Building Careers in Construction
Workforce shortage is a challenge we hear often, and across industry sectors. One of the most critical factors of success for any company is their talent, their human capital, their workforce. Developing talent has been a strategic economic development priority for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce for the past 5 years. In partnership with Springfield Public Schools and the City of Springfield, the business community launched the #WorkReady Initiative, facilitating the development of a local pool of qualified talent starting in our k-12 schools. Education and training programs are critical for teaching career readiness, both professional skills and hard skills. One of the organizations who has been at the table since the beginning, is Chambers Construction. This summer we were thrilled to help them celebrate their first class of graduates from an apprenticeship program launched three years ago. Debi Creager, CFO and VP of Chambers Construction shares how this apprenticeship program came to fruition, and why this undertaking is a necessary step towards building a better workforce for the construction industry.
“Our industry was talking about the looming labor shortage 15 years ago but not doing much about it! Our workers had the option to take a 4-year apprenticeship class out of Portland that ended up taking 6 years to complete. Upon completion, we were a bit disappointed in the outcome and knew we needed to find a better solution. Young people weren’t exposed to the trades in their education and knew very little about careers in the construction industry. We needed to let young students know about our industry and how to get in it. Researching that, we came in contact with Vonnie Mikkelsen of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the #WorkReady Committee of the Chamber. They furthered our discussions with local educators and with BOLI.
A large portion of training a carpenter is done on the job and there was a lack of communication and coordination between the existing apprenticeship program and the employers. Carpenters need training in a number of areas of construction. Part of the training is class time and book work, and a greater portion is hands on in the field. At the innovative suggestion of our employee, Mark Harrington, we set up the Chambers Apprenticeship Program. We hold Saturday classes for book work and some hands-on training at our warehouse/yard. The rest of the training happens in the field, where apprentices are paired with journeymen carpenters to learn and complete work in 36 areas of discipline. They must have 199 hours in each area, successfully pass exams in the 36 areas of study and finals between each period of training. Because we run the program there is no longer a miscommunication of what work they need to perform, and they are able to graduate in 3 years!
One challenge is providing the variety of work they need – which has spurred the expansion of our Small Projects Division. We have 16 apprentices in the program at various stages of the 6-period program. When Mark opens it up to bring in more new students, he usually receives 200+ applications. I wish we could accommodate all of them, but the reality is we can’t. We are currently working on ideas to expand the number we can train and hope to see it grow over the next five years. It requires a larger training facility, trainers, available projects for them to work on and operating funds (which could possibly be earned from their work). Our community is united on expanding career technical education in our K-12 schools, as we continue to work together, I have no doubt we will find the answers to providing training for many more interested in a career in construction.”
