Penn Commercial and Community Partners Held Educational Forum to Raise Awareness on Local Career and Educational Opportunities
Employers in western Pennsylvania and across the United States have jobs to fill, but are struggling to find qualified and willing workers.
To help spur interest in finding employees, the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, Penn Commercial, Junior Achievement of Southwestern Pennsylvania and local employers hosted a forum with regional school district superintendents and other educational leaders to discuss the skills gap and career opportunities that exist for high school students as they focus on their futures.
The Oct. 18 event was held at Junior Achievement’s BizTown-a simulated town that allows elementary school students to operate banks, manage restaurants, write checks, and learn business skills through an innovative educational experience.
“There is a tremendous need for skilled trade professionals and the earlier we can introduce these careers to students the better it will be. We need to get in front of the students and parents’ while they are in the decision-making process,” said Robert Bazant, President of Penn Commercial.
Washington County Chamber of Commerce President, Jeff Kotula concurred.
“The Great Resignation and Baby Boomers retiring has every industry scrambling to fill open positions,” he said. “The goal of the Skills Gap Forum is to help communicate to the Superintendent and education leaders the full picture of the career opportunities that exist for students.”
The forum featured business leaders such as Washington Health System, Range Resources, Lennox National, Lighthouse Electric, ATI, Smith Transport and Washington Auto Group (Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Jeep).
“The forum went well,” said Rick Szymanski, Director of Marketing, Penn Commercial Business/Technical School. “The forum focused on the skills gap in western Pennsylvania and pretty much the United States as a whole. What we are trying to do is reach out to the superintendents to find out what they are hearing from parents about their kids’ futures. We want to stress the importance of careers in the skilled trades and the opportunities throughout the region.”
The Forum discussed positions, careers, salary ranges, long-term career opportunities that exist today for students.
“We hope to keep this conversation going because the younger people need to replace the retired workers,” Szymanski said. “We really wanted to work with the people in charge of the school districts. To find a way to reach those students and let them know that trade schools are a great option for them because there are good jobs in these sectors that are not being filled. There just aren’t enough trained and skilled workers to meet employers’ demands.”
Szymanski said trades careers are not always on the forefront of high school students.
“These are great careers that young people don’t generally think about – welders, HVAC technicians, electricians,” he said. “A lot of these careers the superintendents just don’t know anything about. They don’t know that these are great-paying options for their students that don’t require four year degrees or the debt that comes with that. So we learned a lot from them and they learned a lot from us.”
Nicole Lane, campus director at Penn Commercial, which offers 13 programs in trades and technical careers, said the school is regularly contacted by employers seeking candidates in fields ranging from HVAC, Electrician, Welder, Nursing, and CAD/IT.
“We have companies contacting us all the time to recruit, but we don’t have enough students to place because they’re all placed. We have a 100 percent placement rate for HVAC programs for the next two years. HVAC companies are calling us for graduates; we don’t have anybody to send them,” Lane said. “For electricians right now, it’s booming.”
Szymanski said attending a four-year college may not be financially feasible for some families, whereas trade schools like Penn Commercial are able to offer programs that last 18 months or less. “College is not necessarily the best option for everybody,” he said. “If you compare the price of a typical four-year university where tuition and fees can run $30,000 a year or more, while trade schools often don’t cost that much for an entire associate degree level program, it really is an economical choice for those parents.”
Szymanski said the COVID-19 pandemic also hurt the workforce with more people deciding to take retirement. Additionally, extended federal unemployment benefits for workers played a role in keeping workers from returning to the workforce. “What exacerbated this gap was the older workers retiring, but not enough younger people with those skills to replace them,” he said.
Szymanski said companies have had to get more aggressive in attracting a new generation of workers.
“Companies are increasing salaries and wages to entice people to get into those fields,” he said. For more information about Penn Commercial programs visit www.penncommercial.edu
Sponsored content brought to you by Penn Commercial Business/Technical School.
By Van Mitchell