Latest / The Commercial Builders’ Network (TCBN) / The $2 Trillion Problem: Why Construction Jobs Go Unfilled | Angelia O'Neal
Transcript
- speaker-0: If you ever felt stuck in a job with no real career path, or you've wondered whether college is your only option, you don't want to miss this episode. Today, we're talking about one of the biggest workforce opportunities in America, construction and the skilled trades. We'll discuss the careers people overlook, how to get started, and what employers are really looking for, and why the industry can change completely your financial future in individuals and families. Today we have the guest Angela O'Neill, the talent acquisitions coordinator for Connect to Work Georgia and the founder of Men's Wear, where she spent more than two decades helping people connect to meaningful careers and long-term economic mobility. Welcome to the Commercial Builders Network, where I like to say construction can change your life and it's starting to look more like you. This is the Commercial Builders Network, where trust is restored, power is reclaimed. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: And legacy is built. Let's get to work. Well, hello, beautiful people, and welcome to another episode of the Commercial Builders Network. My name is Tanisha Reed I'm your host. And today, we have the amazing Angela O'Neill with us today. She's gonna talk workforce development. How are you today, Miss O'Neill? speaker-1: Good morning, Tanisha. I am doing magnificent today and it's a pleasure to be on your show. speaker-0: Awesome. Awesome. So I just wanna dive right in into what it is that you do on a day to day to create opportunities for people in workforce. speaker-1: Awesome, thank you. Well, I've been in workforce development now for over twenty years. Don't want to date myself, but hey, I've been in this space for a long time. I started out by launching my own nonprofit organization called Men's Wear Incorporated. I began to see that there were gaps and creating opportunity for men, especially young men. So took some time to do some research and As we have it today, Menswear Inc. Making Employment the Next Step has empowered over twenty eight hundred youth and adult males here in Metro Atlanta. speaker-0: So currently the construction industry and skill trades are are suffering right now with a workforce shortage. But then there's still people who are struggling to find opportunities and work. Why are those two things happening at the same time in the same place but we aren't we aren't finding a result to that issue? speaker-1: I believe there's a communication problem. traditionally, construction, which is labeled under skill trades, right, you know, has evolved. It has evolved into a new way of working because technology has changed the skill trades gain. So I believe educating young adults on the opportunities and the career paths that they can create will flip the script as it relates to shortages. it's interesting because high demand careers have generated and moved more towards skill trades and Gen Z is now being labeled the two belt generation to be able to change this skills gap. And again, it's about educating them on opportunities and skill trades from what they may have known from their grandparents or parents or uncles and aunts. So there's a communication gap in my opinion. speaker-0: Awesome. So what what what are some of the careers that are like higher in demand currently? speaker-1: Sure. So right now in skill trades, electrician, HBAC technicians, welders, pipe fitters, in the construction area, carpenter, heavy equipment operator, let's see, in transportation and logistics, automotive technicians, diesel mechanics. And there's another area that I'm tapping into that's related to skill trades to give more options, more on the professional side. is insurance and claims. People can become insurance adjusters, claims adjusters, risk management, and a plethora of other professional careers that are in in insurance and claims. So that's another area related to skill trace and construction that people have not thought about. speaker-0: Now, for someone who has no constructionist experience, no skills trades, no no background in any of these hands on tactics, is there still room for them to get in to learn and create a career out of this opportunity? speaker-1: Absolutely. we have shifted education wise from the four-year traditional career paths or education to more technical skills and an education. So students now can easily get into certification programs to get that foundational understanding of skill trades and construction and also can enter into apprenticeship opportunities. or other internship opportunities that's available in the industry. speaker-0: So if somebody said, today, I'm ready to work, where do I start? speaker-1: So early career students, I will say, that are recently graduated and they're ready to work, they have to first of all, in my opinion, figure out what do they want to do? What are their skills? Take assessments that are available at workforce age entities or technical colleges. Do a self-assessment to really see where your talents lie. Find out what competencies you can acquire to be able to enter the workforce, but also stay in the workforce. One of the worst things, you know, for a lot of people to go to college or go to school and then, you know, end up not working in what you went to school for. So to me today, for any young person that's really ready to say, I I I'm ready to work. Well, find out who you are. Find out what you're what what you enjoy doing. Do some assessments that can be free. You know, my organization, we offer free career assessments, skills assessments to help align you with careers that'll work for you. 