By Tina Zwolinski, Co-Founder and CEO, skillsgapp //

Long before the pandemic, there was a need to ‘reset’ the systems we have in place for preparing our future workforce with the critical skills needed to meet industry demand, specifically within advanced manufacturing. COVID recovery certainly sped up this conversation, and funding, but an actionable focus is still needed if we’re going to fill the ever-growing skills gap America currently faces.

Thinking earlier in the workforce pipeline should be priority one for all of us, including the policymakers who represent us. Focusing on in- and out-of-school development opportunities is imperative, but this can’t be left on the shoulders of educators alone. Silos need to be leveled in order to allow collaboratives to thrive in rethinking current workforce development initiatives. And those initiatives need to be a lot more innovative than the traditional websites, videos and career fairs.

A Call for Collaboration  

The innovation and collaboration I’m calling for, one that can have the greatest impact, will ultimately be forged between education, industry, and government. 

The U.S. Department of Education’s Secretary Cardona recently shared a vision on improving our education system by promoting newly accessible pathways through higher education, inevitably leading, it was argued, to successful careers. This involves reimagining the connection between K-12, higher education, and the workforce by in part collaborating to a greater degree with the Department of Labor and Department of Commerce, to invest in career preparation programs that meet the needs of today’s economy. 

This is exactly the kind of collaboration, from the federal to state level, that needs to be replicated – one working in harmony for a successful reset. While much of the funding from the America Rescue Plan appears to be focused on post-secondary education, which is needed, there is also a great need for workforce development-oriented programming in elementary, middle, and high schools; this is mission-critical if we are going to get a chance to impact post-secondary success.

Leveraging Technology 

In late 2020, a survey of Gen Z (ages 19-24) was conducted by Ernst & Young, in collaboration with JA Worldwide, where students were asked “how the education system could be improved” – 59% of Gen Z respondents suggested that there should be more focus placed on real-life work; 57% said there should be more focus on professional mentorship. This actionable intelligence reveals a generational demographic that values true-to-life work experiences as a means for them to embrace the changing working world. With technology, they are already able to navigate a lot on their own. And with the right, innovative tools, they could even advocate for their own futures if they are connected to pathways into these careers. 

The up-and-coming workforce craves career awareness and ultimately, guided access to pathways and industry. Technology is the answer. Funding is needed to support broader CTE programming, in-class career learning driven by industry, and funding supported by the government. There also needs to be an open-minded approach to trying new approaches with novel technology, both in and out of the classroom, as this is a digital generation that learns best via immersive experiences and by doing things with their hands.

Earlier this year, during a Congress-led Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development Subcommittee hearing, Eric Fanning, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), stated that there are several ways in which Congress could address America’s workforce challenges – One way is investing more in STEM education. Fanning then asked Congress to “think differently” about “…establishing a program where activities conducted by contractors to support STEM education be considered as allowable community service activities, for the purposes of determining the allowability of cost on a government contract.” 

Fanning agrees that reaching students and families earlier on regarding career exploration and pathway access, even in elementary school, could make a tremendous impact. 

Let’s face it – our youth are on their phones for up to 7 hours a day – providing engaging and yes, educational tools that they can use in and out of school on those phones would be a big step in the right direction in setting up, from the classroom to the household, modules spotlighting career pathways.

Dedicated  focus on the under-served 

After-school programming provides a key actionable area of focus with an opportunity to engage the under-served, particularly in career awareness and pathway access.  There is currently a bill in Congress, the Youth Workforce Readiness Act of 2021, that, if passed, could provide much-needed momentum for the reset I’m calling for, from Washington and across the country.  Approval of this bill will impact the most needed, the underserved, which would then have a dynamic and correlative impact on filling our skills gap.

2022-era Public-private-partnerships (PPP) between the federal government, industry and State by State academia will move the needle for our next generation. The most cost-effective and efficient means to broker positive disruption in our workforce’s development is no question, through technological innovation.

As students move up the pipeline, closer to entering a workforce already afflicted by ‘Great Resignation’, one that now direly needs them, access to apprenticeships and career pathways rectifies our broken workforce supply chain, forming a singular bridge to connect students into our economy and in doing so, boosting our economy, with vigor.

Let’s think differently about the age that we start career awareness, alongside the tools and technology we embrace – in and out of school – and allow for the funding of innovative initiatives that can close the skills gap and connect youth, especially the underserved, to their own life-changing careers. 

