5, 2007
In with the new | The Maine Construction Careers Alliance and the state's construction industry hope to solve the shortage of skilled workers
By Jeffrey Bouley
Few things are as galling in construction as having plenty of work available but too few workers to take on extra projects. Yet in 1997, exactly that scenario unfolded, with nine out of 10 construction firms in the United States unable to find enough skilled workers. And nearly as many felt their current workforce wasn't as skilled as it should be. That was according to the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a nonprofit organization in Gainsville Fla., that also estimated that 30% more people would leave the construction workforce than enter it every year through 2013.
Maine is right in line with those figures, according to industry insiders here. Pittsfield-based contractor Cianbro Corp. estimates that the current crop of 31,000 construction workers in Maine should be boosted by at least 6,000 workers ˆ with the main need being skilled tradespeople such as carpenters, electricians, pipe fitters, welders, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning experts. "We could easily put 20% more skilled craftspeople to work than we have available to us right now, and that's been the case for about 10 years now," says Alan Burton, vice president of human resources, safety and health for Cianbro.
Don Partridge, safety director for Woolwich-based contractor Reed & Reed Inc., says the average age of a worker in Maine's construction industry is between 45 and 48 years old. A lot of those older workers will be leaving the workforce before long, and that, he says, poses a problem. "We knew we needed to get younger people into the industry," says Partridge, who also serves as chairman of the workforce development committee at Associated Constructors of Maine, a trade group in Augusta.
To help promote the positive aspects of the industry to the younger generation, the Maine Construction Careers Alliance was founded in 2001 by a handful of industry associations and construction companies. The group has used television ads, a website and informational mailings to connect young people with construction employment opportunities, while organizations like ACM continued to address skill shortages, such as training programs for existing workers. The creation of MCCA was a reaction to the dearth of young workers entering the industry. "What we found was that we weren't paying enough attention to the educational programs that we should be connected to that would bring young people to the workforce," says Burton. "We realized we had a perception problem with the industry being viewed by many as a career of last resort."
Those involved in efforts to solve Maine's skilled construction worker shortage, particularly the fledgling MCCA efforts, admit there's plenty of work to be done, and more refinements and adjustments that need to happen with each program. Still, there are signs that the work to draw people into the industry is paying off. "I've seen public perception changing somewhat, and among public policymakers, too," says Burton. "More and more, they are viewing the industry as a place where people can earn a good living and have a lot more opportunity than in the manufacturing industry, which has been dwindling over the last several years in this state."
Putting a shine to the hard hats
Polishing up the image of the construction industry was a major focus of MCCA's work, which had been running television ads to play up the benefits of ˆ and opportunities in ˆ the construction field. The group launched a six-week run of ads in spring 2005. The spots have continued to run in spurts since then, and the group is gearing up for a "pretty heavy" spring run in 2007, according to John O'Dea, director of communications and member services for ACM. That group has partnered with organizations such as Cianbro, Reed & Reed, the National Association of Women in Construction and Associated Builders and Contractors to form the core of MCCA, which is still a "work in progress," according to O'Dea, but one he says has generated a renewed interest in the construction industry in Maine.
One of the key things the MCCA ads have shown to viewers is that there is a tremendous opportunity for younger people in construction, Partridge says. "This is a field with good wages and one that gives you the ability to do and see things you never could from a desk or at a checkout counter," Partridge notes. "You can make a great living and be driving down the road years later and still see something you helped to build."
After two tightly budgeted runs of MCCA's TV ads in 2005 ˆ the organization has spent $150,000 on advertising in each of the last two years ˆ there were some 25,000 hits at the MCCA's website, according to Wally Hanson, whose Whitefield-based marketing company, Wally Hanson Advertising and Communications, has worked with MCCA on its ad campaign and other promotional activities. "We're still trying to get our hands around the 2006 campaign numbers, but given what we saw in 2005, we got a lot back for a fairly slim investment," says Hanson.
Initially, the strategy for the MCCA's website was to draw prospective workers to the site through the TV ads, then send them a brochure, information packet and CD-ROM with the campaign's TV advertising. The next step, though, is to make the website a more useful tool. To that end, members of the MCCA met in January to begin planning an updated website, which likely will include a redesign but, more importantly, will include the addition of an online application form for people interested in the construction industry.
The specifics of how this form will be structured and how detailed it will be remain to be determined, but the general idea is to provide a way for MCCA website visitors to enter their contact information and some basic information about their background, interests and experience ˆ and then send that data straight to human resources managers of various MCCA-supporting companies. "What we're really hoping to do here is to break down any possible barriers and make it as easy as possible for people to take the next step," O'Dea explains. "We want to put them right into the laps of HR managers who can turn around and then put their hands on people who are potentially qualified job candidates."
