(NewsNation) — The Creators Wanted Tour is working to recruit workers for the manufacturing industry as job opportunities are being created. It’s an interactive traveling display that teaches students what it would be like to work in manufacturing.
The president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Jay Timmons, who is traveling with the Creators Wanted Tour, joined “Morning in America” to address the misconceptions behind manufacturing jobs and what NAM is doing differently to recruit new personnel.
“One of those misperceptions is that it’s just blue-collar jobs,” Timmons said. “It’s blue collar, it’s white collar, but we also say new collar. And one of the reasons for that is because manufacturing jobs are modern. They’re infused with technology. So we need folks with skills and technology to actually be able to do some of these really amazing jobs that are out there.”
Timmons explained that NAM and the Manufacturing Institute took to the road with an innovative, engaging way to show young people, parents and others, who might be looking for a new career, what opportunities are available in manufacturing.
“We’re doing this with an escape room concept where kids can actually use some skills that they may not even know they have, and realize, ‘wow, I can apply that to a manufacturing job.’ And then we put them in our Creators Connect Database to try to make sure that we stay in touch with them and show them what jobs may be available for their future,” Timmons said.
He said that manufacturing is really about solutions and trying to make sure there is an outcome on the other side of it, as well as building new techniques or new creations for the future.
Another misperception about manufacturing is that technology is taking jobs away, Timmons said.
“They’re actually changing the nature of the jobs in manufacturing. So, think about a technician that is actually helping to build and maintain robotics to make things easier for folks so that jobs are not quite as labor intensive,” Timmons explained.