At this Philly-area trades college, students are swarmed with job offers

Jose Medina-Martinez, a senior at Williamson College of the Trades, already had seven companies interested in making him a job offer before he showed up to his school’s biannual career fair.

“You get a lot of job offers here. I think it’s a little foolish to take one without having everything lined up before you because who knows, maybe something later on down the line is a lot better,” said Medina-Martinez of Dover, Del. “The last thing I want to do is commit to something and then go back on my word.”

The country’s need for workers in the trades was on full display at Williamson’s career fair Wednesday in Media. That’s taking place amid an otherwise challenging job market, in which the hiring rate has been down for the past two years.

But at the Williamson career fair, some companies leave telling the school, “I would hire more guys if you had them,” said college president Michael Rounds.

Upon graduating, students can expect to make between $60,000 and $85,000 depending on their trade. They can go on to work as carpenters, masons, project managers, and field engineers.

With the skills Medina-Martinez has learned in the college’s power plant technology track, he says he could work many different jobs, such as a power plant operator or as an electrician for a utility company.

During Wednesday morning’s career fair, he estimated that he could line up some 25 interviews and felt confident he could get an offer from all of them.

“At that point, it just comes to which one gives better pay, benefits, location, stuff like that,” he said.

Medina-Martinez’s confidence isn’t misplaced. Many seniors start their final year at the college with at least one job offer in their pocket, says Rounds, and many have more than one to choose from.

“There are definitely more companies that are trying to hire people than there are students available to hire,” he said.

Companies have told the school that their skilled workforces are reaching retirement age, and they’re looking for new hires to fill their workforce pipeline.

Patrick McMahan Jr. of Germantown manufacturing company Derbyshire Machine & Tool Co. noted a large skills gap between newcomers and those leaving the workforce.

“The guys that you can hire that are ready [on] day one are retired at this point,” he said.

Matthew Moates, a commercial arborist with Bartlett Tree Experts, said it’s difficult to find new hires who “are really interested in getting their hands dirty and doing hard labor.”

“But it’s very rewarding when you find that person because usually when they do start working with you, they’re in it for the long run.”

“Why are companies from 19 different states coming to Media, Pennsylvania?” asks Rounds. “Because this is a nationwide problem.”

Some 178 companies gathered at the college Wednesday to find potential summer interns and full-time employees. They included local employers Peco, Hanwha, Lockheed Martin, and SEPTA.

“We’re at capacity, and we have been the last few events,” said Stephanie Boon, the college’s director of career services.

While getting into the trades might have been looked down upon in the past, Rounds said, that’s been changing given the need in those industries, coupled with the growing cost of higher education.

The college is trying to keep up with demand, both from the industry as well as the growing application pool. Over 770 applications were submitted for 130 spots in the most recent freshman class. The three-year school, which is nonprofit and tuition-free for students, today has 340 students, up from 238 in 2015.

“We have to push ourselves — which we have — to try to bring in as many young men as we can,” Rounds said.

Students don’t just learn trade skills at the college, they pick up soft skills that companies are also looking for, she says. Those include communication, critical thinking, time management and problem solving.

“We have a pretty strict atmosphere. We have a strong code of conduct,” Boon said. “Our students attend chapel every morning. They line up on a lineup pad every morning. They wear a shirt, tie, coat every day.”

Businesses want someone who is going to show up with their safety gear ready, who is going to be on time, and communicate issues effectively, she added.

Joseph Klosinski, a senior in the machine tool technology track, says pay is important when evaluating potential job offers, but he also cares about company culture.

“I want to be happy where I work,” said the Mount Holly native. “I don’t want to go there to collect a paycheck. I kind of want to feel part of the team.”

And one day he hopes to own his own business, he says. “It would be nice if I control my own destiny.”

For Peter Gaglio of Ware, a Kentucky-based boiler rental and service company, the career fair was a homecoming.

Gaglio, studied in the power plant technology track at Williamson, and started out the day with a couple hundred T-shirts to give out from his booth. Two hours later, he was down to six. He had also identified four interns to hire and three other candidates for full-time positions.

“It’s been very very successful,” he said.