The implementation of this online application system also will go a long way toward solving a major limitation of the MCCA website, notes Burton, which has been the inability to track and follow up on interested people. Before, the MCCA knew people were visiting and responding to the TV ads, thus showing an interest in the construction industry. But beyond that, the MCCA had no way of knowing who they were ˆ and how serious they were. The website was simply a means to get them information and direct them to places of interest. "We want the website and MCCA to have a more interactive function so that we can get workers and companies connected," Burton says.
The college alternative
But as important as it is to capture the interest of people entering the workforce or looking for a change of career, which is the thrust of the MCCA promotional campaign, there is a great need to get to people far earlier than age 18, notes O'Dea. The construction industry needs to get the message out to them in school, as early as age 14, in order to compete with other job prospects that kids will be pushed toward as they progress through school ˆ many of which will be geared toward indoor work, not construction.
A big concern for the construction industry recently, O'Dea says, is the focus in Maine on ensuring that students leave school "college ready." That's a message that he, Burton and many others think is narrow-minded and short-sighted. As Burton and Partridge note, if the state is going to build up new industries like biotech and bring in white-collar jobs, it's going to need skilled construction professionals to build new facilities, improve the state's infrastructure and more.
"Our concern is that the language the state is using implies that a kid has to go to college to be successful," O'Dea notes, "and that's inaccurate. There are any number of alternative paths to achieving a successful career and a happy life that don't necessarily involve going to college."
Don Cannan, director of the Lewiston Regional Technical Center, agrees with that assessment. Cannan jokes that if Rip Van Winkle were to wake up today, the only place in society he would feel comfortable is the educational system, because it has clung to the status quo so fiercely for so long.
Guidance counselors, he says, simply don't discuss skilled trades very often with students, and neither the counselors nor the teachers understand the opportunities available in construction and other industries that rely on skilled trades, he asserts.
"Studies will tell you that 85% to 90% of students in grade seven want to go to college," Cannan says. "But when you talk to them, many of them don't know what they want to study. They just know that they have to go college."
He says the state is encouraging kids to look only at college rather than consider skilled trades, even though in many cases, a trade may be far more rewarding to a young person. As a result, companies like Cianbro have to trek to places like Ireland hoping to pick up skilled workers.
O'Dea says the state's technical education programs are among the "most under-represented success stories" in Maine's educational system. Cannan echoes that sentiment, adding that all of his nearly 30 programs are full, with prospective students on waiting lists ˆ a common situation at all of Maine's 27 technical education centers, he says. Furthermore, five-year follow-ups have shown that 55%-65% of his center's students have college degrees after five years ˆ whether in construction or engineering-related areas or otherwise ˆ and that 75% were still working in the skilled trades in which they trained at the technical center.
As important as MCCA's promotional work is, Burton, like O'Dea and Cannan, believes that looking back to the young students and meeting their needs is the key to not just bolstering the ranks of construction but creating a better generation of workers.
"If you teach people in a way that works around their passions, they will go in the direction that is best for them," Burton says. "We're so caught up in test results and college admissions that students have little or no connection between what they are learning and what they will be doing. Why don't English classes include technical writing as well as literature? If we make better connections with what people are passionate about, we'll prepare them better, whether that's for entry into college, a technical program or something else entirely."
Preparing for the future
Aiming for kids just graduating from high school, Cianbro and other contractors also get together every year to do a "boot camp" for about 20 to 25 young people to get them acclimated to what life is like on a construction site. Activities during the program include teaching the participants how to work with staging, set up rigging and other common job site tasks. Now, Burton says, the focus of the boot camp is expanding not just to give young people a taste of the construction world but also to connect companies directly with the students to hire them before they are sucked into other jobs. "We want to get them before the end up in the McDonalds restaurants or Wal-Marts doing other things that might not end up being as rewarding for them," Burton says. "We don't want to have a break between getting them interested in the industry and when we try to hire them."
In addition to grooming younger people for careers in construction, there is a need to ensure that current workers progress as well. So, in addition to the managerial, safety and other courses that ACM offers to people either just entering or already in the industry, the organization has just entered into its second year of offering its Young Constructors Forum.
The age of the "young" participants can range anywhere from 25 to 40, O'Dea says, but the general idea is to help the younger cadre of construction workers to network and socialize and assist in their long-term professional development.
"Not only are its line workers aging but construction's management core is aging as well, so one goal of the Young Constructors Forum is to get this cadre of people up to speed more quickly than they might be able to otherwise," he explains.
