Latest / The Commercial Builders’ Network (TCBN) / Why Construction Jobs Go Unfilled (And the FREE Platform Connecting People to Careers)
Transcript
- Speaker 2: There's a massive workforce shortage and construction, yet thousands of people are still searching for meaningful careers. So what's missing? Today's episode is about bridging that gap. Whether you're a student, someone looking for a career change, a veteran, a returning citizen, or simply someone trying to build a better future, we're talking about where the opportunities are and how to actually get connected to them. Joining us today is Jason Walker, the National Engagement Manager for Building Talent Foundation. An organization working nationwide to connect people to career, training, internships, scholarships, and employers in residential construction. Construction can change your life and it's starting to look more like you. Let's go. This is the Commercial Builders Network, where trust is restored, power is reclaimed, 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 and I'm your host. And today we have the amazing Jason Walker from Building Talent Foundation. We're gonna dive into their programs and how they are having an impact in workforce development in the residential construc construction side. Whew, no one's gonna get that out. How are you doing, Jason? Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Thank you for having me on, Tanisha. this is fantastic. when we learned about your your organization and I I became really excited about the opportunity to speak with you and then to have this chance to talk to your viewership is just tremendous. Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome. So we're gonna dive right in. Now there is a lot of talk in construction about there being a labor shortage. Can you tell me about like why is finding great talent hard right now in construction? Speaker 1: Well yeah, it's we're about a half a million people short for open positions within the construction area and and skilled trades right now. And that number, you know, it it fluctuates a little bit for sure. but really what we're experiencing at the moment is a a dem a generational demographic shift. And that shift that's going on right now is that there is a population, the baby boomers who we're all familiar with. and many of those folks are are either in retirement age or are approaching retirement age. And some of us gen at Gen Xers are are sort of in that as well. so what that's creating is a situation where about forty percent and some in some estimations higher, upwards of fifty percent of the workforce in the skilled trades is slated to retire within the next five to seven years. And That is a huge challenge and a huge problem that we are facing, that we're gonna have to make some some significant pivots if we're going to make up for that. And we need to currently the replacement rate, so we're we're f retiring five and we're bringing two people into the job market. So if that continues, we're going to be in a real crisis. And if you've ever had anybody come by your house to do your residence to do any sort of work around that. your how your residents, you know that they probably got gray hair and they're looking forward to being on the beach sometime soon. So we have a narrow window to transfer all of this knowledge from this group of experts to a whole new group of people coming into the trades and we can, you know, keep everything moving forward smoothly. Speaker 2: Awesome. Awesome. So for somebody who isn't currently in the industry, can you explain what Building Town Foundation actually does? Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. So Building Talent Foundation, know, we are a nonprofit organization, a national nonprofit that was created about six years ago. And it the funding for our organization came from the leading builders of America. So this huge association of residential home builders that are responsible for over 50% of the construction, new home construction that goes on within the United States. And so, you know, they are are a very influential influential group. They're also very aware of this challenge that we're facing, and they decide to do something creative. And so in the creation of BTF, our objective is to create a resilient workforce you know, by 2030 that will be able to meet the needs of the country in in construction and the skilled trades. So we do that really three three primary ways. We do it by Helping folks learn about the opportunities that for careers, meaningful careers in the skilled trades, help them decide what they want to do, get them connected to education. We're not personally the educators, but you know, we help them find good quality education if that's what's needed. And then we help them get connected to employment within the industry. Speaker 2: Awesome. So how do you find the people who are interested or how do they find you? Speaker 1: Fantastic. Yeah. so it can be very active in terms of the outreach that we do. we myself, my colleague Rick Ellis in the Atlanta Marketplace, and across the country actually, our engagement managers will go out to high schools, to schools with construction programs, we will go to community organizations. And we will actively engage them and their populations and their constituents to help them learn about and know about the opportunities that exist in residential construction. And then we will invite them onto our platform. And on that platform, you know, we have a career explorer module where they can learn about all of these different job opportunities that exist within the trades, many of which they probably don't have any idea about. Most people are familiar with plumbing and electrical, right? H V A C jobs, but you know, you could be a glazier working with cutting and fitting glass, or a mason working with stone, or somebody that does a very, very niche one would be fire stopping, somebody that works with very, very specific engineered materials to r you know, reduce you know, fire spread. So there are so many different things that that people can do and we can help them figure out what what they want to do. Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome. So the Building Talent Foundation, who was it created to serve? Speaker 1: Yeah, so it it was created with the intent of of serving underrepresented populations. So young people, women, returning citizens, veterans, et cetera. And our you know, a good example is is with respect to women. there's in terms of the frontline fundraising the frontline population of skilled trades workers, presently it's less than four percent are female. And that's just astronomically low by anyone's standards. And I, you know, in my personal experience, I had worked at Habitat for Humanity where we ran an AmeriCorps program of 400, 500 people annually. And that program would put people out on location working in our affiliates involved in home building. In those situations, in that program. Forty percent, thirty to forty percent of the people in those lead construction roles were female. So I I know that there's interest. We just have to present it the right way and f help people in terms of finding the opportunities to get get into these roles. Speaker 2: Awesome. What are the employers looking for beyond technical skills? Speaker 1: gosh, yeah. So they're looking for ambition. they are looking for drive, they're looking for inquisitiveness. So people that are lifelong learners that are committed to learning. you know, I was meeting with a class recently of H V A C prof students that were gonna be graduating soon. And we're sort of you know asking them, you know, what is your what's your thirty second elevator pitch for, you know, who you are if you gotta talk to a an owner of a company. And you got to tell all about yourself and it's a y you know, are you a problem solver? Right. Are you somebody that that enjoys and relishes that opportunity to figure things out? And so, you know, they're really looking for that, but they're also looking for good team players, people that, you know, have the ability to interact well with the other members of their organization and then people that have a commitment to to customer service as well. Speaker 2: Why is it important that we expose the youth to these opportunities and to construction a lot earlier? Because at one point we had shop in the high schools and now it's like I feel like that's a huge reason why there's a huge gap in the workforce because that was removed from the schools. So why Speaker 1: Got it. You got it. We we've spent the last fifty years, and you you and I both know this. They used to have shop. We've spent the last fifty years just focused on pushing people into college institutions and to knowledge based roles. And that is to the detriment of this country. it's to the detriment of of the young people as well that have that proclivity and that interest that they have not been given this opportunity. And you know, the sad thing is, the sad reality is that so many young people go immediately from high school and jump directly into college where they have to take huge loans that you cannot get out from under. This is not like a car or a home that you can sell that and you're out from under that debt. But when you take on that debt, that debt is yours. And you know, you're not necessarily getting a degree that's going to guarantee you a job. That will earn you money. Speaker 2: You better preach. Speaker 1: Sadly, so many folks, they don't even graduate, right? So now you you've you've taken on this debt and you've not even come out with a piece of paper that you can show that you you accomplished that aspect. So it's critically important that we give these individuals this opportunity to know about all of these jobs where you can have meaningful careers. And those meaningful careers can, you know, build the things for your life that you want. And you don't have to go to a four year college to do that and take on, you know, hunt you know, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, I'm about a hundred and thirty in myself and you know, I'm a podcaster now. Speaker 1: Exactly. Yeah. Speaker 2: But coincidentally, my undergrad degree was actually film and I have a business degree, but most of us go through and that's part of the reason why my passion is so deep behind it. I didn't have a offer as soon as I graduated, unfortunately, but yet all that debt was still tied to me and it's to this day. So you make a fantastic point. Is there any partnerships, mentorship, internships, scholarships, or there any any educational support that these new people into the industry can expect going through your program? Speaker 1: was big news. There's big news as of July first. this is absolutely massive. So Pell grants which you know had previously not been able to be used for the trades are now eligible to you be used for trade training programs, training programs as short as eight to fifteen weeks in length. That is massive. And so going through the federal student aid program, you can gain