How to Break into High Demand Jobs in Manufacturing and Construction

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

women, career, organization, job seekers, job, chicago, program, regan, industry, jane, training program, welding, people, resources, carpenters, construction, opportunities, hiring, support, construction industry

SPEAKERS

Regan Brewer, Claudia Miller, Jayne Vellinga

Claudia Miller  00:06

Welcome to roadmap to the executive suite podcast, a place where we talk about accelerate your careers all tailored to the ambitious woman. forget to have fun, feel empowered and get actionable steps to get you closer to your dream job and salary, no matter where you are in your career. I'm your host, Claudia Miller, but the INEC career coach and corporate trainer who helps ambitious women get the jobs they want, almost getting them up to $100,000 in salary increases. I've been featured in Forbes, MSNBC, and Business Insider put me there Top Global list of top innovative career coaches, and the creative 90 day job offer program where I teach career driven women like you my proprietary strategy on how to land a job you love in less than 90 days, all while getting 30 to $100,000 in salary increases, no matter if you're just starting in your career, or you're ready to pivot into the executive suite. My clients have been able to move to the next step in their careers successfully pivot into new industries without having to take a pay cut and broken into management without any prior experience. I'm coming to you with a new episode every week on Thursdays with mindset job search, interview skills and negotiation advice with actionable strategies you can implement today to help you get ahead in your career. Now let's get started with this week's episode. I'm so excited for today's guests that we have on the show. We actually have Jane Binga from Chicago women in trades. And she's going to be talking a little bit more about some of the resources available to job seekers within the Chicagoland area, as well as some of the success stories that she'll be sharing with us that could give us a little bit of insight of what the program can do to some of the job seekers out there who may be interested in construction, and manufacturing. And we also have on the show, Regan Brewer Johnson, as she's the president of the Jane Addams Research Corporation, also known as JARC. And we are going to be discussing a little bit more of some of the programs that they have available within the organization available to both jobseekers and businesses. I can't wait for you to listen to this episode, and learn about all the great resources available to you, as well as the opportunities and what that can look like for your career. Let's get started. Hi, I'm so excited to have today on the show Jane and Regan. And you know, we are still celebrating Women's History Month. And I wanted to release this specific episode because I wanted to share with job seekers, business owners, and even those that are managers and directors and are currently hiring some of the opportunities and resources available to a lot of you. And I'm so happy to have here, Jane and Reagan to really talk a little bit more about what their organization does what services and actually discuss some of the success stories because that's what you know, we want to know how does this work for some of the listeners? How can this be applied to them? And how can they take advantage of all the great work that these organizations are doing? So today I have Jane and Regan. And as you heard they have these amazing files and all the great work that they're doing, but I'll kind of let them tell them a little bit more about themselves. So Jane, can you tell me a little bit more about you and the organization and what you do. Hi, everyone.

Jayne Vellinga  03:17

I'm James Linga. I'm the decorative director here in Chicago with an entry. Hi,

Regan Brewer  03:23

thanks so much for having me. Claudia. My name is Regan Brewer Johnson and I'm the president of the Jane Addams resource Corporation.

Claudia Miller  03:30

Right. So I'm excited to have you both here on the show. And thanks again for coming. So Jane, I'll start with you. So tell us a little bit more about you know, Chicago, women in trades and overall, like what is the organization about and like, what do you do overall,

Jayne Vellinga  03:47

it was founded by Chase women more than 40 years ago, with the goal of giving women more access to high wage, high skilled jobs in the construction industry and other occupations that are non traditional for women. So they were carpenters, electricians, Elevator Constructors, got together to figure out and address the issues that were preventing women from building careers in these industries. So we tackle the issue from really two perspectives. So one is to improve sort of playing fields for women to advocate for policies and practices support their careers, to provide technical assistance and training industry stakeholders to improve their capacity to support women in non traditional careers, but we also provide direct service training programs to help women become competitive applicants and successful apprentices in the industry. So we run a couple different versions of a pre apprenticeship program. We run a nighttime version, so two evenings a week and on Saturdays, and we are currently piloting a new daytime version, which includes Training at the apprenticeship schools themselves. So they do a week at the carpenters that we get the electricians, we get the painters, we get the iron workers and so forth. We also do a welding program which we which results in American Welding, society certification. And we do a lot of activities around retention. So we recently completed a stepping up to Foreman work class and also a introduction to construction management costs. And we support women's committees in the different trades, and we do what we can to support women to advance their careers. So women still make up just three to 4% of the construction workforce. And our goal is to, you know, create more access opportunities for women, but also to see them in dance, and change the culture which prevents women from entering in larger numbers.