But more importantly, let’s together ‘hit reset’, by moving on some of these conversations that are before Congress right now, so that workforce and skills gaps can shift from a state of challenge to solution.

Any additional solutions or ideas for an effective “reset” of America’s workforce plan?

If states, regions, and industry all want the same thing—a qualified workforce pipeline—then how can they get it? In other words, what’s it gonna take?

One way is by transforming skills development, career awareness, and job opportunities into mobile gaming technology. That’s just what Tina Zwolinski, CEO and founder of skillsgapp is doing.

“We are revolutionizing how the next generation engages in, and views, skills-based careers at an earlier age,” she says. To accomplish all this, she works with state and regional economic development agencies, K-12 and post-secondary education, and industry (Automotive Manufacturing, Aerospace Manufacturing , Cybersecurity & IT, Life Sciences & Healthcare).

“With 10,000 Baby Boomers reaching retirement age every day, attracting both middle and high schoolers today is paramount in securing our workforce and economy of tomorrow,” says Zwolinski.

“By meeting Gen Z wherever they are – on their phones – through fun, mobile skills training customized to go and grow with them, we are building a more qualified workforce for years to come.”

Here, Zwolinski sat down for a long-form discussion with EdTech Digest to talk about the bigger picture and how, despite the gap, everything fits together.  Read More.

By Duggan Flanakin  // For at least 2,500 years, recreational gaming has been blamed by some for the moral and intellectual decline of societies. The Buddha himself is reported to have said that “some recluses…while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations; that is to say…games on boards with eight or with 10 rows of squares.”

However recently, many have come to see great opportunities for turning video gaming into a positive activity, even one that brings real-world benefits. Adam Uzialko writes that while video games are often seen as a parent’s worst nightmare, an avid gamer can turn the “nightmare” into a lucrative career. Uzialko’s focus was limited largely to jobs in the gaming industry, though he did suggest that top gamers often do well in information technology.

Today, half of the four million who quit jobs during the “great resignation” are millennials and Generation Z.

Many of them are looking for jobs with better benefits, higher pay, flexibility, and fulfillment, but all too often in the wrong places. Only three in 10 parents, for example, consider manufacturing as a good career path for their children. Lack of knowledge and misconceptions about the trades can lead parents to steer their kids away from these programs, when vocational training might be a surer path to a stable job. Read More.

For those raising the next generation of workforce talent at home, it may be a no-brainer that 12-year-olds are more likely to learn about future career opportunities from TikTok, YouTube or Duolingo than LinkedIn.

Yet much of the online conversation surrounding new career developments remains resigned to the adult corporate sphere.

Skillsgapp, a Greenville-based app platform, seeks to broaden that conversation to include the audience making those first steps toward a career.

The startup offers apps for a variety of fields including skilled trades, aerospace and advanced manufacturing, as well as the fast-growing life science industry. SkillsGapp’s newest app, RadLab, gamifies life science careers for middle schoolers. Read More

Soft skills and middle-skills gaming app company skillsgapp has hired Jennie Montgomery as its People Engagement & Experience Manager. The new position acts as a liaison to help youth (middle- to high-school aged) explore potential post-secondary career pathways and industries, helps ensure that skillsgapp’s Skillionaire Games meet the needs of youth, especially the underserved, and encourages engagement with the company’s skills development apps. The position also connects with school counselors, parents, teachers, and other youth leaders and mentors, as well as works with local businesses and other organizations to create online and offline incentives that include promo items, events, and experiences that players can win as they achieve new game levels and grow their career awareness and skills. Read More.

Opportunities in Advanced Manufacturing and Skilled Trades

In an independent survey conducted last month, high schoolers, college students, and recent graduates—in other words, Gen Z—have made their voices heard when it comes to careers. In the first post of this three-part series, they’ve exposed a major deficiency in the modern education system: a lack of career awareness and readiness. This second article in the series will be underscoring a different contributor to the same problem and discussing its past, present, and future as we strive to prepare our up-and-coming workforce for satisfying, successful futures.

Outdated assumptions are keeping students from meaningful careers

It turns out that students in middle school, high school, and college are still severely impacted by old industry notions and stigmas. The campaign that arose a few decades back to work smarter and not harder has actually hurt the future of the workforce. We’ve internalized the message over the years, separated “hard” work from “smart” work, and—consequently—steered too many young students away from prosperous futures. Our nation’s “overreliance on this concept” has shaped perceptions of white-collar jobs vs. blue-collar jobs, deeming the former more valuable and desirable than the latter. 

