Posts tagged ‘ACE Mentor Program’
And The Gap Widens
By Matt Barcus
President, Precision Executive Search
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
This month Pamela Mullender inked for us a very enlightening article in regards to the ACE Mentor Program and the statistics she presented were numbing, at best:
…the industry is facing a workforce situation that is at a crisis level. The Brookings Institute states that only 50% of all the buildings that will be here in the year 2030 have not been built yet. Our workforce is aging. For every 5 workers who leave the industry, only one enters. The shortage in employees will reach and exceed the 1.3 million mark by the year 2012.
What’s even more staggering is that this report likely did not take into account the current economic recession we are in, which will likely create even more pressure on the industry. What I am referring to is the increase in the number of civil engineering professionals exiting stage left and leaving the theater altogether because they got “the hook.” With many state DOT’s dealing with crippling funding issues and with the land development and home building community leaving vacant parcels of land behind only to be occupied by unmanned bulldozers, elevating/self loading scrapers and various other earth-moving equipment, the only thing that is moving at a fast and furious pace is the escalating unemployment rate and the number of civil engineering firms experiencing multiple rounds of layoffs. Frustrated by the limited options available and the increased competition for those scarce jobs, and left with a bad taste in their mouth, many folks decide to leave the industry altogether.
I am reminded of an engineer in Fort Worth with whom I spoke earlier this year (I’ve always wanted to use this line, I sound like a presidential candidate out on the campaign trail! ) who was let go from his firm due to the economic slowdown. He has now started his own company manufacturing and distributing state-of-the-art lasso’s and whips (I never figured I would use “state-of-the-art” and “lasso’s and whips” in the same sentence; but I’m just a city boy from the east coast, so what do I know?!?).
Then there is another professional civil engineer in Michigan who followed his faith and became a pastor as a result of his firm letting him go.
And finally, there is the human resource professional in Pennsylvani who spent many successful years as a corporate recruiter for the home building / civil engineering industry who survived multiple RIF’s, but was the unfortunate casualty of the most recent one. He is now considering turning his mountain biking hobby into a profitable and passionate business through the development of his own custom bike building company.
Being released from your firm can certainly be disheartening and can be quite a blow to one’s ego. But how exciting is it, in some of the instances above, as one door closes but another one opens wide in a completely different building? Sometimes that is just the kick in the pants one needs to follow their passion or dream.
So we have identified a few more folks who leave the industry altogether as a result of our battered economy…the gap widens.
Struggling to recruit high school students to pursue degrees and careers in civil engineering and baby boomers retiring at a record pace is creating quite an uphill battle. The current recession further widens the gap of experienced civil engineers as many will leave the industry altogether for other pursuits. The way I see it, it’s just another bump in the road – there has been a shortage of civil engineers as long as I’ve been recruiting in this industry, so it’s really just more of the same (“more of the same,” yet another often used phrase in the recent presidential campaign – clearly too much CNN). But we can’t give up. Get out to your local elementary, middle and high schools, get out to your local universities, be a mentor. Find a way to close that gap between yourself and the civil engineers of tomorrow.
Generation “O” and Civil Engineering
By Carol A. Metzner, President, The Metzner Group, LLC, www.themetznergroup.com, and Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
Prior to election day, Generation “O” was used to refer to those who either grew up with Oprah or they were members of the Washington National Opera fan club. Since Tuesday, November 5, 2008, “Generation Obama,” now shorthanded to Generation “O,” references a grassroots movement of both young and not so young people with goals and focus. They believed that a grassroots campaign could electrify, and most importantly, get out the message and the vote for a particular candidate. They achieved their ultimate goal: work to elect President Elect Obama.
It is suggested that President Elect Obama will continue his grassroots movement with Generation “O”, encouraging them to give back to their communities…to participate in community activism. Community activism has been around for decades. After reading many definitions, I think that community activism In the most basic terms, is anything that someone does to fight to better the community, state, nation or world.
This month our newsletter was written by Pamela Mullender, President of the ACE MENTOR PROGRAM of AMERICA. If you have not read it, please do! Next month our author will be an Executive from ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS. These important organizations need your help. We need to give back to our communities. Whether through our temples, churches, local United Way chapters, local ASCE chapters or either of these excellent programs, let’s not lose the momentum. No matter who leads the way, Generation “O” or otherwise, we all need to get on board!
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