In the forum's inaugural event, some 45 people attended, and O'Dea was heartened to see so many "go-getters" that he knew would be successful in the next five or 10 years either leading workers at companies or starting their own operations. But at the same time, he says, it was bittersweet because the industry is still falling short and there's still a long way to go to erase the industry's image as a dead-end, macho-only job track. "These are people doing important work and really thinking out of the box on interesting projects all the time," he says, "We really want people to begin to see and appreciate that this industry has a lot to offer people individually and the state generally."
Maine is right in line with those figures, according to industry insiders here. Pittsfield-based contractor Cianbro Corp. estimates that the current crop of 31,000 construction workers in Maine should be boosted by at least 6,000 workers ˆ with the main need being skilled tradespeople such as carpenters, electricians, pipe fitters, welders, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning experts. "We could easily put 20% more skilled craftspeople to work than we have available to us right now, and that's been the case for about 10 years now," says Alan Burton, vice president of human resources, safety and health for Cianbro.
Don Partridge, safety director for Woolwich-based contractor Reed & Reed Inc., says the average age of a worker in Maine's construction industry is between 45 and 48 years old. A lot of those older workers will be leaving the workforce before long, and that, he says, poses a problem. "We knew we needed to get younger people into the industry," says Partridge, who also serves as chairman of the workforce development committee at Associated Constructors of Maine, a trade group in Augusta.
To help promote the positive aspects of the industry to the younger generation, the Maine Construction Careers Alliance was founded in 2001 by a handful of industry associations and construction companies. The group has used television ads, a website and informational mailings to connect young people with construction employment opportunities, while organizations like ACM continued to address skill shortages, such as training programs for existing workers. The creation of MCCA was a reaction to the dearth of young workers entering the industry. "What we found was that we weren't paying enough attention to the educational programs that we should be connected to that would bring young people to the workforce," says Burton. "We realized we had a perception problem with the industry being viewed by many as a career of last resort."
Those involved in efforts to solve Maine's skilled construction worker shortage, particularly the fledgling MCCA efforts, admit there's plenty of work to be done, and more refinements and adjustments that need to happen with each program. Still, there are signs that the work to draw people into the industry is paying off. "I've seen public perception changing somewhat, and among public policymakers, too," says Burton. "More and more, they are viewing the industry as a place where people can earn a good living and have a lot more opportunity than in the manufacturing industry, which has been dwindling over the last several years in this state."
Putting a shine to the hard hats
Polishing up the image of the construction industry was a major focus of MCCA's work, which had been running television ads to play up the benefits of ˆ and opportunities in ˆ the construction field. The group launched a six-week run of ads in spring 2005. The spots have continued to run in spurts since then, and the group is gearing up for a "pretty heavy" spring run in 2007, according to John O'Dea, director of communications and member services for ACM. That group has partnered with organizations such as Cianbro, Reed & Reed, the National Association of Women in Construction and Associated Builders and Contractors to form the core of MCCA, which is still a "work in progress," according to O'Dea, but one he says has generated a renewed interest in the construction industry in Maine.
One of the key things the MCCA ads have shown to viewers is that there is a tremendous opportunity for younger people in construction, Partridge says. "This is a field with good wages and one that gives you the ability to do and see things you never could from a desk or at a checkout counter," Partridge notes. "You can make a great living and be driving down the road years later and still see something you helped to build."
After two tightly budgeted runs of MCCA's TV ads in 2005 ˆ the organization has spent $150,000 on advertising in each of the last two years ˆ there were some 25,000 hits at the MCCA's website, according to Wally Hanson, whose Whitefield-based marketing company, Wally Hanson Advertising and Communications, has worked with MCCA on its ad campaign and other promotional activities. "We're still trying to get our hands around the 2006 campaign numbers, but given what we saw in 2005, we got a lot back for a fairly slim investment," says Hanson.
Initially, the strategy for the MCCA's website was to draw prospective workers to the site through the TV ads, then send them a brochure, information packet and CD-ROM with the campaign's TV advertising. The next step, though, is to make the website a more useful tool. To that end, members of the MCCA met in January to begin planning an updated website, which likely will include a redesign but, more importantly, will include the addition of an online application form for people interested in the construction industry.
The specifics of how this form will be structured and how detailed it will be remain to be determined, but the general idea is to provide a way for MCCA website visitors to enter their contact information and some basic information about their background, interests and experience ˆ and then send that data straight to human resources managers of various MCCA-supporting companies. "What we're really hoping to do here is to break down any possible barriers and make it as easy as possible for people to take the next step," O'Dea explains. "We want to put them right into the laps of HR managers who can turn around and then put their hands on people who are potentially qualified job candidates."
The implementation of this online application system also will go a long way toward solving a major limitation of the MCCA website, notes Burton, which has been the inability to track and follow up on interested people. Before, the MCCA knew people were visiting and responding to the TV ads, thus showing an interest in the construction industry. But beyond that, the MCCA had no way of knowing who they were ˆ and how serious they were. The website was simply a means to get them information and direct them to places of interest. "We want the website and MCCA to have a more interactive function so that we can get workers and companies connected," Burton says.