Claudia Miller  05:56

Yeah, especially those numbers are a little bit outstanding, only 3%, especially knowing how, right now the industry, especially with real estate, and construction, so hot, and I'm assuming there's a lot of very needed roles that need to be filled at minus will be filled by women. And, you know, we see that industry trends going up right now, still and I based on how everything is going, it looks like there's going to be continued increase in construction needs, especially for a lot of these job placement roles. So,

Jayne Vellinga  06:26

projection. Yeah, I just want to say that this is a bit of a moment for this issue. So we are making lots of progress in a really accelerated way. So for example, we are currently starting last Monday, running the first ever carpentry pre apprenticeship program with Miss America, Council of Carpenters. So we have 18 women enrolled. And if there's successfully complete the nine week course, they will all be apprentice carpenters coming 18. So that's a huge step forward. And we're hoping any contractors out there are interested in hiring them, because they will be looking for work.

Claudia Miller  07:06

That's amazing, Jim, and well, congrats, your organization to providing such service. And then, of course, to the women, we know they're going to graduate and they're going to do great. So then tell me a little bit more of like, who typically, you know, goes to your organization or join some of these programs, like how could some of the listeners know that? Hey, maybe I qualify, or this sounds like me, can you tell us a little bit more of who the typical person is that you work with as far as like as a job seeker?

Jayne Vellinga  07:34

Yeah. So who are interested in working with their hands, maybe you did some work around your own house, you've done some projects, you get satisfaction out of making something building something. We're not asking for people to have experience, just interest. And we also do require that people have some of the qualifications that are needed to take that next step toward apprenticeship. So we are looking for a high school diploma or a GED, a driver's license, or at least a permit and access to a vehicle and proof of eligibility to work in the United States. We also do an aptitude test. But we are not looking for anything enormous here. We're just looking for some basic skills, so that we can within the 12 week period or 10 week period, make sure that you're ready to do well on an apprenticeship exam.

Claudia Miller  08:30

And is this around specific locations or within specifically just the Chicagoland area?

Jayne Vellinga  08:36

Oh, I mean, if you want to travel, but we're here in the Chicagoland area. So that's kind of limiting. But, you know, you can do that on our website, too. And we do information sessions every week. And you can sign up for one online, that's Chicago women trade.org. And, you know, learn all about whether what the industry is all about what the wages are, what the challenges are. And if you think you're a good fit, you can take the next step.

Claudia Miller  09:05

Great. And I'm curious to know, like for some of this, is this something that, like job seekers will have to pay out of pocket? Are there programs that to help them with like assistance with payment in regards to if they want to join some of these programs you just mentioned?

Jayne Vellinga  09:19

Oh, no, this is a totally free program. And we also do provide support services. So for the daytime program, there's even a stipend. But for all of our programs, we do. Not only is the class free, but we will help with application fees and other costs associated with transitioning to finish it.

Claudia Miller  09:39

I love it. Thanks so much, Jane. This is so helpful. Like we said, there's a lot of need that there is currently in the market and there's going to be a lot of opportunity. So if you're able to and you're interested, definitely check out you know, Jane and her organization with Chicago women in trades because there's a lot of opportunity out there a lot of resources especially that will help you pivot into an industry that definitely needs more women in the workplace. And it's a growing industry at the moment. So we want to take advantage of it.

Jayne Vellinga  10:09

Yeah, I lay the workforce projections. But I just want people to understand that the starting wages for apprentices are between 18 and $20 an hour, Tom, you've been hired. And after two to five years of paid classroom, and on the job training, you'll be making close to or some cases more than $50 an hour with full benefits, including a pension. So these jobs are worth the investment of training time.

Claudia Miller  10:37

And then like a good rule of thumb is kind of like we mentioned, like 20 an hour, that translates to almost 40,000 a year, and then 50 an hour, you want to just double it at three, zero, so that can be up to $100,000, as well. So, like I said, we want to have more women industry, especially when we're only tap into three to 4%. So there's a lot of opportunities out there for women. And the opportunities are endless. And we want to continue women's scene up not just breaking into the industry, but continue moving up in the career ladder, and you know, being in the executive or decision making roles, or in the rooms out there. Because I guess we want more of that input. And we're seeing more women in the workplace, especially in the construction industry.

