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I sit down with C.E. Floyd's Director of Marketing, Catie McMenamin, to discuss her involvement in the AGC's Communication Advisory Committee, and the importance of young people entering the construction industry.

Transcript

Richie: Hello and welcome to Building People, a podcast highlighting the individuals behind construction projects and the stories that we live. I'm your host, Richie McNamara. I politely ask that you make sure you're following us, C.E. Floyd, on Instagram and LinkedIn while we get started with this episode of Building People.

Today I sit down with C.E. Floyd’s Director of Marketing, Catie McMenamin. We discuss her involvement in the AGC’s communication advisory committee and the importance of young people entering the construction industry.

Richie: Hello, Catie. Welcome. Thank you for joining me.

Catie: Thanks for having me.

Richie: So I want to talk to you a little bit about your involvement in the AGC. I know you are director of marketing here at C.E. Floyd. You have been for what, nine years, is it?

Catie: I've been at C.E. Floyd for over 20 years. I don't know about my current role.

Richie: I pulled that off for LinkedIn. I saw. So if everything’s accurate on there...

Catie: Well, then that should be right then.

Richie: But I also want to talk to you about the AGC, can you tell me a little bit about what that stands for and what it is.

Catie: Sure. The AGC is the Associated General Contractors and it's an industry association that provides a lot of education, safety, training and advocacy for the industry.

Richie: And when did you first get involved with the AGC?

Catie: I don't know. That's a good question. I know we've been sponsoring some things there for a while. I know our former CEO was the president of the Mass chapter at one point. So the company itself has been involved since as long as it's existed. 

Richie: Wow. And it's my understanding that you're involved in some sort of committee there that's working on something specific right now. Can you tell me about that?

Catie: Yeah, it's awesome. I am a part of the Communication Advisory Committee and one of our roles is to put together a newsletter called Future Builders, and it goes out to teachers, students and parents to help educate them about the different career opportunities available in construction.

Richie: And why is this important? Why are you trying to, you know, target these people?

Catie: Sure. So our industry is an aging industry. Our workforce, the average person in the workforce is getting older every year. And we are not recruiting enough young workers to replace them. So as of December, there were over 400,000 job openings in the construction industry nationally that we just don't have we don't have the demand from the younger people to fill those jobs.

Richie: And what why do you think that is? What do you think some are some of the barriers that are stopping young people from entering this industry or causing any sort of hesitation from entering this industry?

Catie: I think there's definitely a stigma to a blue collar job these days. Parents are pushing their kids to go to college and get a four year degree. And so that is not helpful to filling some of these roles. And also, the workforce in our industry, to be honest, is not very diverse. So some people just might not see themselves represented in our workforce. So that's another issue that we're tackling.

Richie: Yeah, I think representation is definitely something important to acknowledge and talk about. What are some of the challenges that you've you've seen so far trying to recruit younger people?

Catie: People aren't aware, I don't think, of some of the newer roles that are available in this industry. You know, a lot of people are entering the tech fields and actually construction has some technical roles now. We have companies that have full on drone programs. We have virtual design and things like that. So those are still on the technical side that people may not be aware of. But also, I think it is just that stigma that, oh, construction, it's hard work. It is hard work. And a lot of people don't want their kids maybe going into this industry. So they're pushing them to go to college and do something else.

Richie: I totally feel you about how many positions and jobs there are even within our company. Because when you think about construction, you just think of, like, the blue collar stuff like you were saying. But there's so much that goes into every single project and every single function of the company.

Catie: Like we're both in marketing. We have a full HR department, we have a finance department, we have a sales department.

Richie: And IT

Catie: IT, Exactly. So we still have all the same roles that all the other businesses out there have to have in addition to the construction specific ones.

Richie: So what do you think that the younger generations or younger people can can benefit from joining this industry? Why do you think they should enter this field?

Catie: To be honest, a desk job isn't for everyone. We have those here, but we also have lots of other opportunities. And then college education is not getting any cheaper. So if you want to have a career with good earning potential without going to college and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, you can do that here in the construction industry.

Richie: So the Communications Advisory Committee with AGC, are you working with local vocational schools and technical schools to kind of reach that market?

Catie: So the AGC has a different program called their externship program. And that occurs over the summer. Teachers can apply to be a part of that, and they get a stipend and they sit through some classroom training that teaches them about the construction industry and all the opportunities.
And they also take jobsite tours. They've done that for the last two summers, and a lot of those participants do happen to work at technical high schools. But I mean, they're definitely one of our targets.

Richie: Have they ever visited a C.E. Floyd site?

Catie: We're working on that. Not yet, but it will happen.

Richie: Is there anything else you want to share about the AGC or young people in construction?

Catie: Sure. We need young people to join the construction industry. And if you want something where no day is the same and you want some challenges and you're a problem solver, organized, hard worker, proactive. This could be a great industry for you.

Richie: I like to think I'm a young person, I was born in 2000 and it has my stamp of approval. You heard it here first.Thank you, Catie.

Catie: Thanks Richie.

Richie: Right now, C.E. Floyd is looking for a project engineer to join our team in Massachusetts. If you or someone you know has interest, go to cefloyd.com/join-our-family

To learn more about our company, go to cefloyd.com and follow us on social media. Thank you for listening, I’m Richie McNamara, and this has been Building People.