So while it’s true that many students aren’t given enough information about future careers, it’s also true that the information they are intaking about professions like advanced manufacturing and skilled trades are outdated or misguided. 

The perceptions vs. the facts 

Here’s what Gen Z had to say…

Manufacturing perceptions

We asked high schoolers to list some words that come to mind when they hear “manufacturing”:

We asked college students to list some words that come to mind when they hear “manufacturing”:

Manufacturing realities

• Good pay. As of March 17th, 2022, the average salary for a worker in advanced manufacturing is $76,258.
• Supporting our country. “Rebuilding our manufacturing economy is an essential component to strengthening our communities and creating opportunity for all Americans,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says.
• Supporting you. “Contrary to the decades-long, ‘dirty hands’ stigma, employees come first in today’s manufacturing,” we explain in this article. “Corporations like West Virginia’s Lockheed Martin offer education assistance, paid time off, and even smoking cessation and wellness programs.”

Skilled trades perceptions

We asked high schoolers to list some words that come to mind when they hear “skilled trades”: 

We asked college students to list some words that come to mind when they hear “skilled trades”:

Skilled trades realities

• Trade school advantage. “On average, a professional skilled trade course costs about one-fourth of a regular public college degree. This makes it easier for students to graduate with almost no debt.”
• In demand. Skilled trades are always needed, and the demand continues to rise.
• Success. “I think often about the people I met on Dirty Jobs,” says Mike Rowe from the Dirty Jobs television series. “Most of them were tradesmen. Many were entrepreneurs and innovators. Some were millionaires.”

What can we do? 

Because a staggering “75% of Americans have never had a counselor, teacher, or mentor suggest they look into attending trade or vocational school as a means to a viable career,” most high schoolers are not adequately aware of potential professions, so college seems like a necessity to them. We’re doing a disservice to the younger end of Gen Z, and we’ll continue to fail the generations after them if we don’t change the American belief of “no college, no future.” We need to help students understand their options sooner, because there are plenty out there! “Vocational education is an effective path to prosperity and self-reliance,” as Forbes explains, and it is a path that deserves to be explored by more students, parents, and advisers.

Yes, something needs to change—but it is starting to, with efforts like skillsgapp’s to educate our students on pathways and opportunities. Tina Zwolinski, founder and CEO of skillsgapp, offers three solutions to the problem of workforce development, listing greater broadband access, a reset of educational expectations, and innovations in recruitment and the workplace to reach Gen Z.  

Guidance counselors, let’s really emphasize career planning in high school. Teachers, let’s link students’ interests and talents to real-life applications. Parents, let’s move away from the bachelor’s-degree-or-fail mindset. Industry leaders, make sure you’re reaching these students. We can equip this incoming workforce with better career awareness—if we listen to the concerns and aspirations of Gen Z’s many voices. 

In the third and final part to this series, we’ll have a chance to hear directly from members of Generation Z as they ask important questions and offer advice to others of their age.

Your future workforce was born between 1997 – 2012, which means they will be entering your employ between 2020-2030. So if you don’t have a huge Gen Z employee contingent right now, you soon will. 

This is why there’s been a lot of talk about how to attract and skill this next group of talent, the generation born with a phone in their hand. But few industries have yet to “nail” their recruitment strategies, still reeling from lack of in-person and in-school opportunities for career awareness and pathway support. Even though it seems we’re all back to normal, we’re different, which means our recruitment strategies need to be, too.

Workforce Engagement Challenges – Reach Is at Rock Bottom

1. Career Awareness – 53% of Gen Z cited not having access to industry programs in school
2. Pathway Access – 59% have never had a counselor, teacher or mentor suggest trade or vocational schools as viable options
3. Generational Stigmas – Only 3 in 10 parents would guide their child into manufacturing

Here lies your pivot: Gen Z learns by doing. This may seem counterintuitive based on the last two years spent out of the classroom, but those habits formed behind a screen paradoxically opened up their worlds to meaningful experiences previously unattainable or—in workforce development’s case—overlooked. 

Workforce Engagement Opportunities – Mobile Matters  

Did you know that 96% of Gen Z has access to a cell phone, even in under-resourced areas? In fact, they expect to be able to do most things on their smartphones from wherever they happen to be. Your workforce development programs and initiatives need to be easily accessible from a mobile device and not only that but also considered “active” environments where delivery of content is flexible, collaborative, and gives them the ability to put into practice what they’ve learned. 