Jayne Vellinga  11:18

Yeah, so there's some alarming statistics, you know, so I think most people know that women still make about 77 cents for every dollar earned by man. And there's a lot of reasons for that. But one of those reasons is occupational segregation. So women make up 49 50% of the workforce, but just 3% of the construction industry, where they make up like 90% of low wage healthcare workers, for example. And if you think about like a nurse's aide is starting at 12 $13 An hour or something like that, and an apprentice carpenter with basically the same level of education going in, is making 18 to $20 an hour, you fast forward four years, and that carpenter is making $50 now and that nurse's aide is maybe making $16 now, so it's not just the entry level wages is the opportunities for growth in dynamic stability that these careers provide.

Claudia Miller  12:18

And especially right now, I did see that some clients that I've had, especially in health care, they've been really burnt out, especially with everything happening here and limited resources. So this is definitely another avenue that they can go towards that it's very lucrative not only in opportunities, but also in income, where, you know, a lot of job seekers out there could take advantage of, well, now I want to go and talk a little bit more with Reagan, because I know that you're also providing great resources, especially to women in the workforce are women job seekers that you know, want to continue some of their education or want to pivot, or are currently finding themselves unemployed and wanting to change to something new. So tell us a little bit more about Jane Addams resource Corp. You know what the organization does have Ron, who does it serve?

Regan Brewer  13:04

Sure. So we go back about 40 years as well to the mid 80s, when the north side of Chicago was just bleeding manufacturing jobs. And so our founding executive director started the organization to really stem the flow of those jobs as well as gentrification that was coming into the area. So the companies at that time were heavily metalworking companies. So we went in, we asked those companies what it would take for them to stay in Chicago stay within the city limits. And primarily it was workforce issues. They needed workers that could read and write English better, that could operate machinery safely, that could understand and interpret a blueprint, that kind of thing. And so we started going into those companies and training their workers. Today, we've sort of expanded on that concept to now having sort of two families of training programs, one that serves the job seeker, and one that serves the existing worker or the manufacturing partner. So we work on kind of two ends of the spectrum. Our programs focused primarily on metalworking skills within the manufacturing sector. These are what are considered to be middle skilled positions, occupations and career pathways that require less than a four year degree but some training and so our training programs focus on machine operation metal forming stamping and welding as well but more welding for the manufacturing sector versus what Jane does, which is more welding for construction. So we also offer a variety of support services. So when you come through our program, you know you will get trained for a job and to industry certifications that are relevant to employers, but you'll also get access to a package of supportive services that are going to help you along the way, the majority of the people that we work with have experienced some hardships in their lives. You know, many have been incarcerated or have been involved in the justice system in some way. We have a number of folks that have housing instability issues, there are, you know, just a variety of things. And so, we focus heavily on providing those support services so that when someone is going through the program, we can help them you know, remove some of those potential barriers to employment. So, looking at, do they qualify for public benefits, things like that we work on digital literacy skills, we work on basic educational skills, and then financial education and coaching. So we really want people to be able to become self sufficient, but also build wealth later down the road. And we currently operate in three different sites in Chicago. So we still are on at our main location on the north side where we were started. But we also have locations on the west side and the south side. The majority of our folks come to us from the west side on the south side. So we wanted to make sure that we were in the communities that we're serving.

Claudia Miller  16:24

For March roll business Chicago spotlight, a business leaders and entrepreneurs in life sciences and healthcare for Women's History Month. Check out the blog spotlights on the WPC LinkedIn page to learn more about inspiring women leading one of Chicago's strongest growth sectors. I love it. And Reagan, what are some of the typical job seekers that come into the training program? Like, I know you touched a little bit on it, but no, how can some of the listeners know like, Well, this sounds like me, or maybe this sounds like a research for a loved one a friend, maybe I can, they can share this podcast with just so that we have a little bit of overview of like, Who is this best for and we'll be successful with a lot of the resources that your organization provides?

Regan Brewer  17:06

Well, like Jane, we look for people that are excited about working in the sector that we work in. So they have to be very interested in welding or machine operating as a career, not just a job, this is something that, you know, we want to make sure that you're on a career path for. And this is a, you know, long term career goals. So, you know, I had, someone once told me that he got really excited about melting hot metal, and I'm like, you're gonna be a great welder then because if that's cool to you, then great, we want you in our program. So we have very few barriers to entry into our programs, we operate them on an open entry, open exit model. So we're always accepting people, we can, you know, if you apply today, we can get started on Monday, we don't require a high school diploma or GED, you basically have to be over the age of 18, and authorized to work in the US and no sex offense, all other, you know, records are fair game. But we really look for people that are motivated to work in the manufacturing sector, and really get excited around machining and welding and the types of occupations and career pathways that we work in.

