Page 4 - HIWT Spring 2013 World of Welding

THE WORLD OF WELDING http://www.welding.org

MEETING THE GROWING MANpOWER NEEDS IN

WElDING

By Nancy Cole, President, AWS Sections throughout North
American Welding Society America. The video is also available
for viewing on the AWS website.

By now, pretty much everyone For those who gain an interest in
involved in welding is well welding, AWS then established
aware of the critical shortage a Welding School Locator on its
of properly trained welding website listing thousands of schools
personnel in North America. throughout the U.S. that can
The basic story is that much provide quality welding education.
of the welding workforce is A separate website, Jobs in
approaching retirement age, Welding, brought together potential
with about 10% of skilled employers and trained welding
welders and others in the personnel.
industry leaving the workforce
each year. At the same time, the need for professional welding FUNDING FROM NSF
personnel is growing in national infrastructure, the energy
sector, manufacturing, petrochemical production and other Some years back, AWS teamed with several educational
industries. If this need is not met, the welder shortage in the institutions to seek funding to create the National Center for
U.S. could reach a quarter million within the next six years. Welding Education and Training, also known as Weld-Ed. A
financial grant from the National Science Foundation made
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology and other schools are this possible. An early result of the partnership was a joint
doing their part in addressing the shortage, and this is a key AWS/Weld-Ed publication designed to promote careers in
factor in heading off the problem. The American Welding welding. The magazine features articles promoting welding
Society (AWS) is also working on the issue by raising public as a career field with a strong future, personal profiles with
awareness of the many career opportunities in welding and salary figures, technical facts about welding, and more. Some
encouraging people to enter the field. Here are some of the 50,000 copies of the magazine have been distributed so far.
recent actions undertaken by AWS:
SEEkING OUTSIDE pUblICITy
GETTING THE WORD OUT
AWS has also been successful in spreading the word about the
One of the first steps AWS took was publishing a guide to welding personnel shortage to magazines, newspapers and TV
available careers in welding, followed by the creation of a news outlets. There have been major stories on the subject
website devoted to finding employment in the field. Following in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly and several
this, AWS commissioned a special edition of an Iron Man other publications. TV and radio stations have also done
comic book, produced by the Marvel Comics Group. The stories on the shortage, one of the most recent of which was
comic was aimed at a younger audience to stimulate early an interview with AWS Marketing/Communications Director
interest in welding. Ross Hancock on the BBC World News.

The next step was establishing links with TV personalities HITTING THE ROAD
starring in reality shows that feature welding. These included
Troy Trepanier, named hot rod “Builder of the Year”; Brian With corporate support, AWS built a traveling tractor trailer
Fuller, of “Two Guys Garage”; and female welder Jessi that brings the feel of welding – through virtual welding
Combs of “Extreme 4X4.” AWS also approached talk show machines – to interested parties throughout the continent.
host and car collector Jay Leno, who filmed a piece about The welding simulators give visitors a realistic sense of the
the importance of welding. All of these personalities were welding experience and provide a score for each person to
featured on a promotional video on DVD titled “Hot Bikes, help assess aptitude for the profession. At a preview in late
Fast Cars, Cool Careers,” which was then distributed through 2011 at the FFA Annual Convention, the trailer attracted more
schools, trade shows, career day events, and the more than 160

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