🔒Colleges seek out new talent pools to fill manufacturing jobs

Q&A talks to Mark Ojakian, president of the  Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system, about efforts to fill the state’s manufacturing workforce pipeline in 2020 and beyond.

In early 2019, the CSCU system unveiled the Technology, Education, and Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Works advanced manufacturing strategic plan that had the goal of training 35,000 skilled workers needed for the state’s 4,100 manufacturers. What is the plan and how is it going so far?

TEAM Works is a collaborative approach bringing stakeholders from business, education and government together and to make sure we are all pulling in the same direction to meet the state’s workforce needs.

We have found particular success in collaboration between our community colleges that offer advanced manufacturing and area employers, ensuring that our curriculum lines up with workforce needs. At the same time, we continue to have additional capacity to serve more students.

When it comes to workforce development for Connecticut’s manufacturing sector, what will be the main storyline in 2020?

From the CSCU perspective, our main storyline will be our continued push to show potential students that advanced manufacturing is an exciting career opportunity with real growth potential here in Connecticut. In particular, we are seeking to make that case to women, who — despite significant gains in recent years — remain underrepresented in the industry, and veterans.

Advanced manufacturing can also provide career opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals. As such, we are proud to partner with the Connecticut NAACP on the Million Jobs Campaign to help those reentering our communities find jobs.

In 2020, what positions will CSCU manufacturing-trained graduates be qualified to fill?

Our advanced-manufacturing graduates are trained in high-demand fields such as welding, mechatronics, lean manufacturing, machining, precision sheet metal fabrication, electro-mechanical and everything in between.

In some cases, students can enroll in a pipeline program to get training in these disciplines in as little as five to 10 weeks to fill a job at one of the state’s manufacturers, or they can enroll in a 10-month certificate or two-year associate degree program.

How can manufacturers and educational institutions best promote careers in manufacturing to students?

In all honesty, the best way for potential students to get excited about a career in manufacturing is to visit one of our advanced manufacturing technology centers and see for themselves the state-of-the-art facilities and interact with the passionate and dedicated instructors.

It is a high-tech, exciting field that has evolved dramatically in recent years, and the job-placement rate is more than 90 percent for graduates of our advanced-manufacturing programs.

A visit to our campuses shows just how cool a manufacturing career can be.

In order to ensure Connecticut is training enough people to fill open manufacturing positions, what three things must be accomplished in 2020?

Gov. Ned Lamont’s workforce council is an important step in the right direction, and I am excited to be a part of that historic effort.

For the colleges, we must continue and expand our relationships with the state’s employers, work to bring more students into our advanced-manufacturing programs, and continue efforts to attract more women into advanced-manufacturing careers.