Knowledge is power - and we’re committed to empowering people, to learn as much possible about the benefits of manufacturings as a career. From our RESOURCES page to the News page, with stories covering individual Maverick profiles to reporting on the workforce initiatives and the industry as a whole, we want to celebrate and tell the stories about real people achieving their goals.

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Celebrating the Next Generation of Manufacturers

If you are lucky enough to have enthusiastic team members, how do you share their incredible perspective on manufacturing careers with current high school students, and grow your workforce?
 
Approaching workforce challenges from an even broader perspective, how do we, as an industry, promote the tremendous manufacturing career opportunities that exist for high school graduates, while we have a national culture focused on college as the predominant path to a successful career? Read more >

TMA: The Illinois Manufacturer Magazine

Metalform Magazine

Good Employees: If You Highlight Them, More Will Come

Great concepts can crop out of unexpected places: corn fields; marketing agencies.

In trying to encourage young people to explore a career in manufacturing, a company could shine a little limelight on the ones who have. Award the cream of the crop, publish their photos and bios, and others will follow.

That’s the theory behind Manufacturing Mavericks, a recognition program cultivated by marketing agency Custom Direct, which works with small- to-medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) to “create a digital presence,” say agency leads Nancy O’Leary and Geoff Bevington.

“While talking with clients regarding their ‘About’ website pages and company cultures, the workforce shortage kept coming up. Clients asked us what we could do on their websites to help recruit the next generation of manufacturing employees,” says O’Leary. “It’s uppermost on manufacturers’ minds.”

“We thought, we need to be able to help them understand and picture what a role in manufacturing looks like,” adds Bevington. Read more >

Harper College

The College Tour: Cassie and the Apprenticeship Program

Cassie was chosen by Harper College's Apprenticeship Programs, Earn and Learn, to be the featured student for the Amazon Prime TV series, The College Tour. This episode spotlighting Harper College will air in February of 2024. Cassie is currently enrolled in the Harper College Apprenticeship: CNC Precision Machining Program.

David Mooshool

Student Stories: David Mooshool

David Mooshool took two years of manufacturing classes at York Community High School before becoming a youth apprentice through the DuPage County Work-Based Learning Consortium. The program was launched by College of DuPage and the DuPage County Regional Office of Education to help create a talent pipeline for a variety of careers, starting with manufacturing. Read more >