Military Careers, Second Careers - Air Force Times

Veterans wanted to fill skills gap

Blaine Williams went back to his farming hometown of Ada, Minn., in 1992 after nearly nine years in the Army. He’d been a vehicle mechanic and done a little welding. But the non-farm job scene in Ada wasn’t thriving.

“Nobody was really hiring,” said Williams, a corporal when he left the service.

He looked for industrial jobs in nearby towns and ended up in a foundry that made parts for snowmobiles.

One thing he knew for sure — he didn’t want a desk job.

“The office isn’t for me,” Williams said. “I did enough paperwork in the military.”

Now he’s a welder for Quality Float Works in Schaumburg, Ill., which makes metal floats for a number of uses, such as pumps.

Williams’ employer champions the hiring of vets to fill a shortage in skilled workers.

“One of the greatest challenges facing the business of manufacturing today is the lack of a skilled work force,” said Sandra Westlund-Deenihan, Quality Float Works president and a member of the National Association of Manufacturers board of directors. “It’s having an impact on the ability of our country to compete globally.”

Westlund-Deenihan has decided it’s up to manufacturers to train good people to work in an increasingly automated, high-tech industry.

“On my shop-room floor, I see an aging work force,” Westlund-Deenihan said. “I just can’t sit around and wait.”

Modern manufacturing

What Westlund-Deenihan refers to as the “skills gap” in manufacturing is recognized across the industry. A 2005 survey showed 80 percent of manufacturers expected skilled production workers to be in short supply by 2008.

“They’re already in short supply,” said Stacey Wagner, former managing director of the National Association of Manufacturers’ Center for Workforce Success.

The association is recruiting veterans to the industry for a reason.

“They often have just the perfect skills,” Wagner said. “Technical skills, mechanical skills, engineering skills, an understanding of leadership hierarchy and a work ethic, the ability to think autonomously, as well as in teams.”

Although manufacturers recognize that a high school diploma isn’t enough for most entry-level manufacturing jobs anymore, military training makes up for that, Wagner said.

It’s not that U.S. colleges don’t produce well-trained people.

“We face a lot of competition from other sectors of the economy,” Wagner said. “We consider this to be a crisis.”

Working with your hands

Mike Johnson worked in a machine shop during high school. He joined the Army in 1996, got out as a corporal in 2002, and ended up a grocery-store assistant manager.

That job felt like “babysitting a bunch of high school kids,” so he turned back to manufacturing, as a machine operator for a paper company in Oklahoma. After a while, he did carpet installation and eventually moved to Illinois, where he, like Williams, found a job at Quality Float Works through an employment service.

He’s also done some telemarketing in his time.

“That shirt-and-tie stuff wasn’t for me,” Johnson said. “I like walking around. I can’t sit in a cubicle.”

In Johnson’s shop-floor job at Quality Float Works, there’s variety.

“I have a blast every day I show up,” he said. “I’m never really stuck in the same spot. I move around doing different things.”

Getting hired

If you’ve got basic work and life skills, such as showing up on time and calling in when you can’t make it to work, then you’ve got a chance in manufacturing, Westlund-Deenihan said.

So emphasize those qualities during the job hunt.

“Veterans — they are the untapped resource,” Westlund-Deenihan said. “They have life skills and problem-solving skills. They have work ethics and pride. Safety is really a code of life in the military.”

Take the time to express clearly on your application materials how your military job translates to a civilian company, particularly experience with technology and machines.

“The biggest thing is manufacturing jobs are becoming more tech-savvy,” Westlund-Deenihan said. “Jobs that require a two-year college degree continue to grow. ... We’re talking advanced manufacturing.”

Some such degrees are industrial distribution, precision metalworking, manufacturing processes, integrated systems technology and mechatronics — the high-tech side of running factory machines.

Advice

Williams had done some welding in high school and the Army — just what little he needed as a mechanic. But it was enough to qualify for on-the-job training with another company prior to finding the job at Quality Float Works.

His job is rewarding because he starts from raw materials and ends up with a product.

Williams’ advice for soon-to-be veterans making their way to the civilian job market:

“Look outside your job in the military,” he said. “Don’t take no for an answer. Nobody’s going to hand something to you. You’ve got to go out there and give them a chance.”

Westlund-Deenihan’s message to veterans: “We need you in manufacturing. This is the key to America staying strong.”

Career profiles

The National Association of Manufacturers promotes hands-on, high-tech and front-office careers in manufacturing through its Dream It — Do It campaign. View video profiles of featured manufacturing jobs.

Did you know?

The U.S. manufacturing industry employed more than 13 million people in 2005 and made up 12 percent of the gross domestic product.

Skills gap

In the “2005 Skills Gap Report — A Survey of the American Manufacturing Workforce,” manufacturers identified labor challenges through 2008.

• 80 percent said they expected skilled production workers to be in short supply.

• 74 percent said a high-performance work force would be most important to the company’s future business.

• 53 percent said employees would need more technical skills and basic employability skills.

(Sources: National Association of Manufacturers, Census Bureau)