Times have changed in how local business and industries court students for successful careers. Some are even trying to get students to sign on before they graduate.
In this episode of the Supercast, we visit the ‘Pathways to Professions’ Career Expo for students. We’ll show you how they are being courted for good jobs, who is hiring and how students can get the upper hand in jump starting their careers.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Today, I get my hands dirty as part of a race car pit crew. When we stopped by the pathways to professions, career expo, thousands of students in Jordan school district and other districts attend this event over the course of two days, it's similar to a job fair where they get to meet local business and industry leaders looking to hire students sometimes on the spot. So who's hiring, let's find out We're at the mountain America expo center with our CTE director. Jason Skidmore. Tell us about this event today. We have all kinds of people here.
Jason Skidmore:
Yeah. This is our annual pathways to professions where students and industry get together from all over that region. We've got just over about 80 some different industry partners represented here to kind of a career fair on steroids and a lot of energy going on, kids looking at all different kinds of career options and job options and places they can get started.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's really amazing. Just how many opportunities there are here. How, how many representatives you have from a really wide range of industry?
Jason Skidmore:
Oh, it's just incredible. The industry's been so supportive and this is one of the things they've, this is now our fifth year and they look forward to getting in front of students and showing them what opportunities are available to them. We'll have over the course of these two days about 7,000 students will come through and get the opportunity to, to get a little taste of what's going on out there in the workforce.
Anthony Godfrey:
These are high paying careers that don't always require a college degree and many times pay for the training. And so it's a no cost. You just have to be interested in willing isn't that right?
Jason Skidmore:
Exactly. It's almost like you say a scholarship. A lot of our industry refer to that. They, you hire on in an entry level position, or even above entry level with some of these companies based on the classes you're taking at your local high school. And so, and then these guys will pay for you to go back and finish your degree and any training that you might need along the way. So great opportunities for kids and even, even they might find something, you know, might not do it for the rest of their life, but it'll give them a skill set that they can always fall back on to as they pursue whatever they do throughout the future. So,
Anthony Godfrey:
Sure. It's great to have options. There are amazing opportunities here. Let's walk over. I see this huge looks like a cement mixer, but I don't know. I don't know my big trucks. Well, you know,
Jason Skidmore:
You're, you're right. You've, you've hit it just right on. This is Clyde Companies. They are one of our biggest sponsors over the years. They do a lot with the heavy equipment operators, as well as the construction industry. And certainly it's a need in our growing state and they have phenomenal opportunities for kids. So let's talk to them.
Anthony Godfrey:
I'm Anthony Godfrey, Superintendent for Jordan School District.
Clyde:
Nice to meet you at your new restaurants. I work for Geneva Rock Products as an Assistant Supervisor for the shop.
Anthony Godfrey:
Describe what some of the opportunities are for students in high school.
Clyde:
When it comes to diesel tech, one of the biggest opportunities is, and I really drive this in, we participate in it as a job shadow. So several things that the opportunity offers. One of them is concurrent enrollment, that's where they can pick up college credits at a high school level that gets paid for by the District. Huge savings to a parent or a student that is something that they should take advantage of. One of the things that all of us are doing, and I'm actually one that does it for Geneva Rock, is we invite the kids out for four hours on a day with us. They come out to our facility, we take them and show them Margaret Kanipes. We show them what we do. We let them visit with our mechanics and it just exposes them to what a mechanics does. So it gives them the first line on here's a mechanic. He's actually working on stuff, so talk to him about whatever his tooling is, whatever his jobs are, whatever his experience is that works out well.
Anthony Godfrey:
Student interests aligned with a Diesel Tech Program, what would draw a student to a Diesel Tech Program? What sorts of skills, what they want to have?
Clyde:
Engineering is a big skill. Working with their hands. Hand coordination is obviously a big deal in equipment. One thing we try to do, when we bring our students out to our facility, we show them obviously the mixers and the concrete, the construction world, the graders. I work at the point of the mountain in the sand and gravel pit. So we get to deal with the bulldozers and the great big, heavy equipment. Every kid loves that. That's why I did it. Kids of all ages. Absolutely. I've been doing this for 31 years now for Geneva Rock. I did the same thing when I was a senior in high school, I was in the Diesel Program. I hired on at Geneva Rock at 18. Been with them ever since, but my attraction was the big equipment. I loved equipment. Still do. I mean, that's one of my fascinations.