access to these Pell Grants and then get the funds to be able to get the training that will get you immediately into a job that is that is paying money, that is paying money and that that can grow you a a meaningful career. So that's the biggest one. Now through our organization, we're exploring these all the time. We also have institutional donor relationships. And those institutional donors are funding programs that will either completely eliminate or defer or reduce the cost. of some construction related training programs. So things like construction ready project build are examples of that. And you know, we hope that we'll be able to continue to grow those and be influential in helping to spread the word about that. Speaker 2: Awesome. So one of the biggest things with your organization is connecting employers with talent and vice versa. how what does that process look like? Speaker 1: so as far as as you starting out, if you're somebody that is interested in exploring the trades, maybe you know what you want to do or maybe you don't, you can get started by joining our platform, which is jobs to build. It's part of the major investment that our donors have made in us that this is a trades specific job board and talent development platform that is completely free. For everyone to utilize, whether that is your student, your institute, your educational institution, or your employer. We think of ourselves as a utility. We're like the electric company, right? We're just trying to connect it all up and make sure everybody's talking and everybody has the opportunity to know what the other needs in order to get people into these roles at the end of the line. So First things first, we want to get you on the platform because that'll immediately give you access to not only myself, my colleague Rick Ellis here in the Atlanta area and the rest of our EMs around the country, but you also get you know, if you're a career explorer, access to this career explorer module, which has over forty-four different career paths that you can explore. Learn about the skills that are are critical to that, the education that's helpful to that path, and the compensation that you can expect. if you go down that pathway. So you kind of know if the juices were at the squeeze, so to speak, right? And then if you're looking for employment immediately, then there's jobs that are on the platform, employers that are looking to hire right now. Some of those will, you know, require you know, previous experience and previous education, but there are most definitely opportunities, entry-level roles for construction laborer type roles. helper type roles where you're working under the tutelage of someone or in a structured apprenticeship type program. Speaker 2: Awesome. So I know you just dived into the apprenticeship program part. Tell me more about the earn and learn and how that changes the ability to be able to get into the industry and thrive. Speaker 1: Yeah, so this, you know, the apprenticeship model is a program, it's a pathway that is, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of years old. it you know, this is you know, forged in Europe and still exists. Like, you know, Germany has a very, very structured apprenticeship program there and it's you know it's equivalent, it's on par with the university system. And so what we're looking to do and what a lot of organizations are looking to do now is to help to foster more of these apprenticeship type and programs. It's a very structured system of training that is under an organization where a person comes in and they are are learning how to do the job and they're being paid while they're doing that. Now, obviously if the company is, you know, expending resources and time and effort to, you know, get this person trained. then there's going to be some degree of of compromise that's going to be there around either the compensation or the compensation and, you know, kind of, you know, what your commitment is to that organization once you complete the training. But these are things where, you know, obviously that's an ideal world where you can learn a skilled trade and be paid while you're doing it. Speaker 2: That's what I love the most about this industry of getting be able to earn and learn without having to necessarily have the debt that's attached to it. Yeah. As the biggest thing. And if there is it's minimal compared to college. But you actually have a guaranteed career path that's always in demand. It yeah. It's kinda interesting why this wasn't the focus in the beginning. Speaker 1: It i it is. And you know, if you're an employer out there that either has a program and you are looking for a steady flow of genuinely interested people, then I would encourage you to join our platform, our jobs to build platform. Or if you're an employer that is l interested in creating your own apprenticeship program, we can provide you guidance on how to do that and take advantage of, you know, any government programs. Speaker 2: Awesome. And that that's something that's there to me. I was actually gonna ask that. Does that does is it okay if they're a small considered a small business? Yeah. Speaker 1: And some of those, you know, the way that those government programs are set up, you know, incentives are set up, they can really highly benefit smaller smaller employers. Speaker 2: Now, what would you say is the smallest that they would help? Speaker 1: Well, that's tough that's tough to say. I mean, that's certainly you're probably going to have some level of structure in