Tools and tactics to attract tomorrow’s talent:

1. Video shorts – Video is second nature to Gen Z, who would generally rather watch a quick explainer video on their phone than read a thick manual
2. Social and email – The phenomena of global engagement on social media with any generation, particularly Gen Z, is profound, but unlike most of their predecessors, they receive far fewer emails per day, making “clutter” a non-issue for outreach 
3. Virtual events – Live events are always impactful, but they’re not scalable, and they can’t go wherever you go
4. Gamification – 90% of Gen Z classifies themselves as gamers, and according to neuroscience studies, play is the most effective way to increase engagement and performance. 

Skilling your Future Workforce

The same mobile phenomena holds true with skills training. According to Emily Alonso, consultant for WorkforceReady, a mobile-accessible platform that offers self-paced, online work readiness and soft skills courses and certificates to Gen Z has been quantifiably profound over this last year. In a survey of 2,000 participants in the LA area, respondents reported a 200% increase in confidence in their critical thinking after completing a corresponding online, self-paced training module. One Gen Z-er reported after completing such virtual training, “Aside from the tasks assigned, we were able to choose other ones to help us with our future job choices and interests. I really liked that.” This is a workforce training initiative that is 100% free to the user, and 100% available anywhere at any time. 

Got 30 minutes?

To learn more about how to engage and skill your next workforce, hear directly from skillsgapp’s CEO Tina Zwolinski and Cornerstone Ondemand foundation’s Director of engagement Amy Haggarty during this free, pre-recorded webinar…to watch at any time, from wherever you are.

Students Need More Career Support

In an independent survey conducted last month, high schoolers, college students, and recent graduates—in other words, Gen Z—have made their voices heard when it comes to careers… and the results show that our country desperately needs to better help students navigate their futures. A majority of the survey’s participants signal that they have not received the support necessary to make informed decisions about occupational choices. It’s clear that, in general, it’s as simple as students not knowing what opportunities exist.

High school responses

Takeaway:

• High schoolers don’t feel adequately prepared to enter the workforce because most don’t know what career options are even available. This speaks to the percentage of current college students below who indicate they might have considered a vocation rather than immediate higher education.
  

College responses

Takeaway:

• Educational pathways need “a reset.” The problem expressed by the high schoolers of this survey (a lack of career awareness) bleeds into the responses of our Gen Z college students, suggesting that they, too, did not hear about pathways other than college.
• Forbes Senior Contributor Robert Farrington advocates for trade schools in a recent article, begging parents to overcome the stigma that surrounds students’ skipping of a four-year education. “Trade school help[s] students land a job faster … [and] costs significantly less than traditional college,” he explains. “Plus, jobs in the trades are booming in general, whereas many other industries are oversaturated with new graduates looking for work.”
  

Graduate responses

Takeaway:

• Few recent grads reported doing exactly what they had planned while in high school, illustrating the following recurring piece of advice that these same surveyees offered to the younger members of their generation: keep an open mind.
• “Be flexible,” one response says. “Don’t stress, but be open to various opportunities and try things out until you find where you want to be.” Another suggested, “You can change your mind about what you want to do at any point! I’ve learned that your major doesn’t dictate what job you should pursue.”
• With college graduates of all ages getting “hit [the] hardest by the pandemic,” the responses from the upper end of Gen Z show that they realize that higher education isn’t necessary for everyone. However, is it too little, too late?

Next steps

It’s clear that we as a society need to ensure that students are introduced to lifelong opportunities sooner. Kids want to know how they can use their interests and skills in the real world; it’s a sentiment that is all too familiar to middle- and high school teachers, who are consistently asked, “When will we use this in the real world?” Our future generations should be armed with the knowledge needed to start making decisions for themselves. 

We want students to enter the workforce confidently and passionately—not hesitantly or regretfully—having sufficiently explored their options beyond mom and dad’s advice of being a lawyer or doctor. Because there are so many high-paying “nontraditional” jobs going unfilled, Gen Z will need to branch out in many directions, but the only way they can do that is through exposure to different careers. As the next generation, their success is our success. We need to pay attention to their voices now and answer their earnest questions of, “What can my future even look like?” 

Part 2 of this series will explore opportunities for students in advanced manufacturing and skilled trades, as well as how we might best prepare Gen Z and all generations to come.