Anthony Godfrey:
You love big equipment, love working with your hands, interested in engineering? This is maybe something that students ought to investigate. Come talk to me. And it sounds like there are great opportunities for them too, like you said, to work below, alongside the mechanic, look at how that goes and kind of see what it's going to be like if they decide to pursue it as a career.
Jason Skidmore:
Absolutely. If you love mechanics, something that you might want to do.
Clyde:
I mean, I love building things. I love repairing things. I love the feeling of having something brought down. You take the pride in getting that fixed and fixed right. That the doors that opened up after that for 31 years of working with Geneva Rock. I'm now a State Highway Safety Inspector for them. Geneva Rock does all their own safety inspections. I'm one of the inspectors for them. That's an awesome job to have.
Anthony Godfrey:
So describe to us a little bit about what that entails.
Clyde:
So just like your own personal Safety Johnny, Utah doesn't do it anymore. But what we used to doin our state for your car, you do inspections. UDOT requires the companies to still do State Inspections. Geneva Rock does their own. I'm one of the inspectors. So we'll pull the example. We'll pull that truck in and we go through it from bumper to bumper. We check the steering, the tie rod, and if the ball joints, the brakes, the air systems, the lights, everything that falls underneath the realm of safety, we do that. And then, obviously, our shop mechanics find a problem or something that fails in inspection, we fix it onsite.
Anthony Godfrey:
So if someone is interested in this, what's the chance of getting a job? There are lots of job opportunities aren't there?
Clyde:
Absolutely.
Clyde:
In fact, all of that's what everyone here, we're all here trying to get these kids interested in working for us.
Jason Skidmore:
Five companies help us. We've got Sun Rock, WW, Clyde, Geneva Rock. We're all trying to get these students to come work for us. So that's what RAF.
Clyde:
So whether it be me, specifically, we're trying to get all the kids here to come talk to us. Whether it be in construction, crushers, driving the truck. I try to single out the mechanic side of them. And then I put the angle on and hey, we need to get you into Salt Lake Community College or UVU, or one of these Mountain Land, one of the tech schools as a mechanic. And let's get you set up going. Then when you graduate from there, come see us. We'll get you in as an intern, we'll get you work.
Anthony Godfrey:
Good for us. And all these huge trucks do grab your attention. You have a really good show and tell game here.
Clyde:
Well, I appreciate it. You know, it works out well. We've actually brought a driver of this truck. The interesting thing about this truck is the day we set up here, not yesterday day. Before we brought this truck right off of the job site, delivering concrete, sprayed it off and drove it in here.
Anthony Godfrey:
And so this is the real deal. These are not props.
Clyde:
That's the truck that actually makes the money for us. So yeah, it's pretty cool. And we actually brought a driver with that truck that the students want to go check out. They want to get in it. They want to sit in the seat. They know what it's like to sit in the mixer truck. We can do that for them. So it's pretty cool hands-on kind of thing.
Jason Skidmore:
When I was part of that inaugural Diesel Tech Program or the launch of the program, I got to talk with some folks from industry and hear about some of the opportunities. And I just started to think about members of my family, even that I wish had known about this earlier on, because they're good with their hands but they haven't pursued a career like this.
Anthony Godfrey:
If someone's interested in this, what do they need to do now?
Jason Skidmore:
So the very best way now, with the day and age we're in, now is go to our website. We have got a pamphlet, there's information on the website. It has got all of our companies. They post all of the job openings and coming into the spring time, right now we're going to be slamming the postings because of all the construction sites that are going to start ramping up. And when they start ramping up the sand and gravel, the crushers, all of that, the asphalt paving starts coming up. Postings are going to start flying. So we've already got a ton of driver openings right now. We can't get enough drivers. So wherever you start, there are lots of places to go from that, lots to learn, get your foot in the door. And yeah, there's a job for you. There's the website, clydecareers.com. You can go to that, you can look it up and that'll pull up all of our companies and all of our job postings will be there.
