Ready and Rewarding Opportunities

It was nearly twenty years ago that my fledgling young company was in desperate need of some talented help, and we were willing to do the hard work to get them up to speed in a rewarding career. One of my project managers and I canvassed every high school within 40 miles, met with every single guidance counselor, told them our plan, and they all tipped their heads in amazement at what we offered. Thus encouraged, we set up an afternoon meeting for their young people to visit us at the local high school technical center. The promise of running equipment, food, and a career was at stake.

NOBODY showed up.

ZERO.

What went wrong? To be sure, in post-mortem we identified a few flaws in our plan. We could have helped the guidance counselors by actually stuffing flyers into the vent holes of every single locker. We could have provided transportation to and from the event (we offered). We could have run a radio ad (keep in mind this was before social media was even social).

Where we went the “wrongest”? We trusted our message to a segment of the population that – to begin with – concurrently carried dim views of our vocation and (in my opinion) too lofty a view of “college or bust”. To paint with an admittedly broad brush, non-college-bound students are not worth a guidance counselor's time.

Sidebar: I want to be crystal clear that I am in no wise against post-secondary education. My heart sincerely goes out to all those who achieve higher learning and go on to make the world a better place as a result. Dozens of our employee-owners -- and the company -- benefit from their higher learning. We would not be the company we are without them, and the world could not go on without you, and I thank you all. 

It’s no secret the construction industry has an image problem. Most people conjure up the notion of a burly, tattooed guy in a tank top running a jackhammer with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. Add in the notion that without a college degree you’ll never get ahead, it’s a wonder anything gets built in this country.

Not long ago, as I was pitching our Sargent Construction Academy to a group of tech instructors, I outlined over a dozen examples of our employees’ successful careers that spanned anywhere from 5-30 years. The bombshell: several had six-figure incomes and all were climbing the ladder quite well. The minimum example annual salary was $60,000 for a laborer who’d joined us out of high school five years earlier. And frankly he’s just starting to get traction. 

But even with the empirical evidence I provided, one teacher in the room said “yeah, but it’s not year-round work”. He’s right; it’s not. 

The nasty little secret these teachers and guidance counselors don’t talk much about? Their jobs are not year-round, either.

I was incensed. The youngest example in my presentation was making 25% more than this teacher and he still hunted for the downside. That’s the uphill battle we’re fighting.

Part of the problem is everyone assumes we just can’t be having fun at this. But we are! We’re working our behinds off, laughing, overcoming challenges, achieving deadlines, making a great living, providing for our families. Making lifelong friends. The camaraderie is second-to-none.

Well, that’s our nasty little secret – this career is indescribably fulfilling; and it’s our fault nobody knows that; and we’ve kept it that way for too long. Many thanks to people like Mike Rowe and his Dirty Jobs series, and to more recent contributors like Aaron Witt at BuildWitt Media Group and Keaton Turner at Turner Mining Group for helping break the mold and presenting an alternate perception of construction workers. 

Don’t get me wrong: there’s little in the way of glamour to be passed around a construction site. Society at large pays little homage to our products. There aren’t many who flush the toilet and then meditate on where it went and who made it possible – hoping to administer those enablers a random act of kindness. We realize we’re the blocking and tackling of society – we like that. 

But every single day we line up and go at it again to provide homes, businesses, offices, and infrastructure for the world to move ahead in, to stay warm in. And we don’t even want credit for it (after all, almost everything we build is designed and paid for by someone else) – we just execute humanity’s physical dreams. All we want is to be recognized on a human level and to stop – just stop – this monotonous, ill-conceived drumbeat that higher education is the only way to adequate education and a well-rounded life.

I’ve loved my job since I was in the trenches at sixteen. It didn’t take me long to figure out college wasn’t for me. I’ve watched scores and scores of people like me develop from seemingly low potential (read: dimly perceived by general society) to outstanding humans. Youth coaches. School board members. Supporters of causes for the less fortunate. Blood donors. Toys for Tots contributors. Habitat for Humanity builders.

Difference makers.

Please: next time you hear someone considering a career in the trades, remember that the opportunities are varied and endless and the world needs them. Rather than reject their thoughts outright, encourage them to find the right place for their talents and effort, a place where their personal values can be engaged, inspired, and cultivated. A place where their desire for challenge and achievement can be satisfied. A place they can succeed and be proud of. A place that is proud of them and the work they do.

Where they go from there is up to them.