Claudia Miller  18:22

I love it. And one of the things that you both have in common with organizations have in common is there's very limited barriers to entry. And one of the things that I'm very passionate about is lack of education, or whatever resources or where you came from, should never stop you from continuing to succeed. And these organizations have really, like I said, very limited barrier to entry where anyone can have access to them and take advantage of it. Because both manufacturing and construction industries are currently booming. There's a lot of need for a lot of these services and skill sets. So if you find yourself that you're interested or find that always interests you're, like, Jason mentioned, likes working with your hands, then these are really great programs that are available to job seekers out there, where you could take advantage of it and even how Regan mentioned there's additional support asides just from the training part of this other things that happen because of it, because we you know, some may be able to to attend training program, but they might not have some other access where maybe childcare, transportation, not exactly all the other services raking but it seems like you're very a wholesome approach or holistic approach to just the overall training part of my How to payment and really break into this career path.

Regan Brewer  19:37

Yeah, we also we can't do this alone. So we partner with a lot of organizations that, you know, provide additional support services, for example, legal aid services, or housing services that you know, things that we don't provide in house. And you know, like I said, we can't do it all. So we have a lot of partnerships that we can leverage. to bring in additional resources for the participants in our program, whatever, you know, whatever that might be,

Claudia Miller  20:06

well, I love it. And I mean, also to from some of the discussions we've had prior to is not just access to job seekers, but also businesses or maybe potential businesses out there, there may be manufacturing construction. And if you're currently in the hiring management position, these are some of the organizations that you can also tap into for some skill set jobs that you know, they're currently working with and training them. And that way, it could be another outlet for you to attract and retain in filling those positions. Because like I said, I know I've heard from like hiring managers, and you know, some of HR in the profession saying, like, it's really hard to find this specific skill set, and we're just going such a fast rate, we just can't even keep up with the demand skills is not there. So it's really hard for them to find a lot of job seekers to fulfill this positions. And it sounds like your organization would be a great organization to kind of tap into to fill that talent pipeline for some of these roles out there.

Regan Brewer  21:00

Certainly for manufacturing, that's something that we can help out with, you know, as Jane put out the call to contractors and construction work, I think that's, you know, that's definitely their niche. I'm also here to represent an organization called the community based organization collective, or the CBO collective, which is a group of 16 different organizations that have come together to really work on a more sort of unified workforce development system. And so the CBO collective if you go to CBO, collective.org, lists out all of the member organizations. So if an employer wants sort of a one stop shop, or one stop access point, to a lot of different organizations that are doing really great work in Chicago, that is a place that they can go to to access a wide variety of job seekers in all different kinds of sectors.

Claudia Miller  21:56

Right, thank you. And one of the things that I wanted to kind of hear more about because, you know, I'm a person that I love to hear stories, and especially when programs like this, it's not just a program or a resource center or an organization, it's much more than that, because at the end of the day at the endpoint, is that person that job seeker or that business? Would you mind telling me a success story of someone that went through some of the programs out there? And what did their life look like before? And how does it look like afterwards, after, you know, taking a few of some of the resources that you just mentioned today? And then Jade, we can start with you?

Jayne Vellinga  22:32

Oh, you know, I just think that anyone who enters the construction industry and makes a career out of it, he's a success story. Because it's not an easy thing to do. And I don't want to sugarcoat that I mean, you're part of a workforce that is still three to 4% female. And so it can be very challenging. And most of our students are women of color from low income communities originally, who, you know, are experiencing a big change in their economic stability through these careers. So some of my favorite when my favorite success stories is a woman who she came to us because she was at the Department of Human Services applying for food stamps. She was a janitor making about $10 An hour and was a single parent with two small children. And she saw our flyer and left the office before she had a chance to apply to come to an orientation we were having that day, ended up joining the program. She was English as a second language speaker in the grand scheme who came in her team. And she worked so hard. And at one of our field trips, we went to the painters and drywall finisher. And she made such an amazing impression on the coordinator that when she graduated, he called her up and placed her with a company that she used to work for and now she makes over $50 an hour, bought a house is a citizen and really changed her life and career. Another one of our now leaders in the community started out returning citizen who she later confessed with sleeping in her car in the parking lot while she was in class. And she became an ironworker. Basically she she kind of audited the classes she was so convinced that that's what she wanted to do. She really didn't let them say no to tell her no. And at this point, she works. Foreman, she is a landlord owns a couple of buildings and is on our board. So and even just this quarter, one of our students also returning after three tries she ranked number one for the pipe fitters building trades programs. So I think she started work. So anyway, allows Success to be had in this industry if you have the sort of grit to get through all these challenges.

