Hands-On Learning: High School Students Dive Into Construction Careers with IES

How do you inspire the next generation of electricians? We’re on a mission to do just that by directly engaging high school students through the Texas Construction Careers Initiative. Read on to find out how IES is shaping the future of construction careers!

Recruiting apprentices to start a career in the electrical trade is a job unto itself. Which is why it is important to capture apprentice candidates as early as possible, and one way that IES Electrical is doing that is through a cooperative known as the Texas Construction Careers Initiative. TCCI was started by construction companies interested in showcasing the industry to high school students, with IES San Antonio as an early contributor. The goal was to provide education and resources to young men and women interested in beginning a career in construction.

In October, TCCI held its signature event, a career day that put the construction industry in front of more than 900 interested high school students. The event started with a team bathroom build, tasking nine squads of four students with a teacher to build a bathroom in five hours. Each build was then judged by a team of journeymen, accomplished in electrical, sheetrock, sheet metal and HVAC.

Four teams completed the task, and one had the lights working by the end of the trial. The experience of competition and meeting recruiters from various construction areas allowed the students to take a peek into what a job in construction looks like.

“It’s really important for us to get in front of kids and get the right people in front of the kids at the right time,” said Claudia Wunderlich, San Antonio HR Manager. “They want to hear from people like our project managers and our people in the field. Those are the kinds of people kids get excited about because they can tell the stories of the job.”

Nov. 13-17 marks National Apprenticeship Week, which shines a spotlight on careers that require apprenticeship programs.

By targeting the Career and Technical Education programs (CTE) in Texas schools, IES San Antonio can motivate students in high school to pursue careers in construction. As the workforce ages, starting more students on a path to apprenticeship is crucial.

“Once you get these programs off the ground, then it’s about going into schools and talking to the kids, then finding the ones that are really interested,” she said.

“We need to start kids thinking about it young, even middle school.”

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