'Cause sometimes we have skills that we take for granted and don't know that we can start a career, which could eventually create one a career path or an entrepreneurial opportunity. speaker-0: Love that, I love that. And I love that you said entrepreneurship opportunity because a lot of people get into that, I just don't want to work in my hands. I want to be a million. I'm like, you want to start somewhere, right? You want to start by understanding what you're getting yourself into so the knowledge base itself can help you become the entrepreneur and create other opportunities for other people as well. So I love that. Now some people that I have a special place in my heart that may wonder if they are ideal for construction, like returning citizens and veterans and women in itself. Like, is there room in the industry for people who are returning citizens who are saying, you know, I have this record and I, you know, I don't know where to start. I, you know, fast food and certain things. Well as soon as I let them know that I have this background, now I'm afraid that I'm gonna lose the opportunity. Is there room for them in this space? speaker-1: Absolutely. I'll just stay in the lane of returning citizens. You know, from my experience, returning citizens have been or just as impacted, if you will, have been wonderful candidates to work with because they're hungry. They're looking for that second chance and they just need someone to help them help believe in them and what they can do and what they want to do. So absolutely there is opportunity. Many skill trades and logistic employers actually are, you know, justice impacted friendly. They just, you know, every employer is different. I have to say that. And so that means every employer, for example, have their restrictions or their parameters around it, but they're open to hiring second chance individuals. So I always say there is hope. you know, be honest, be transparent, and go in with with the expectation that I'm here to work, I'm here to do this, and I can do this. A lot of employers are giving second chance individuals opportunities. speaker-0: I love that. I love that. so outside of actual skills, what are employers looking for in these candidates? speaker-1: Well, skills is a loose word. Okay. technical skills, yes. Outside of technical skills, I hear it all the time. And it's the foundation for which I started my organization, quite honestly. Employers have problems with the soft skills, the durable skills. What are soft skills? These are skills that quite honestly, employers expect you to already have when you come into the workplace. speaker-0: Technical skill. speaker-1: They expect you to be able to communicate well. They expect you to be able to do critical thinking, to be able to help solve problems if issues come up that you're able to think through situations. They're expecting you to be able to work in teams, being an active listener, being able to understand and follow instructions, take initiative. They're expecting you to come to work on time every time. So these are some basic soft skills, durable skills, however you want to label it. that employers are struggling with. They are. Mm-hmm. Yeah. They can teach the technical skills. That's not the case. Yeah. You know what I mean? They can teach you how to do the job their way. Because every employer has their way of doing the job. They can teach that, right? Yeah. However, those baseline foundational skills, they come, they believe you should already have those in your wheelhouse when you come to work. speaker-0: Yeah. Yes. And being on time is a critical one. Being on time. Being on time. Sometimes it's just the showing up. speaker-1: Showing up. I hear that time and time again. Can you just ask them to show up on time? Can you just ask them to call in if they have an issue? Can you just tell ask them to be able to communicate with their supervisor without being offended or not? You know what I mean? Just some baseline expectations that employers are suffering with. And I do believe those skills got lost along the way. speaker-0: Absolutely. So let us know more about Connect to Work GA. speaker-1: Excellent. Thank you so much. Yes. Connect to Work Georgia is a program that is housed in the Metro Atlanta Chamber. It is an author blank funded program to where we go into underserved communities to create job opportunities in underrepresented for underrepresented job seekers. The program has done some magnificent work in the Metro Atlanta area. We were able to bring opportunities within the 29th County region. Just recently the program has transitioned a little bit, and but we are still creating opportunity through our community-based organization partners. speaker-0: Awesome. So how does a person take advantage of those programs and opportunities that you guys have through this initiative? speaker-1: Okay. The premise of our program, the chamber being housed, you know, downtown Atlanta, 34th floor, we do not have access to the baseline services that job seekers need. So we work with community based organizations that are doing the work. What work is that? During the resume development, helping them practice interviewing skills, helping them get the soft skill training that they that they need. We partner with these community-based organizations throughout Metro Atlanta, such as Westside Works, EduConnect Training Corp, a couple more entities that we've been working with, and they provide those work, those baseline workforce entities, services, excuse me, for them. Within that, we partner with employers that have enjoyed our programs, specifically in the skill trace industry. And we pre-screen candidates that are referred to us from our community-based partners. And with that, we just make the connection to line them up for employment with that particular employer. at the end of the day, it is the job seekers' responsibility. We just create the access. Many times that's what the problem is in our community is having access to opportunities. We've been able to create the access. But the job seeker has to take it across the finish line. speaker-0: Awesome. Do you have a success story that is tied to Connect to Work, Georgia that makes this work worth it? speaker-1: yes, a success story. So we worked with a c I'll keep it in the construction lane. We worked with a particular construction