The last section of our recent article “It Pays to Play Video Games” touches on the utilization of gaming concepts and the emulation of video game experiences in hybrid/remote work, but there’s even more to that story. Due to the pandemic’s impact on office functionality, the aforementioned “video game experience” has been taken quite literally in some workplaces (and classrooms!) where forward-thinkers are successfully adopting video games into their culture in various ways. With about 86% of Gen Z using “mobile devices as gaming platforms,” all industries—from manufacturing to marketing—would be wise to pay attention to the trends of this up-and-coming workforce, lest they fall behind this tech-savvy generation. 

Keep reading to find out how games have helped to relieve Zoom fatigue, boost productivity, and bring professional teams together since 2020, and how they can continue to attract our country’s newest source of employees, Gen Z.

Gen Z expects digital solutions

It makes sense that modern workspaces are looking to video games for inspiration. First, more jobs have transitioned online and are already perfectly poised to utilize game-like digital spaces. Second, tech-loving Millennials—who themselves comprise a significant portion of the gamer demographic—are beginning to settle into occupations and management positions, bringing their Internet familiarity and tech expectations to the rest of their work. Third, Gen Z has grown up with computers and phones and are called “Zoomers” for good reason: much of their formative years have been moved to online platforms that will continue to grow as immersive workspaces.

Microsoft and Facebook have “both signalled [sic] that tech companies believe virtual reality is no longer just for gamers,” reads one recent article. “For some, the metaverse is the workplace of the future and the only way for colleagues to share immersive experiences with each other without physically being together.” For better or for worse, Gen Z expects a virtual future. 

Recruiters should embrace this anticipation and evolve to accommodate such a future. As this article on construction and technology shows, the “increased adoption of digital solutions has helped draw new talent.… Companies … are seeing the benefit that digital transformation brings, both in terms of productivity and recruitment.” Thus far, we have discussed recruitment of Gen Z in the ensuing workplace, so let’s briefly turn our attention to productivity in the current workplace.

Bring your own avatar

When everyone was stuck at home during the height of the pandemic, game environments became unlikely meeting locations—and even sanctuaries—for some teams. Bart Heird of WebMechanix mentions here that he and his team have “met up” in the safe space supplied by Animal Crossing: New Horizons. (They even matched their avatars with a custom clothing pattern that resembles their company logo.) Lewis Smithingham of MediaMonks also chills with employees and clients alike on his personal island. “My production value is now considerably better in Animal Crossing than it is on Zoom,” he says. Who knew that fishing for sharks beside someone’s avatar could lead to such positive results?

In a similar vein, author and artist Viviane Schwarz basically said, “Team meeting, but then make it cowboys.” Tired of the same-old video call setup, she started organizing meetings held in the wild landscape of Red Dead Redemption. She and her team would speak to each other over voice chat while controlling their individual characters gathered on-screen. “The main technical [hitch] we’ve had,” she explains in this Twitter post, “is that … sitting on the ground is the same button as attempting to strangle the nearest person. Still beats zoom.” It’s worked for Schwarz and her team because they enjoy games, have a sense of humor, and don’t always need to present visuals during their discussions. Schwarz jokes, “A perk of this is that when you agree that the meeting is over you can all jump on your horses and do crime or justice, which is a lot less awkward than everyone smiling at the camera while they’re trying to sign off.”

Executives upping their game at work

Schwarz’s teammates aren’t the only ones riding off into a sunset of pixels. One executive shares how he capitalized on the thrill of Grand Theft Auto to attract and engage an elusive analyst with whom he’d been trying to schedule a meeting for months. It worked. Soon enough, the executive and the analyst were tearing through a virtual Los Angeles for some high-speed fun (and business talk). The New York Times article that covers this story relays, “Eager for an alternative to Zoom, executives are getting together in video games to bond, brainstorm[,] or rampage”—sometimes all at once. Ben Decker, the head of Microsoft’s game services marketing, further demonstrates this sentiment. He often sets sail in the shared online world of Sea of Thieves, routinely joining a Discord executive for discussions amongst a healthy dose of piracy. 

The Times article explains that the goal of this non-traditional meeting style is to “break up a day that is crammed with that … look, sound[,] and feel identical.” What they refer to as an “outing in virtual space” is like the modern business person’s golf round or cafe meet-up: it’s an opportunity to combine work with play and either kickstart relationships with new partners or collaborate with old ones.

Business leaders who combine collaboration and video games have managed to simultaneously seal deals, train new hires, and introduce some fun directly into work. It’s true that smaller teams benefit the most from joining up in-game, but in this new world of distanced collaboration, anyone can profit from the occasional unconventional approach to collaboration and skills development. Riding through the Wild West or fishing on a tropical island probably sound like refreshing alternatives to constant calls or emails.
 

