MANUFACTURING
2000 can be a good resource By
Chris Posti Q: I own a small business that employs machinists, and due to a continuous stream of retirements, I am always short-handed. Certainly I am aware there are plenty of good people who are unemployed, but unfortunately for me, none of them seem to be machinists. Am I overlooking some obvious way to recruit machinists? A: I wouldn't say you are overlooking the obvious, but there is definitely a great way to hire machinists in the Pittsburgh area. There is an intensive program called MANUFACTURING 2000 that was started through Duquesne University's Institute for Economic Transformation and the Steel Center Area Vocational- Technical School. The program is now under a nonprofit called New Century Careers. This program trains people to become machinists or welders. Their graduates have completed 550 hours of classroom (10 percent) and hands-on (90 percent) training and are ready for entrylevel positions. In return for hiring a New Century graduate, you, the employer, pay the program $1,250. You even get a chance to try out the new hire before you ante up, because there is a 90-day probationary period which the new hire must successfully complete. Not a bad deal at all, I'd say! A second option is to keep well networked in your industry so that you will know when another manufacturing firm is downsizing or undergoing other changes that could make machinists available for hire. When you learn of such an event, immediately call the company's head of human resources, who will be thrilled to refer candidates to you for free. Copyright 2003, Tribune-Review Publishing Co. Reprinted with permission. |