The college alternative
But as important as it is to capture the interest of people entering the workforce or looking for a change of career, which is the thrust of the MCCA promotional campaign, there is a great need to get to people far earlier than age 18, notes O'Dea. The construction industry needs to get the message out to them in school, as early as age 14, in order to compete with other job prospects that kids will be pushed toward as they progress through school ˆ many of which will be geared toward indoor work, not construction.
A big concern for the construction industry recently, O'Dea says, is the focus in Maine on ensuring that students leave school "college ready." That's a message that he, Burton and many others think is narrow-minded and short-sighted. As Burton and Partridge note, if the state is going to build up new industries like biotech and bring in white-collar jobs, it's going to need skilled construction professionals to build new facilities, improve the state's infrastructure and more.
"Our concern is that the language the state is using implies that a kid has to go to college to be successful," O'Dea notes, "and that's inaccurate. There are any number of alternative paths to achieving a successful career and a happy life that don't necessarily involve going to college."
Don Cannan, director of the Lewiston Regional Technical Center, agrees with that assessment. Cannan jokes that if Rip Van Winkle were to wake up today, the only place in society he would feel comfortable is the educational system, because it has clung to the status quo so fiercely for so long.
Guidance counselors, he says, simply don't discuss skilled trades very often with students, and neither the counselors nor the teachers understand the opportunities available in construction and other industries that rely on skilled trades, he asserts.
"Studies will tell you that 85% to 90% of students in grade seven want to go to college," Cannan says. "But when you talk to them, many of them don't know what they want to study. They just know that they have to go college."
He says the state is encouraging kids to look only at college rather than consider skilled trades, even though in many cases, a trade may be far more rewarding to a young person. As a result, companies like Cianbro have to trek to places like Ireland hoping to pick up skilled workers.
O'Dea says the state's technical education programs are among the "most under-represented success stories" in Maine's educational system. Cannan echoes that sentiment, adding that all of his nearly 30 programs are full, with prospective students on waiting lists ˆ a common situation at all of Maine's 27 technical education centers, he says. Furthermore, five-year follow-ups have shown that 55%-65% of his center's students have college degrees after five years ˆ whether in construction or engineering-related areas or otherwise ˆ and that 75% were still working in the skilled trades in which they trained at the technical center.
As important as MCCA's promotional work is, Burton, like O'Dea and Cannan, believes that looking back to the young students and meeting their needs is the key to not just bolstering the ranks of construction but creating a better generation of workers.
"If you teach people in a way that works around their passions, they will go in the direction that is best for them," Burton says. "We're so caught up in test results and college admissions that students have little or no connection between what they are learning and what they will be doing. Why don't English classes include technical writing as well as literature? If we make better connections with what people are passionate about, we'll prepare them better, whether that's for entry into college, a technical program or something else entirely."
Preparing for the future
Aiming for kids just graduating from high school, Cianbro and other contractors also get together every year to do a "boot camp" for about 20 to 25 young people to get them acclimated to what life is like on a construction site. Activities during the program include teaching the participants how to work with staging, set up rigging and other common job site tasks. Now, Burton says, the focus of the boot camp is expanding not just to give young people a taste of the construction world but also to connect companies directly with the students to hire them before they are sucked into other jobs. "We want to get them before the end up in the McDonalds restaurants or Wal-Marts doing other things that might not end up being as rewarding for them," Burton says. "We don't want to have a break between getting them interested in the industry and when we try to hire them."
In addition to grooming younger people for careers in construction, there is a need to ensure that current workers progress as well. So, in addition to the managerial, safety and other courses that ACM offers to people either just entering or already in the industry, the organization has just entered into its second year of offering its Young Constructors Forum.
The age of the "young" participants can range anywhere from 25 to 40, O'Dea says, but the general idea is to help the younger cadre of construction workers to network and socialize and assist in their long-term professional development.
"Not only are its line workers aging but construction's management core is aging as well, so one goal of the Young Constructors Forum is to get this cadre of people up to speed more quickly than they might be able to otherwise," he explains.
In the forum's inaugural event, some 45 people attended, and O'Dea was heartened to see so many "go-getters" that he knew would be successful in the next five or 10 years either leading workers at companies or starting their own operations. But at the same time, he says, it was bittersweet because the industry is still falling short and there's still a long way to go to erase the industry's image as a dead-end, macho-only job track. "These are people doing important work and really thinking out of the box on interesting projects all the time," he says, "We really want people to begin to see and appreciate that this industry has a lot to offer people individually and the state generally."
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