Clyde:
So yeah, clydecareers.com and it tells you how you need to be to apply. We can start them out at 18 at an entry level position. Some of the positions, I believe like being a mixer driver and stuff, they gotta be 21, but that's a rule there, right? But at 18 you can get your foot in the door and get things underway. Get you on a crusher. We can get you in the shop. We can get you on a construction job site. I started there at 18. I've been there ever since. So now I'll be 50 this year. And the man has a smile on his face. These three decades have gone well. It's been good for me. Absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, Geneva Rocks. Thank you very much. It's so nice meeting you. Thanks for your time. Good luck.
We're going to take a break. And when we come back, I find out if I would make the cut as part of a race car pit crew. And we discover, to no one's surprise, that everything's better with bacon.
Break:
We stopped by to hear about the opportunities for students in culinary arts and sample a bacon wrap date. Wasn't my very first date. Find out after in Jordan School District, the possibilities are endless for anyone looking to grow with a team of professionals, working together to provide the very best for students in education. If you're looking for a great job with great pay and benefits in a supportive environment, head to http://workatjordan.org and find your future career in Jordan School District People come for the job and stay for the adventure. Explore the many options apply today at http://workatjordan.org.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's head back to the Pathways to Professions Careers Expo, where we find out what's cooking here from students who are trying to get the upper hand in landing a good job that could become a pathway to a successful career. Hello, I'm Anthony Godfrey, Superintendent for Jordan School District.
Jeffrey:
Pleasure to see meet you. I'm Jeffrey Coker, Associate Dean for the Culinary Institute at Salt Lake Community College.
Anthony Godfrey:
So what have you been demonstrating?
Jeffrey:
Well today we have a couple of different things that we've been working on with the students in attendance. We're teaching students to just have fun with some classic knife cuts. So one of the cuts that we're making is a tornado potato. So a tornado potato is a classic French knife guide that you would use to garnish different dishes. And then the other thing that we're going to get going here in a little bit, we have some delicious wraps which Vanessa is going to make.
Vanessa:
We have some delicious bacon wrap dates. So once the bacon starts cooking, your nose will lead you to the pan and you will be happy, happy. A crowd will gather here. So our job today is just to kind of expose people to what we do. I'm fortunate enough where I get be on the FAC as Advisory Board for Granite and Canyon School Districts. So I love getting out and meeting with the faculty members and the students at the schools. I also work with the ProStart organizations through the Utah Restaurant Association. I serve as a mentor and a judge, so I try to get out to as many schools that participate as possible to help them become better at what they do, and try to expose people to good food, great technique, and develop a passion for this field.
Anthony Godfrey:
So if a student is interested in something like this, they can enroll in classes at Salt Lake Community College and pursue what sorts of careers.
Vanessa:
Absolutely. So at Salt Lake Community College, we're open enrollment. We have a an Associate of Applied Science and Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management with our Culinary Arts degree. Our students can either earn a degree in baking and pastry or culinary arts, savory food. And for us, when our students leave, we have students in all different aspects of the industry. So everything from prep, cook and line cook at resorts, hotels, small restaurants, food truck, on the hospitality management side, front desk, food servers, all kinds of stuff. And the great thing about it, if you want to learn more about our programs, slcc.edu/culinary arts or hospitality management. And we'll be happy to help you out if you're interested. There are lots of jobs out there.
Anthony Godfrey:
Are there plenty of jobs? The unemployment rate in Utah, Salt Lake County is so low.
Vanessa:
We have students that are not hurting for finding jobs and great jobs at that.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now I see these dates wrapped in bacon as a professional. Can you tell me, is there anything that does not get better when it's wrapped in bacon?
Vanessa:
No, that is the biggest myth. It has to be wrapped in bacon. That's an industry standard.
Anthony Godfrey:
You can't see this on the podcast right now, but this is not called fat. This is called experience. And for those who can't smell this through the microphone, the bacon is now cooking and the happiness is flowing through the air as you predicted.
Vanessa:
Yeah. You should get the microphone closer to the sizzle of the pan.
Anthony Godfrey:
Let's get a little sizzle. That's good. So this has started cooking over there. I haven't thought about putting dates wrapped in bacon, so you can pretend it's healthy.