company that was looking to create opportunity for an early career individual that is interested in construction or skill trades. So one of our community-based organizations referred someone to us who was actually a college graduate. Majored in business, but realized that wasn't the path for him. Again, we go to school not really knowing what we want to do. So the safe place is what business I say for most of us. We do some type of business. But as he was in the industry working, he realized he wanted to do something more physical with his hands. He enjoyed skill trays. Long story short, the gentleman, once I pre-screened him, loved him. But I was concerned because the employer wanted someone that was fresh out of high school and was willing to work with the someone that may have, you know, had some issues in their past. Well, made the connection because the young man was amazing. I just knew if he had a chance, he would be able to demonstrate his passion for construction or skill trades, even though he had a four year degree and that he would be a great candidate. Move forward, connected those two, they interviewed him and they were like, you know what? This young man fit our culture, number one, because of his positive attitude, his can do attitude, and number two, his willingness to want to learn the industry. They brought him in and it's been a happy marriage, I call every says, and he's doing phenomenal. So yes. speaker-0: I love that. one of the missions here at the Commercial Builders Network is to rebuild trust in the community. With with with the time that we're in where people are struggling to find work, people are struggling to trust the system, people are afraid of getting disappointed. How do we fight past that and build trust in our community? speaker-1: You are absolutely right. building trust, I look at it two ways. The first way area is to build trust with employers, build those relationships. As a workforce developer, as a talent acquisition specialist, I see it on both sides. I see that employers are struggling because they've kind of lost hope and trust in the talent that's being prepared for the workforce. So Helping employers understand, number one, that there are agencies out there that are better equipping job seekers to come into roles is key. Okay. And then second, building trust with the job seeker and being honest with job seekers and letting them know listen, you cannot lead until you learn how to follow. That's my personal point of wisdom. I teach to and talk to job seekers. You have to learn to follow before you can lead. Some things in the workplace is just not going to change. Even if you want to be an entrepreneur, I think that's great, but you still have to learn how to follow. Yeah. Before you can lead. So that comes with what? Some humility. See, we just got to be honest with people to help them get to where they want to go. Instead of, you know, telling them these false stories that you could become a millionaire overnight or you could do this and this and that. Yes, there are some people that have used technology to, you know, do some miraculous things. But for the day-to-day person, we can't deny what's really going on or what really must be done. So I think having that balance and being honest and realistic with the talent and with job seekers. And then at the same time, building those relationships with employers and then connecting the dots so that we can create positive talent pipelines for employers and realistic career pathways for job seekers so that we can build wealth, lay a foundation, and be able to change our communities. speaker-0: Love that. Tell me about, you know, your experience an experience growing up that shapes who you are today in the work that you do. speaker-1: Wow, okay. So that's a very good question. My experience growing up. So I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. and I was taught a work ethic at a young age. And I did not realize that at the time. I'm just doing what I saw, you know, people do. So I I built a work ethic within myself. fast forward, you know, I, you know, went to school, of course. And I majored in fashion merchandising and I had this dream of owning my own department store and I was gonna just run the world. But in that that taught me again some strong baseline workforce ethics that helped propel my career. Along the way, I worked at a technical college in Detroit, Michigan, and I worked in career services. And I was tasked to go out into the community to the high schools to talk about what used to be called practicum opportunities with employers. I don't know if people know what practicum is, but it's the same thing as interns. They internships, but that's what we did. And I enjoyed that so much. I did. And then when I graduated college, I was brought on with a major retailer and was doing phenomenally there as a merchandiser manager at the age of 23, running a 2.1 million dollars department on my own. Yes. And they started asking me to go out and do recruitment. for career fairs and I would do that and I would go out and talk to young people and tell them about career opportunities with that company. But quite honestly, I realized that I was mentoring them and helping them in to be prepared in a positive way to get jobs. Doing workforce development, didn't even know that's what I was doing. Right. So my career just kind of went from there and then I ended up moving here to Georgia. And then that's when I launched my nonprofit organization to where I wanted to empower males and strengthen families to help build wealth within our communities. But it all starts with workforce. It starts with workforce, getting a job, building a job, learning from that job, and letting it take you once again either to a career path or in entrepreneurship opportunities. speaker-0: Awesome, awesome. If you were to run across a young person today, and we know you do it every day. How do you inspire them to keep going, keep p pushing and finding their purpose? speaker-1: Yes, that's a very good question as well. And