Coalition to Train Veterans for Manufacturing Jobs

No matter their size, manufacturing firms in the United States are prepared to hire. The only problem is that they are having trouble finding qualified, trained candidates for their jobs. Many of these firms are looking to hire veterans who are returning to civilian life to fill the positions or even veterans who already made the transition but still search for work.

Because of this, the Manufacturing Institute has created a coalition that will train veterans for jobs in the manufacturing industry in hopes of bolstering it. The Manufacturing Institute includes companies such as Alcoa, GE, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, according to The Daily Beast.

There are roughly 12 million people employed in the manufacturing industry, which offers benefits and pay that typically goes over the national average. There are so many jobs available in manufacturing, especially in high-tech jobs, where there are 600,000 open positions.

The industry desperately needs skilled workers because it is estimated that over the next decade, 2.5 million workers will retire. Couple that number with the fact that there are 1 million veterans unemployed and the manufacturing industry can certainly find workers. Veterans fit into the manufacturing industry so well because of the qualities of leadership, loyalty and technical proficiency that they provide.

The coalition, known as the “Get Skills to Work” coalition, will start with aiding 15,000 veterans when it comes to turning their military training into advanced manufacturing jobs. The coalition will also offer technical skills training that the positions require.

There are three main items that the coalition will do and they are training, translating skills and matching and building awareness.

The coalition’s first goal of training veterans will be met by sending veterans to technical schools so they can take classes on a ‘fast track.’ The classes would come in the areas of core manufacturing technical skills. The schools affiliated with the coalition will partner with manufacturers to make sure that the students are being certified in the skills areas that local firms need.

The coalition’s second goal of translating skills and matching will occur when the coalition creates a digital ‘badging system.’ This system will match veterans to jobs based on the skills that they have and will help the manufacturing companies translate the candidate’s military title.

The coalition’s third goal to build awareness will include a brand new toolkit for manufacturing companies. The toolkit will allow companies to recruit, hire, support and mentor its veteran hires working in the civilian workforce.