It’s manufacturing’s turn to play

Executives like Decker and team leaders like Schwarz prove that anyone can be a gamer. They also prove that the virtual spaces of games can provide much more than passive entertainment. The fact that digital environments are being used to connect employees and employers shows just how pervasive games are in everyone’s daily lives. They’re here to stay; if you want to remain relevant, and if you want to recruit Gen Z, find a way to incorporate video game technology or concepts into your modern business. 

As the manufacturing industry in particular focuses more and more on innovatively navigating the future of recruitment and workplace dynamics, the key to eradicating Gen Z’s misguided preconceived notions of certain career environments will be the leveraging of game-like technology. Right now the medium of gaming is revolutionizing the workspace of the manufacturing industry, and games are already credited with boosting key soft skills like communication, collaboration, and creativity. It’s time to stop viewing virtual environments as a juvenile space for mindless experiences and start realizing its exciting, immersive, and engaging potential for a tech-minded workforce.

Video games will continue to influence work spaces, sometimes through literal games and more often through the technology of them. It’s manufacturing’s time to match Gen Z’s enthusiasm for video games. It’s possible to design the workday to maximize engagement, and it’s possible to build tools for the job that match the controllers/interfaces familiar to Gen Z; this article has illustrated how both can and have been done in the modern workplace. Don’t get left behind. If you can attract Gen Z talent with digital solutions, and if you can improve your team’s remote experience, you can stay ahead of the game.

Care to share some of your strategies for keeping up with Gen Z and new tech norms?

According to a recent survey, there was a quantifiable uptick in Gen Z’s perception of manufacturing, revealing that of the 1,000 surveyed, 56% said their views on manufacturing changed because of the pandemic, with 77% reporting they view manufacturing as more important. The survey also showed that 54% of respondents said they had not considered a job in frontline manufacturing prior to the pandemic, but 24% are now open to the idea. 

However.

The majority (52%) still remain disinterested or neutral in frontline manufacturing work; of those, 30% are concerned it might be a “low-skilled, manual job.”

Smarter technology in manufacturing

We currently live in an age where technology in the manufacturing world is changing at rates that it never has before. Matt Kirchner, president of LAB midwest, a leading distributor of curriculum, eLearning, and hands-on training equipment for advanced manufacturing, recently shared the biggest automation need for Ashley Furniture, the largest furniture manufacturer of the world’s. The top tier competencies when hiring new team member, according to him – whether from a technical college or from a university – is understanding not just the component technologies, but how to integrate a robot with a conveyor with smart sensors and smart devices; how to integrate a robot-loaded machining center into a manufacturing operation; how to connect these systems to work together in concert; and then communicate with a computer network so that they can use that data in real time. 

As we face the mass exodus of the silver tsunami in manufacturing, whose job descriptions bore nary a robot-loaded, smart anything, it’s fair to say that the future of our couches, cars, and cancer treatments now lie in the next generation’s hands.

Talent recruitment is still a challenge

Here’s the good news: Gen Z loves technology, robots, and smart devices. They also love companies with purpose. Even better news? Advanced manufacturing categorically checks all of these boxes.

So why the aforementioned ‘meh’ from 52% of your future talent pipeline?

1. Lack of understanding. Unfortunately, the industry hasn’t fully explained the dynamic, technology-driven environment of the modern plant floor, according to President and CEO of L2L, Keith Barr.

2. Lack of support. According to a survey, 75% of Americans have never had a counselor, teacher or mentor suggest they look into attending trade or vocational school as a means to a viable career.

3. Lack of exposure. Current industry recruitment efforts are difficult to scale. The National Association of Manufacturers recently took their recruitment show on the road as part of their Creators Wanted initiative, during which kids were invited to experience firsthand the innovation and opportunity behind some of manufacturing’s biggest players, but only about 20 kids at a time, one city at a time.

A new way to attract Gen Z

If you’re selling them a future in technology (you are), you need to use technology. According to techjury, American teens spend an average of 9 hours a day in front of screens, and more than 7 of those are spent on mobile phones. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for the manufacturing industry to consider leveraging this medium to scale its outreach efforts in order to capitalize on Gen Z’s unique skills and interests – no matter where they are. By transforming career awareness, training pathways, and job opportunities into engaging mobile technology, states, industry, and education can revolutionize how the next generation engages in – and views – skills-based careers at an earlier age.

What is your biggest challenge in filling your talent pipeline?