Shout it
LOUD Brand Ambassadors program is gaining momentum with
#MJMG
By / Jessica Kirby Photos courtesy of General Sheet Metal The SMACNA-SMART National Task Force is several months into its Brand Ambassadors program, and momentum is starting to build. The program launched in October and is aimed at identifying the industry’s best as brand ambassadors who can champion various parts of their careers using social media (see: issuu.com/partnersinprogress/docs/pinp_ august2019_final). The program’s first campaign, My Job is My Gym, promotes the physical benefits of a career in sheet metal with a photo contest and promotional t-shirts, using the hash tag #MJMG. To launch the pilot, educators, union representatives, and contractors were invited to participate in introductory webinars outlining the program’s purpose, materials, and potential for customization. John Wright, business representative for Local 20 in Evansville, Indiana, participated in a webinar to gain awareness about recruitment efforts and because he hopes the program will help the Local gain more applicants. “Recruitment efforts in our location take many forms,” he says. “We have done TV, radio, job fairs, and presentations at our local facility to Ivy Tech and a high school technical center. We occasionally need more people, but we have been successful finding manpower most of the time.” He hopes the Brand Ambassador program continues to encourage suitable recruits and inform potential candidates about available career possibilities in the signatory sheet metal industry. “Specifically, I hope the campaign lets people know what the union can provide,” he says. “I hope it generates a good and 6 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
plentiful list of applicants for apprenticeships and, potentially, draws skilled workers from the non-union sector to the union.” The program has been picked up in a few locales but it will take some time for it to gain serious traction, says Lisa Bordeaux, a consultant to the SMACNA-SMART Best Practices Task Force and expert in recruitment efforts aimed at young people. Bordeaux designed the Brand Ambassadors program and says it has received some good initial interest, including several t-shirt orders from contractors and Locals. “The program’s success is dependent on individual organizations and their ability to get people excited about the campaign,” Bordeaux says. “We need people to share what they like about their jobs and how that affects their lives.” Support is available from the national office, which provides the materials and supports participating organizations. In Portland, Oregon, for instance, the Task Force has completed outreach in coordination with and on behalf of Local 16, bringing materials and resources to the local school. Carol Duncan is CEO of General Sheet Metal (GSM) in Portland, Oregon. Her team has taken on the MJMG campaign, donning shirts and posting photos of the crew in action to social media. For Duncan, the decision to take on the campaign was made as a way to take a fresh approach to recruitment. “The Brand Ambassador challenge is different from anything we have used before,” she says. “It encourages our current bargaining workforce to reach out to their peers and engage them, showing them the great opportunities and large varieties of work that are possible.”