Vanessa:
You have the salty and the sweet mix together. So it's a great combination. So these were wrapped and then they were baked or roasted in the oven, just until they were about halfway, done cooking. Most of the fat is rendered off and then you bring them out here and you finish them off in a little saute pan like this, over a medium heat. And that finishes them, not to mention when you start smelling it, your mouth starts watering pleasure meeting. Right?
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Let's try this date. Hmm. That's a great first date when it's wrapped in bacon.
Vanessa:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
Where are you from young man?
Student:
Hunter High.
Anthony Godfrey:
Hi, tell us about your experience here today. Your answer has been so far really good.
Student:
I really liked this culinary Salt Lake City Community college right here, because that's what I'm trying to go into. Right now I'm going into Culinary for Hunter High. And this is just another step up for me, trying to go into teaching French cuisine.
Anthony Godfrey:
What is it attracts you to the idea of preparing French cuisine?
Student:
Most likely I look at it as kind of a beauty of art because the more beautiful it is, the more tasty. So it's about the presentation and putting together something beautiful and as a result tastes great.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's head to one of the automotive booths sponsored by Salt Lake Community College here at the Expo. So tell us what setup you have here.
Exhibitor:
Basically ,it's a cutaway fiberglass car. And it's kind of like a set up of a NASCAR-type event. So it's just for fun to try to get the young people excited about what we do. Give me automotive and automotive might be automatic transmission, teach students how to do automatic or manual transmission reader. First thing we need to do is evaluate where we're going to have your target. So let's take a look at the leaderboard and see you. Obviously you can see kind of evaluate where your target is. We've got a loop pay from Horizonte School, had a 12.3, seven seconds to do all four and full attire off. And so that's your target if you want
Anthony Godfrey:
To get number one is the fastest. I'd like you to kind of size me up, just by the looks of me. How do you think I'm going to do?
Exhibitor:
You're going to be, I'm going to say probably about 35, maybe 38 seconds. That's what I'm thinking.
Anthony Godfrey
I've just said to be an honest evaluation.
Exhibitor:
I'm an evaluator. This is what I do is assess.
Anthony Godfrey:
I'm not going to be any time soon. What I feel bad about is that's a low enough bar that if I don't even meet that, I'm really going to be embarrassed.
Exhibitor:
You're going to do good. So we've got the walk here. So we're going to push this button. That's going to be removed. I'll have that set for you, but we're going to go in.
Anthony Godfrey:
What is this device?
Exhibitor:
This is an impact branch electrically. Yes. Electric batteries, 20 volt.
Anthony Godfrey:
There's one. Name one impact wrench. I mean, is this like we could call the steady or is this the beetle?
Exhibitor:
That's correct. We're going to go on there. We need to align it first. So you got it aligned with the lug and you're going to go ahead and release that. And it's got to spin far enough out that all five lugs are going to spin out and we hold it straight and you spin them all the way out. Now the tire will come out. It'll go back and we made our tire chains. We pushed the button to change direction and we need to go back.
Anthony Godfrey:
So I'm fine to loosen them all up, take the tire off, put it back on and pat me down?
Exhibitor:
Correct. I know there's definitely a lot of pressure. It's NASCAR. I mean, the team is counting on you. Our sponsors and NASCAR can do it in about six to seven seconds. F1 does it in three seconds, but they don't just change one tire. They change all four. So you can change four tires in six to seven seconds, or you can change four tires in three seconds. So there's no real big pressure.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, my, my, my pit crew is on the line.
Exhibitor:
That's correct.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Well, I don't want to let the sponsors down. Here we go.
Exhibitor:
Alright, here we go. Spit them all the way. Here we go off back. Push them out and push. There you go. There we go. It's going to be a new world. Awesome. That's awesome.
Anthony Godfrey:
Hey, thank you very much. I was so excited. I just kept holding on to the impact wrench.
Exhibitor:
Yeah. We're trying to get them excited about what they're doing.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Yeah. That's the point. That's more adrenaline than I normally experience. It's an afternoon of work. So that's 40 Noon. Nice to meet you. Who do you represent?
Exhibitor:
I represent UMC, which is Utah Mechanical Contractors.
Anthony Godfrey:
And why are you here talking with students?
