Skilled To Work: A United Voice for the Skilled Trades

By Terry Bierwirth, Integrated Media Strategist, KEZI and Pulse Local Marketing

It’s hard to believe on March 5th, we’ll be celebrating the one-year anniversary of Skilled To Work. Our initiative started out with the goal of changing the perception of working in the skilled trades. The idea that a 4-year college degree is not the only option for a successful career. That hands-on classes are coming back, or in some cases, gaining strength again. College debt is unsustainable. One year later, our message is resonating and the conversation is beginning to change.

Together with 16 partners, from industry to education, we have created one voice for the skilled trades. From weekly, dedicated television news stories, to the broadcast of thousands of messages to hundreds of thousands of people, we are breaking through. With one unified voice, our community is beginning to understand the severity of our skilled labor shortage and how it affects them personally. They now know the definition of career technical education and how hard our schools are working to provide more hands-on classes for our youth. They recognize there are multiple paths to a successful career.

But we have only just begun. One year seems like a long time, but one year is not long enough to change at least 40+ years of a mindset. It will take years to realize the cultural shift we need in order to make a significant impact. As one of our partners stated, this is a “long game.” Our Skilled To Work partners are dedicated to keeping the conversation alive, emphasizing the one-size-fits-all model is broken.

Our community is full of talented youth. They just need to know they have options and that their parents, grandparents and community are here to support them.