NHmaster3015
Master Plumber
As many of you may know, I am currently a plumbing and HVACR instructor at a local highschool in New Hampshire. Its not a job I jumped at. I have been a business owner and contractor for many years but there comes a time when I think its important to give back to the community and the trade that has served me so well so I semi-retired from my company 10 years ago and started a new career as a teacher. I also teach year two of the plumbing apprentice program as well as license recertification seminars. According to the department of labor, there are currently 186,000 jobs available in the HVACR trade with tripple that number expected over the next twenty years. In other words there is a critical shortage of skilled workers in that trade but, that shortage carries over into most of the skilled trades and manufacturing. WalMart recently devoted 250 billion, thats billion folks with a B, or 25 billion over the next 10 years to doing WHATEVER it can to shore up and revitalize manufacturing in this country. Now, I don't want to get political here and I am well aware of many folks opinion of WalMart. I'm also aware that WalMart must see value for their 250 billion or they wouldn't be making the investment but I am of the opinion that politics aside ANYTHING being done is better than nothing.
That investment means that at my level I, we, are going to have to be ready to meet the demand so we'd better be greasing up the works now. Understand that there are not many young folks entering the skilled trades and for any number of reasons. High School guidance departments are still stuck in the four year college mind set. Some parents want their kids going to four year colleges rather than into the skilled trades and most of the time their reasoning is flawed because they just do not understand the necessary level of skill and education that the trades require these days. We are not in the business of training ditch diggers (no offense to the ditch diggers union) Workers these days need strong math and communication skills and the ability to think critically and solve problems. I am asking the professionals here and the industry leaders here to do only one thing. Go to these two web sites and spend some time reading and digesting what you read and then ask yourself what you can do for your local high school or community college to help get the ball rolling.
www.mikeroweworks.com
www.profoundlydisconnected.com
www.skills-usa.com
Thank You
That investment means that at my level I, we, are going to have to be ready to meet the demand so we'd better be greasing up the works now. Understand that there are not many young folks entering the skilled trades and for any number of reasons. High School guidance departments are still stuck in the four year college mind set. Some parents want their kids going to four year colleges rather than into the skilled trades and most of the time their reasoning is flawed because they just do not understand the necessary level of skill and education that the trades require these days. We are not in the business of training ditch diggers (no offense to the ditch diggers union) Workers these days need strong math and communication skills and the ability to think critically and solve problems. I am asking the professionals here and the industry leaders here to do only one thing. Go to these two web sites and spend some time reading and digesting what you read and then ask yourself what you can do for your local high school or community college to help get the ball rolling.
www.mikeroweworks.com
www.profoundlydisconnected.com
www.skills-usa.com
Thank You