place. If you're just, you know, a a single person, you know, business owner, there's probably some degree of of growth that you're going to need to achieve before it makes sense to invest the resources into a program like this. Obviously you you know, you need to have some resources at your disposal. Speaker 2: Awesome. For long term career growth, what does that look like for somebody who's entry level in the position? Speaker 1: so thinking in terms of you know of like let's say for example a person within with an H V A C or something along that. Exactly. Well the the great thing about the trades i is whatever trade you choose, you know, you you the more that you i invest in yourself and you invest in your training, the greater the proficiency that you have and you know the greater the marketability that you have. and so you know don't stop learning, right? If you you know learn one particular sphere. You can just continue just add more and more of these pieces, which will make you even more marketable to employers in that marketplace. now for young people that are thinking about what they want to do, it's important, you know, there's this this notion just backing up of of thinking about, you know, what do you want to do with your life and the concept, psychological concept of self-authoring and really taking control of your story. and your and your narrative. And so you need to think about, you know, do I want to be an employee all my life? Do I want to, you know, move into management? Do I want to become a business owner? And so your your actions and your behaviors and your learning should match those desires that you have. And that way you can kind of keep yourself on that career trajectory path that you've you've set out for yourself. I always when I'm talking with students, I always bring up Pinocchio and it's like weird. I'm like, what's your favorite Disney movie? I'll tell you mine. It's Pinocchio. And it's weird. It's like the strangest Disney movie there is. It's like a fever dream, but like you know, there's so much wisdom that's built into this. You know, you start with Pinocchio, and what does Pinocchio want? He wants to be a real boy. but he has no idea, you know, what that means. And so, you know, then he, you know, he's he's visited by the the blue fairy, and the blue fairy says, Well You gotta set your sight on high. So you have to start by aiming up. And then you have, you know, when you aim up, the stars are arrayed before you and all of those opportunities are there. But you gotta begin to narrow your focus. You begin to narrow your focus. And then when you do narrow your fo focus, at that point, all of the opportunities and the obstacles that exist in your path will come into focus. And then you can start to make decisions and navigate your way in that direction. But wherever you get to, like the the old saying goes, you know, you aim for the stars, you might end up you know the moon over the moon. But so you you're you're definitely headed the right direction with your career path. Speaker 2: Awesome. I think my heart has been leaning towards those people I see at the department stores and the the car washes and the fast food chains and those who could matriculate through there, of course. But when they pose competitive pay and it's minimum wage and it's like, come on, what Can the people people the survival rate on these I mean they're a lot of times they're working exponential hours, having to do more than one job. And my thought is how they can go into a career path, not have a bunch of debt, but then could learn something that they could use for the rest of their lives that's always in demand. Speaker 1: Absolutely. And obviously you you already cited just from what you mentioned in terms of your own career path and your education path, you you have opened up multiple pathways of of of potential streams of income. this is, you know, foundational within, you know, the trades, right? You have this this fundamental sort of foundational value, but you can continue to grow in in different areas and expand that and it'll just make you more marketable as you go. Speaker 2: So with those different entry level positions that a lot of people are having to sometimes raise their whole family on, that's what makes this industry so attractive to me is the potential for growth. Can you tell me what is even with the earn and learn what the entry level kind of income could you could possibly expect to get? Speaker 1: Yeah. Well i it it's gonna range widely from you know when you're talking about forty four different potential career paths. So, you know, y you're examining the opportunity and that's why, you know, the Career Explorer module is so valuable because you can jump in there and you can see what sort of compensation you can expect if you go down down that pathway. But for example, you know, I I I will cite so plumbing electrical H V A C have been elevated as career paths that should have you know a really strong future for for the foreseeable future. So there's this gentleman who's a former CEO of Google, his name is Eric Schmidt. And he's been interviewed and talking about AI, and he mentioned that with all of the planned development for data centers across the United States, there is a there's is going to be a need For over 92 gigawatts, additional gigawatts of power required to power all of these data centers. That like if you think back when we were young, we sit and we saw, you know, Back to the Future, it was like 1.21 gigawatts was unimaginable. Right. You're