Column: Bedford's General Motors plant offers career pathways for skilled trades

Every day skilled trades workers are turning blueprints into buildings, creating structures from scratch, keeping our lights on, water running and building the hospitals and schools that keep us healthy and support our children.

I see this work firsthand as plant director at Bedford Casting Operations where skilled trades workers operate and maintain the machines that enable our plant to cast engine blocks, transmission casings, and other key vehicle components for products across the General Motors portfolio.

Skilled trades is fascinating, creative and satisfying work that is essential to many industries and everyday lives.

So, then, why are skilled trades often overlooked as a successful career path? And why is there a labor shortage for workers with these skills in Indiana and across the country?

It’s not due to a lack of interest. According to recent research by Thumbtack, 47% of adults, age 18 to 30, are interested in pursuing a career in the trades. Cultural stigmas around skilled trades and expectations to follow the traditional route of a four-year college degree program certainly contribute to the problem.

However, the most significant issue I see is the lack of understanding that prospective workers have about what skilled trades careers truly are and the benefits they present, coupled with a lack of exposure and access to the pathways needed to turn interest into an actionable career plan.

The job benefits are multiplied because of the high demand. Skilled trades workers are seeing increased job security, stability, flexibility and more competitive salaries. This, along with faster entry into the workforce and lower cost of education, can set people up with a long, prosperous career.

Internally, we recently celebrated May 1 as National Skilled Trades Day, and now I want to recognize both the opportunity and responsibility we have as a community to reimagine how we bring attention to these careers and how we can invest in providing accessible pathways to those eager to enter the trades.

At GM Bedford, we believe if you can see it, you can be it. To that end, we recently hosted students from Orleans, Shoals, Bedford North Lawrence and Mitchell high schools and invited them to talk with workers across the plant, including those in the trades – pipefitters, millwrights, electricians, machine repair team members, and diemakers – and to see what a day in the life in those positions looks like.

To reach students where they are, our team members speak to local classes and attend events, like high school job fairs. Additionally, to spur further learning, our facility donated a 3D printer system to STEM teachers in the Bedford community last year allowing students to start to experience the equipment for future career opportunities and for teachers to build it into their curriculum.

To further prepare talent for future careers, we offer a summer intern program to local students. They work at the plant every day and are assigned specific projects and present their learnings and results to the leadership team. This experience helps prepare students for careers in skilled trades and across manufacturing, shows them the great benefits that come with these jobs, and encourages them to pursue opportunities with companies like General Motors.

We are passionate about our role in attracting local students to the trades and manufacturing and are thankful for the great local partnerships we have. We are looking to expand our programming to other schools in the Bloomington and Central Indiana region and are available to support other local companies working to implement similar programs.

Lastly, as a community, it’s vital that we expand the value we place on internships in corporate settings to the value of apprenticeships and the real-world experience they offer. Trades apprenticeships are great paths for workers of all ages and provide paid on-the-job training and experience working directly with tradespeople and highly technical equipment and new technologies to prepare workers for what they will face in future careers.

To prepare those seeking apprenticeships, we encourage community members to check out the GM-UAW Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Readiness Certificate (STARC) program. This online program provides the foundational skills, such as blueprint reading and industrial processes, needed to succeed in both our apprenticeship program and apprenticeship opportunities across the country.

Here at Bedford Casting Operations, all 16 of our current apprentices completed the STARC program before joining our team and are gaining real-work experience and making an impact across our facility.

The demand for trade jobs is not going away. In 2023 alone, there were more than 770,000 skilled trades postings from nearly 95,000 different employers across the country. Currently, General Motors has hundreds of openings nationwide, including right here at our facility.

Our world will always want to build and bring new ideas to life, and we will need skilled trades workers to make it happen.

Mark Dickman is the plant director for General Motors Bedford Casting Operations.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bedford GM plant director reasons for young people to join trades