HIGH DEMAND, HIGH PAY, ALL SET

HIGH DEMAND, HIGH PAY, ALL SET

Redding is career-ready after completing Lozier Sponsorship for the Trades partnership with MCC.

Seth Redding turned 20 years old on Feb. 27. One day later, the Fremont, Nebraska, native completed his Associate in Applied Science in Electrical Mechanical Maintenance Technology at Metropolitan Community College and simultaneously stepped into a full-time position with Lozier Corporation in Omaha. It’s a familiar setting. Redding worked part-time at Lozier while completing his course load through the company’s Sponsorship for the Trades program in partnership with MCC.

The program was one of the first in the region when it started nine years ago. Dozens of other active sponsorship collaborations between MCC and local employers are now in place. The rapid growth has been in response to a national labor shortage, which has hit the technical trades particularly hard. Customizable and flexible, MCC sponsorship programs are employer-paid recruiting, training and retention programs that address specific workforce needs across multiple industries through prospective or existing employee development.

After completing Lozier’s program, Redding now earns nearly $30 an hour fixing and troubleshooting equipment he says he’s “developed a relationship with” over the past year-and-a-half. Earning close to $1,200 in pay each week, he is making nearly double the average weekly income of working 20- to 24-year-olds according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On top of landing a high-wage job in a high-demand field with an industry-leading manufacturer, Redding doesn’t owe a penny in student loan debt. All of his classes, textbooks, tools and toolbox were paid for by Lozier. He earned more than $20 an hour during his internship the summer after high school graduation and throughout the part-time position he held while attending MCC, a position that allowed him to immediately apply classroom lessons in a manufacturing floor setting.

“I’m 20 years old and thinking about having my whole life set up. I’m thinking about what kind of house I want to build,” said the 2020 Fremont High School graduate.

Hannah Bolte, director of marketing and communications for Lozier, said reaching students like Redding is a challenge due to a decades-old misperception that is finally beginning to change.

“When Sponsorships for the Trades started, it was during the post-recession years, and at that time, the traditional path to ‘success’ after high school skewed heavily toward attending four-year colleges. College is great, but it can be expensive and isn’t the right fit for everyone,” Bolte said. “Thankfully, that narrative has changed because the trades provide lucrative career options for students coming out of high school.”

While in high school, Redding was a standout wrestler and qualified for the state tournament twice. He was a jack of all trades on the football field for the Tigers, as well, primarily playing middle linebacker on defense, but also filling roles as tight end, long-snapper and on the kickoff return unit. When it came time to decide what to do after high school, he was interested in welding and started taking courses at the MCC Welding Academy, but financial barriers required looking into other options. A conversation with Todd Hansen, MCC executive director of Student Services, whom Redding considers a mentor, changed everything.

“I didn’t have the money to finish the Welding Academy, and that’s when Todd let me know about Sponsorship for the Trades with Lozier and said he thought I would be a good fit. He has been a big part of my success,” Redding said.

Jim Champion, MCC Pathway coordinator, who helps industry partners connect with and develop MCC industrial technology programs, said there simply aren’t enough young workers entering skilled trades to fill vacancies left by retiring baby boomers.

“Lozier really was a pioneer, well ahead of the curve in recognizing the need for a program like this,” Champion said.

Support comes in many forms, from removing the financial burden for education and equipment to mentorship. Bolte said the MCC Sponsorship for the Trades program accounts for 26 percent of Lozier’s current Maintenance and Tool and Die technicians. She said the academic model and employment model work in tandem to support sponsored students.

“The supervisors in our plants have worked with MCC program directors over the years and know that these

programs teach the skills we need from our employees,” Bolte said. “The accountability and immediacy of applying classroom lessons in the setting of an actual manufacturing floor while working with us are what makes it so successful.”

Redding said his schedule kept him busy during the completion of the program. At one point, he was working three days a week while balancing a class schedule with 22 credit hours, which was the pace he set for himself. He said balancing his schedule wasn’t difficult because of the way the classes and internship worked hand-in-hand.

“[Lozier] didn’t throw me to the wolves, but they definitely didn’t hold me back from learning anything. I learned the basics of electricity, motor machine controls, hydraulics, pneumatics, plumbing and tool and die,” Redding said. “It’s amazing how many more fields I am involved in than where I started with welding. If you can think of any kind of machinery in a high-volume manufacturing plant, I pretty much have the range to work on it.”

While each MCC sponsorship program is customizable to the company’s workforce needs, they all have four main ingredients: paid jobs during training, work-based learning, hands-on MCC instruction and mentorship. In addition to high school students, sponsorship students range from veterans, established professionals looking to make a career change or existing entry-level employees who are proven workers, but haven’t developed the skillset to fill priority, higher-skill and higher-paying positions.

“Sponsored students learn so much faster and more efficiently because you apply what you’re learning in class every day from an instructor and are then teamed up with a mentor at work, so the learning is two-fold,” Champion said. “We have plenty of people who come in during their 20s and 30s who are working multiple jobs to make ends meet—we train them for a new career. They all end up having the skills when they’re done to make a good living.”

Bolte said one of the best outcomes of Sponsorship for the Trades is the impact it makes in the lives of Lozier employees.

That was true for Redding, whose mom suffered a stroke, which he used as a motivator to complete the program.

“It’s made me want to devote myself to work hard, make the most out of this and be the best I can be at what I’m doing,” Redding said.

When he looks back at the hard work he put in to complete the program, what he appreciates most is the satisfaction that comes with his work—something some people never find in an entire working career, but he has found with his first job.

“When you step back and look at it as a whole, being able to understand how everything in a manufacturing facility works together, and why it works, it gives you a whole new appreciation of what goes into making a product you normally wouldn’t think about—that’s the most satisfying thing,” Redding said.

For more information on developing a sponsorship program for your organization, contact Jim Champion at jchampion@mccneb.edu or call 531-MCC-4728.