Claudia Miller  25:06

Oh my god, I love those stories, Jamie. Definitely, like a huge transition and change and impact that you've made in their lives. And, you know, for some of the listeners out there, like I said, if this is something you're interested in, you definitely check out some of the resources and programs we're discussing today. And Regan, could you share with us some of the success stories that some of the recipients and you know, students have gone to the training program went to like before and afterwards?

Regan Brewer  25:32

Sure, I love that. Jane said that all women that get into the trades are success, I think I would definitely agree with that for manufacturing, as well, about 30% of our trainees are women. So it's not the majority. But we're pretty proud of the fact that we're in this non traditional field, and we're at about 30%. So one story that comes to mind, that's been kind of just someone that's been, you know, always on my mind for years, she was incarcerated living in a transitional housing type of situation after being rolled and had lost custody of her three kids, and really kind of had nothing going on for her at the time. And so she came through our program just really bright, just excelled. We placed her in a job actually just like down the street from our training program. So she's really close to home. So we keep an eye on her. And she's just excelled up the career ladder, she's a maintenance, Industrial Maintenance Mechanic, which employers in manufacturing are dying for these people, and they make mad money because they're in such high demand. And they're it's a very, you know, technical skills. So we've, you know, we've just kind of followed her career over the years. And, you know, our organization is one in that, you know, once you're a jar grad, you're always a jar grad, she was able to get her custody of her kids back, she was able to purchase a home. I mean, she really, you know, made a wonderful life for herself out in the suburbs. So she's living like that American dream, that middle class lifestyle, and I'm just in awe of like, all that she's overcome and all that she's done with her career. So

Jayne Vellinga  27:21

thank you, Reagan, we also share a success story. Their welding graduates decided she was interested in construction. So after completing their welding program, she came to us to study stick welding. And she joined the iron workers. She's journey worker now. And she has just been hired to be a welding instructor at the iron worker school. So

Claudia Miller  27:47

the student has become the teacher, right? I love it. And I mean, one of the philosophies that I have is anything in life can be learned. And, you know, after a point, it's a decision of where you want to go and what kind of life you want to be at. So if you're that person where can't stand the thought of being in an office setting, because not everyone is happy to be in an office setting. There are other job opportunities out there, like they mentioned in high demand, growing a lot of opportunities out there. And there's a lot of resources to break into this industry. It's not like you're doing it alone, having to figure it all on your own and be in this endless Google search that it can take you. But definitely check out the Chicago women in trades organization as well as Jane Addams Research Corporation for a lot of these resources available and training programs they have available, and resources for jobseekers but also for businesses as well. They're looking to hire for these specific skill sets. So then Jane, if job seekers or businesses wanted to get in contact, where can they find you?

Jayne Vellinga  28:49

So they can visit our website Chicagoland entries.org But for contractors, I just want to be clear that in addition to entry level people, we have an enormous list of journey with we are a community organization for trade women. So we have women with 30 years of experience lots of card carrying trades, women and as well as brand new entrants, so you can contact ever Schmidt and he Schmid et Cie with that org

Claudia Miller  29:20

definitely and I'll include some of those links in the show notes so that way, any of the listeners that want to get more information they can click on the link or have the mattress like you just provided

Jayne Vellinga  29:29

and job seekers. There is a form on our website to fill out that says attended information session so just fill that out and someone will contact you with all the details and set you up.

Claudia Miller  29:43

Perfect what thanks Jane and Reagan if they wanted to know more information, where can they find you?

Regan Brewer  29:48

Sure, you can go to our website as well which is Jane dash Adams a DI d a m s dot orgy. We have applications sessions over Every Wednesday, so you can go on our website get more information about the application sessions or employers, there's a for employers button on our website that will take you to information on how to hire as well as if you're looking to train your existing workers, more information on what we can provide there.

Claudia Miller  30:21

Thank you both. And again, one of the things is we definitely need more women in manufacturing and construction industries and more women, you know, getting on track to the six figure track so definitely check out both of these great organizations with all the resources available to them. But thanks again for listening and Jane and Regan, thanks again for coming and sharing all the great wealth of information and resources you both are providing. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Did you know I have started 100% free Facebook group dedicated to making job searching easy for career driven women and help them master they're interviewing networking inside negotiation skills. And we're doing free weekly trainings, covering everything from how to sell yourself to increasing your salary by 30% minimum. Plus, you'll be in there with a network of other ambitious women. So make sure to join us by texting us the word join 28449951523 And we'll see you there