talking about, like, if an average nuclear power plant produces about 1.5 gigawatts, you're talking about 60 more. nuclear power plants and infrastructure that will need to be built along with the data centers in order to achieve these objectives that we have to run this future that we've we've devised for ourselves. That is unbelievable. It's unfathomable. Like how the people that are in HVAC, that are in plu cooling, that are in plumbing, right? That that are in electrical, these areas are going to be in deep need for the next 50 years. And so that means job security, it means compensation growth. It, you know, it so these will be highly compensated roles. I've heard somebody, you know, say that that they'll they'll be like the the Michael Jordans of the of the time. You know, that may be an exaggeration, but I I will tell you this. I was in a I was meeting with a trainer at a technical s training school in Nashville. I was opening new markets last year, and he told me that he's had three physicians, three doctors that have shut down their practices and have come and have taken the H V A C course. Because of the opportunity for growth that exists within that space. Speaker 2: Wow. Speaker 1: So that tells you something about the opportunity that exists. This is and so this is about opportunity. A lot of people are going to tell folks that you, you know, you can definitely make a certain amount a certain amount of money or s you know, this or that. What is opportunity? We we talk about being honest with people. You know, w we have to be radically honest with people. We have to, you know, let them know. Now there can there can be candor and it can be, it can be graceful. but you have to let them know that what this is, it's not it's not a birthright, it's not a guarantee, it's an opportunity. What is that opportunity? It's a f it's a set of favorable circumstances that is out there, that exists, that you know it you can take advantage of. But what does that require? Yeah. It requires skills, it requires effort, it requires resources, it requires commitment. And and it requires sacrifice. It may it will very well require some degree of sacrifice. And that's a tough conversation for for for people. you know, you think about, you know, what is involved in that, you know, you you're talking about making a sacrifice of the of the the present some degree, whether that's your time or your or your resources for a better future self. And so I encourage people that to have those conversations and back to that self-authoring topic. Like you need to to I encourage people to have a journal and sort of, you know, write down and sort of think about, you know, what is it that they want? What is it that they're trying to achieve? Commit to those things personally, because it will help you to navigate that willingness to to do the sacrifice. Speaker 2: Awesome. One of the big pillars of the Commercial Builders Network is how do we really build trust in the community? Yeah. And so you guys have both ends. You have the people that are coming you to you for opportunity for workforce as the actual potential employee, but then you also have the other side as the employers and and them entrusting you to give them quality people for their business. How do you build trust on both ends? Speaker 1: Yeah. So for the for the students or for the young people, it's helping them understand what is required of them to succeed in that profession. and so part of it is, you know, so we'll do a series of soft skill trainings with, you know, with our education educators and we'll come in and we'll talk with the students about, you know, things like, you know, teamwork and, you know, their focus and commitment on learning. And you know then we'll help them with, you know, their presentation skills and and their interview skills and you know help them to you know be able to to navigate that selection process so that they once they can get themselves in the door. Now once they get there, you you have to you have to, you know, do the business, right? You ha you have to interact well with your colleagues, you have to perform on a daily basis, be consistent, right? You have to be competent, you know, competence Competence can overcome a lot of things. Yeah. You know, if you're really, really good at something, but you still have to have all of that to really succeed long term. And then it's not just about that employer that you, you know, you've just landed with. It's about thinking long term. It's about, you know, how do I leave well? You know, with this employer. A lot of a lot of young people haven't really been coached about what are the expectations around, you know, how do you depart an organization? professionally and in a way that will retain your relationship so you don't burn that bridge. Speaker 2: Yeah, 'cause you may need to come back to that one. Especially Yeah. Speaker 1: Absolutely. