Class in Lincoln is a bridge between manufacturers and available workforce

By February, he was checking pressure levels in tanks built for vehicle fuel systems that use compressed natural gas instead of diesel, making about $15 an hour and peering into a future beginning to take shape.

He has a new class — the brainchild of the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development’s workforce development director and the Lincoln Manufacturing Council — to thank for that.

That, and the fact that Schauer always showed up early, had his homework done and asked smart questions, all of which impressed the teacher, who happens to work for Agility Fuel Solutions, the company where Schauer landed a job.

“It doesn’t take a big brain to see this kid wants to do something,” said Bob Keller, an operations manager at Agility who taught the class. “You see a young guy like Adam, he’s got everything it takes to go as far he wants to go.”

Connecting people such as Keller and Schauer is the point of the class, a six-week course that met once a week at Lincoln High School for two hours, included dinner, child care, a 90-minute job shadow, a career fair and — for those who attended everything — a $250 stipend to offset lost wages for taking time off work for the class.

Leaders of Bison Industries, Kawasaki and TMCO got together with Bryan Seck, the workforce development director, about a year ago and created the Lincoln Manufacturing Council, an effort to find ways to fill a significant gap in the city’s manufacturing labor market.

The demand for workers in the manufacturing sector isn't new, a problem Seck said results from Lincoln’s low unemployment rate and a strong and diverse manufacturing industry that’s losing thousands of baby boomers to retirement.

Seck and the council focused on the underemployed, a reality underlying the 2.6% unemployment rate: those working part-time jobs with no regular hours or perks such as health insurance.

Part-time jobs rarely offer benefits, Seck said, and, particularly in the food service industry, employers send workers home when it's not busy, which can be a problem for people trying to make ends meet in low-wage jobs.

But people often don’t know about manufacturing jobs or fear they're not qualified.

The class was a bridge: a way to teach people in such situations some basic skills used in manufacturing and connect them with the sort of full-time jobs that would offer them more money, stability and benefits.

Fourteen manufacturing companies in the council offered different levels of sponsorship, money that pays for the classes, meals and stipends.

Keller said the investment is worth it if they get even one employee through the experience.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” he said. “I think it’s much needed. There’s a significant need for labor in the manufacturing realm in Lincoln.”

At Agility, for instance, they’re looking for about 20 people to hire as part of an expansion, said Darci Isherwood, a human resources business partner. The class, she said, is a great way to find people who don’t know about the company or are intimidated by the manufacturing skills they lack. 

Kawasaki’s Kevin Mattran wrote the curriculum, a course that teaches basic skills and things such as reading blueprints and work orders. It also teaches “soft skills” — the importance of showing up on time and how to talk to supervisors, skills Seck says are critical in manufacturing.

What manufacturers are looking for in the class is not people with well-honed manufacturing skills, but dependable people willing to learn them, he said.

“Manufacturers believe if folks show up six times in a row, do the job shadow, they think they’ve found a good person to work for them. What they’re really looking for is stick-to-itiveness,” Seck said. “They believe they can train anyone to work their machines if people want to show up.”

The class, offered for the first time last fall, is no guarantee of a job, but an opportunity to learn skills, meet the people hiring and apply.

The class is made up of people referred by case managers working with those looking for steady jobs.

“We really lean on and benefit from the expertise of the case managers,” Seck said. “(They) know their clientele and send people ready for full-time careers.”

The class is intended for those who have faced barriers of one sort or another that’s prohibited them from having a full-time job — issues such as addiction or domestic violence, poverty-related barriers such as transportation or child care and language barriers.

Half the people in the first class were refugees or immigrants learning English as a second language, Seck said.

One of the men in the first class, a refugee who’d been a police officer in Iraq and had worked for U.S. troops, finished the class but didn’t apply for a job. Seck called him to find out why. Turns out, Seck said, the online English application intimidated him, so Seck has begun helping him.

The man was among 15 people — out of more than 100 applicants — chosen to take the first class. Some of those not chosen already had the requisite skills, and Seck sent them a list of companies hiring and job openings.

Of those who took the class, two already have jobs, and the others have applied for jobs, Seck said.

The Lincoln Manufacturing Council just began two more classes — 15 students in each class.

In the first round, Schauer was the last person to sign up and the first to land a job.

He found out about the class when he was registering for classes at SCC and thinking about taking some welding classes, too, because he knew welders were in demand. 

One of the people helping him said she’d seen something about the manufacturing class and thought he’d be a perfect fit.

After he landed the job, he wrote her a thank-you note. He’s still taking GED classes, but now he’s got a regular paycheck and benefits, a mom who’s proud of him and a path forward.

“I do see myself sticking with the company and doing my best to show my worth and grow with the company,” he said.