SHOUT IT LOUD

Brand Ambassadors program is gaining momentum with #MJMG

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

By / Jessica Kirby  Photos courtesy of General Sheet Metal

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.”

Charissa Schubert has been with Local 16 for six years and a foreperson at GSM for one year. She loves building parts in the shop and watching her work come alive on the job site. “Being able to drive by with my kids and say, ‘Hey, your mom made that’ is a pretty cool feeling,” she says.

Her career in the sheet metal industry had proven diverse and challenging in the best possible ways. “One of the biggest lessons is learning how to work with the materials and their tolerances and different people in the construction industry,” Schubert says. “It’s a whole lot different than selling suits, which is what I did for 13 years before this career.”

She would love to see the MJMG campaign gain more traction because a career in sheet metal is—though physically and mentally tough—very gratifying. She wants young people considering a career in sheet metal to know it’s important to do their research and talk to experienced men and women to see if it is the right choice.

“If you love to be challenged on a daily basis, this is the job for you,” she says. “I wish I had started this career right out of high school. I have always loved building things, so if you feel the same, check us out. Local 16 feels like a family to me. They have your back and want to see you succeed.” GSM’s Molly Cloutier has been a sheet metal apprentice for 1-1/2 years. The MJMG campaign sums up an important part of why she loves her career in sheet metal and why she recommends it to others who love working with their hands and thinking outside the box.

“This career is best suited for someone who is not content sitting at a desk or running a cash register all day,” Clouthier says. “There is something for everyone in this field and so many opportunities to grow and challenge yourself.”

She adds that her career definitely supports her efforts to stay physically and mentally healthy. “Staying in shape is important to me, and I love that I can build muscle while working,” Clouthier says. “It’s like getting paid to go to the gym!”

Most importantly, she loves inspiring women to take a risk and make a change in their lives. “This campaign has created quite a bit of buzz in my circle of influence,” Clouthier says. “I need to take more pictures of the hard work I put in on a daily basis, emphasizing the strength and power created every day at work.”

Portland has seen a tight labor market for the past three years, prompting GSM to strengthen existing efforts to build the company’s brand and culture with retention and recruitment in mind. And those efforts are working.

“We’ve been one of Oregon’s Top 100 companies for 10 out of the past 12 years,” Duncan says. “We have teammates on workforce boards, and we participate in pre-apprentice programs and career fairs at high schools and colleges.”

Historically, Duncan has found the company’s best teammates came from referrals from current employees. “I do think that the ambassadors are having fun with the challenge,” she says. “The photos speak for themselves.”

#MJMG

She would like to see even more activity from her group and others and is hoping a new year brings fresh momentum.

Strengthening the workforce into the future is a moving target requiring a constant eye on new strategies. “The generation that is retiring now came directly from high school,” she says. “When the shop classes were removed from the junior high schools and high schools, we lost our direct line into the trades. It took decades to for us to reengage recruitment efforts at the level required to replace those retiring, not to mention doing so in an extremely busy economy.”

Once MJMG has run its course, the next Brand Ambassador campaign will be related to a “craftsperson by day, artist by night” theme and showcase the things people do related to their craft outside of daily life. In the meantime, Bordeaux encourages more activity at the organizational level, particularly in places experiencing a labor shortage.

“Over 88% of the people who responded to our survey said they learned about the trade through talking to their friends and family,” Bordeaux says. “Part of the reason we want people to promote the trade through their social networks is that we know they are using those social networks to connect with their friends and family. If we can get people who look like our best targets to post on social media, the odds of attracting those individuals goes up significantly.”

Bordeaux will be discussing the Brand Ambassador program at the Partners in Progress Conference (February 25-26 in Las Vegas) during Tuesday’s general session. She and Paul Pimentel, who leads research and communications for SMART, will be doing a more focused breakout session on marketing through social media on Wednesday. Visit pinp.org/ conferences/pinp20/ for details.

Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering construction, architecture, mining, travel, and sustainable living for myriad publications across Canada and the United States. She can usually be found among piles of paper in her home office or exploring nature’s bounty in British Columbia’s incredible wilderness.