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: And these are all people that are part of your network. You know, you're constantly in in a in a in a growth phase in terms of growing that network of of professionals around you, you know, that you know, you can draw from. Speaker 2: Absolutely. And then building trust with the employers, the companies. Speaker 1: So building trust on the employer side, you know, that comes down to you know being a valued resource for them in the way that they need you. and so that can vary widely depending upon the employers that we're working with. Some of the employers that we're working with are they're they're well established, large companies. They may have a fully functioning HR department, they may have you know an applicant tracking system with a recruiter in place. So the way that we're, you know, we're helping them is taking a portion of their work off of their table and, you know, saying, Hey, we will screen, we will you know, present these candidates to you, so that you can focus on on you know your other recruitment efforts, your other things that are that are important to you. For a business owner, if they're having to take time out of the day to go and screen through, you know, fifty, a hundred candidates, they're not executing their business. And It it is it it's a huge tax on them, you know, when they have to go through that. If you're in a growth phase and you're doing it pretty consistently, how do you manage that? So, you know, we can be a a resource to them by, you know, really taking that whole piece and, you know, and taking that off their plate and helping them to focus on executing their business. Speaker 2: If you were to come across a young person or right now, which seems to be re critical now is a pivot, a person that's in the middle of a pivot career wise, and they don't know which direction to go in, why would you say they should come into construction? Speaker 1: First, I would I would I would ask them to pause and really think about that vision of what they want to achieve. You know, what is it that you want in your life with your personal relationships, with your family? you know, are you a person do you know yourself? Are you a person that likes to work under fluorescent lights? You know, are you a person that likes to knock out, you know, documents and and and analyze things? Are you a knowledge, you know, base worker? Or are you somebody that could thrive in an environment that's hands-on, that's more physical, that's very interactive, that's problem solving. and if if that if you think that's the case, then I the opportunities are unlimited within the the skilled trade space. And so I would invite you, if you've made that that reached that conclusion, to come and join us and we will help you figure out what opportunities are there that might fit with your aptitude, your interests, and and then align to your long-term goals. Speaker 2: Awesome. Do you have an ask? Like any organized community organizations, schools or anything, any workforce partners that you guys would like to partner with? Speaker 1: yeah, all of it. So, you know, in the fa in the case that you know we are a utility trying to connect everybody up, we want to engage if you're a a high school that w is is interested in expanding the opportunities to your student base. if you're one that has a construction program, absolutely. We would love to engage with you. We'd love to be able to come out and present the pathways and the opportunities in the skilled trades and residential construction. To your students and give them a resource to be able to learn more about those paths. If you are an educator in a skilled trade, one of the secret sauce pieces of our organization is that we we we'll put the educators on our platform. So if you're looking for access to more interested students and you want to, you know, to grow, we need to grow. And we can help you get more of those students into that funnel. then we want you on that jobs to build platform. Reach out to me and we will we can certainly do that, get you on there. And then not only will you have access to the system and to the the interests of those individuals, but it'll also grant you the opportunity to have a whole bunch of of reporting tools and and data related to your graduates, where they're applying and where they're getting hired and for nonprofit organizations. Obviously that can be a boon because then you can show the efficacy of your program and that will help you in terms of getting more grant f grant funding. Speaker 2: And tell me how much is this platform possible? Speaker 1: So the investment was millions, but it is free. This was an investment made by our institutional donors, by the leading builders of America. but jobs to build is 100% free at no cost to you. You can join the platform. And like I said, you know, for employers, post as many jobs as you like. Use it to build a reliable pipeline of talent for your organization. Use it to build your talent brand amongst young people that are entering the trades. and then you can search the database unlimited access to those candidates that are on there in terms of outreach. If you've got a a project that's just hit and and you need to move fast, we can assist you with that. So we're we would encourage every every one of you to come on, help us figure this out, help us create a sustainable workforce by twenty thirty. Speaker 2: Aside from the app, how can they contact you for more opportunities? Speaker 1: So certainly you can find the best way to contact the folks for jobs to build is through you know www.jobstabuild.com. However, I am a resource for folks and I certainly offer myself I can be a conduit to help you get to the right area of the organization. so you can reach out to me. my email address is jason.walker at building tf.org. And my number is seven six two three three four three four six three. Speaker 2: Awesome. Thank you so much, Jason, for your time. It's been awesome. Speaker 1: Misha, thank you so much for including me. I'm just very excited to to be able to be on your your program here and get the word out. And thank you so much for having us.