UMC rep:
We're here to talk, working with students to let them know that there are more options for them besides these high technical careers, and to let them know that trades people are very important people in our community. It's a great way to earn a living and become great at what they do. That's what we love to do, which are the trades that we represent. We represent both HVAC and Plumbing, which is heating and air conditioning and plumbing.
Anthony Godfrey:
So have you had some interest here today, some kids stopping by?
UMC rep:
We really have. We had quite a few stop by and ask us about what it takes to get into the trade. There's so many programs with us, paying for apprenticeships and everything like that.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's a debt-free scholarship for them to get into the working class. So if parents know that their child likes hands-on work, like plumbing, or might be interested in HVAC, what should they do to help get their child connected with these programs and these opportunities to get training at no cost?
UMC rep:
Oh, there's a lot of outreach programs that try to get youth into the trades and you see it all across television. You see it all across everything, trying to get good young people back into the trades. I think the best thing to do would be to just contact a local plumbing or mechanical contractor. They would help them get in place with these things because most of all of them, I believe, have apprenticeship programs. So if you're interested in doing some hands-on work, lots of companies are going to help pay for the training that's required for you to be properly licensed.
Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. Let's try something out here.
UMC Rep:
Yeah. Well, this is a pipe threading machine. This is what we use to run gas lines. This is what we use to run stainless steel pipe, some plastic tubing and stuff like that. So what it does is actually create the threads onto the pipe so that you can join it together.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, to someone with my level of mechanical training, it just looks like something out of a horror movie.
UMC Rep:
So this is called a bias to select that centrifical bias. So I'm going to cut this off real quick so we can start from scratch here. All right. So I'm going to put threads on the end of this pipe. I'm gonna explain this to you. This is the foot pedal. It's got a protective guard on it, so you cannot accidentally step on it while you're using the machine.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's a good idea.
UMC Rep:
This is the thread set. It comes right down. This lever actually engages the threads. This is the push lever right here. So what you want to do is go ahead and close this down right here and engage the threads once you to step on the pedal to rotate the bias. It doesn't matter if I put the left or right. It's not there. Now. What I want you to do is gently force this into the pipe.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Do I just push it on there until it starts to thread?
UMC Rep:
No, it's going to do it by itself because it's actually threading.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yeah.
UMC Rep:
So you just want to wait for the pipe to get to the end of their teeth, then release your foot off the pedal.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. I think I can do that.
UMC Rep:
Perfect. Wait for it to come to a complete stop, release the threads. All right. Grab the lever and pull it towards you. The black, the long line. There you go. Then grab this and flip it up out of the way, the whole thing. There you go. Now we can just grab this right here.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. And then we can release it and that's all there is to it. All right. Nice threads, man. Nice threads. Hey, that's great. It does give you a sense of accomplishment. It really does not get that always in my day today, sending an email doesn't give the same sense of satisfaction.
UMC Rep:
That's right. And the best thing, you know, being a tradesman is you get done. You step off your ladder, you look back, you appreciate what you've done and what you give to the community, because this is how we built this, how would we live without tradesmen.
Anthony Godfrey:
We take tradesmen for granted. That's for sure.
UMC Rep:
Yes, exactly.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. It's really a pleasure meeting with you. That's awesome.
Students:
So tell us your names. Sam Springer, Cole Jenkins, Jacqueline Marsh, Daisy Miller, Chloe Fixit.
Anthony Godfrey:
Been here all day today, traveling around, checking out the booths. What have you seen that you like?
Student:
I saw that there was this game where you drive dump trucks. It was pretty dark.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you had a simulator where you were having driving a dump truck. Does this make you want to drive a dump truck?
Student:
Probably not, as those things are pretty big. It was a little intimidating.
Student:
Well, there were lots of cars and trucks and those are pretty cool. I changed a tire on one. Did in less than a minute.
Student:
I spent a minute.
Anthony Godfrey:
I did it in less than a minute as well.
Student:
The medical stuff is something really cool. And like this kind of exam stuff, preschools, I was going to let me teach you how to set a new CPR on a baby.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks you guys.
Students:
Thank you. Nice to meet you.
Anthony Godfrey:
As you heard, the kids got a lot out of this experience and so did I. It's impressive just how many careers are available and how eager employers are to hire students. Thanks again for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.