VOCATIONAL CAREERS LOOKING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH THE SKILLS TO WORK

(WTOC) – Workers who once fixed our cars, our homes and more, faced dirty work and a perception that they’d settled for their careers. Today, those jobs have become more high-tech and high-paying.

Fred Hill has preached a message for years that many are finally hearing. As a human resources director, he’s advocated for young people to look at skilled vocational careers as an option.

“For example, go get a welding certificate at a technical college. You’ll walk in the door of a construction company making several dollars an hour more than anybody else walking in,” said Fred Hill, The Sack Company.

Hill and others are working on job programs to get some young people steered to vocational training to replace a generation of craftsmen now retiring. With few of them in the pipeline, he says, they’re more attractive to companies. Others agree.

“There are jobs available for people who want to go into the skilled trades and there’s good pay. What’s even better for somebody like me is those jobs allow you to stay in a place where you want to live,” said Benjy Thompson, Development Authority of Bulloch County.

Both men say technology has made many trade careers more intricate. The training required helps garner better pay and a long term career.

“We’re finding that students want to go to work. They want to learn a trade and they want a career.”

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