you're right. I do run across young people every day. And throughout this journey, the one thing that I've learned is that people need hope. They need to be encouraged to remain hopeful and not become hopeless. You know, I've experienced it myself, you know, just you know, we're talking about the highs, but you know, trust me, along these 20 plus years, there was a lot of lows. Okay. So encouraging people to remain hopeful is key. My organization, you know, part of the orientation for volunteers, I tell them people get enough bad news from the news or in the world. When they come here, we need to continually give them hope to help encourage them, to help empower them so that they can move forward with whatever it is they want to do. Now, I'm telling you, I'm very realistic, I'm very honest with people, and they appreciate that. But giving them hope. And being transparent and then helping them make a plan, a realistic plan, is encouraging. So for me, that's what I do all the time, is is is give people hope to let them know hope is not lost. We might got a pivot. Life is not perfect. However, we can always get up, dust ourselves off, move forward, and remain hopeful and not hopeless. speaker-0: I love that. That's actually the the purpose of this podcast. I I I say that all the time that this is a platform to bring hope. But I want to change hope into opportunity. Yes. So while we're wrapping up, are there any opportunities that are available that you want to tell the audience about, as well as is there anybody that you would wish to partner with? to create more opportunities for those out there. speaker-1: Yes. I I do want to talk about a couple of opportunities that I've been working on because we have to get creative today and really understand the opportunities or the options more so that we have. Specifically because I know your focus is construction. I really want to help folks understand that there is opportunity in construction from the professional side. And again, that's becoming a career path that people can tap into. And I'm going back to the insurance adjusting. I'm working with a company to where they have a platform where you could get trained in three days and get a certification. And then right after that pay to get a Georgia license to do business and serve as a claims adjuster, as I mentioned earlier. and other roles within that platform. So that's an opportunity that people can talk to me about if they're interested in learning more about becoming a licensed certified adjuster in the construction industry from the professional side. That's number one. If you don't mind me switching, I wanna talk a little bit about the technology side. I'm also working with a couple of groups that is focusing on AI technology as it relates to content creation. There are now programs that young people or even people that are looking to, you know, change their career path can get trained in and start building a career in generative AI, content creation. And you know how that can go. It goes from podcasting, such as what's wonderful opportunity you have here and what you're doing with your business. to commercials, to movies, things of that nature. I'm working on opportunities for young adults to to look into. I don't want to go too deep in it because we're still working out some of the kinks, but those are two areas that will be put together to create exposure to opportunities and technology and construction from a professional perspective. for me, I'm looking to partner with corporations and even even small businesses, you know, that's that's something that we kind of sleep on. There are a lot of small businesses that are looking to work with workforce developers to help them create talent pipelines for their company. So if any small business owner, we know five small business could be anywhere from 500 or less, or your even community based small businesses that are there. that are doing wonderful work but need help in finding a way to create talent pipelines to keep their businesses going. I would love to speak to them to help them build their company and create longevity. speaker-0: Awesome. How do people get in contact with you for first your nonprofit menswear? And then if they want to also get opportunity with Connect to work, Georgia. speaker-1: Awesome. So I will start by saying if anyone wants to connect with me, they could shoot me an email at info at menswearinc.org. That's info at E N S W E A R I N C dot org. And if anyone is interested in the Connect to Work Georgia program, I I must be honest, the program is being sunset. So by the end of this month, that program is being sunset. However, we are still, I am still moving the work forward. So they can people can reach out to me and I provide talent acquisition services to help them move workforce forward within their company. speaker-0: Right. Well, we're going to definitely have the people come and support menswear 'cause you are doing great work. I wanna thank you so much for giving your time and you and the beautiful work that you're doing for Georgia. speaker-1: Thank you. And if you will allow me to just say one more thing before we wrap up, we have grown significantly over the past few years and our reach has grown. So our mission has always been to empower males and strengthen families, which we continue to do. But recently we decided to make a small pivot because parents and grandparents that are raising. Grandchildren have began to come to us for resources and services. young ladies that are friends of young men, I'll say it like that, have been coming to us, and we've been able to provide services and training and resources to them. So I I made an executive decision to start doing business as the MWI Workforce Institute. So you will be seeing us branding that more so. Still under the umbrella of menswear inc, but because the need is so great, we decided we need to expand and pivot a little bit to be able to serve all. So yes, MWI Workforce Institute, be on the lookout. speaker-0: Love it. Thank you so much. speaker-1: Thank you.