Workforce Development Update

By Chay Ibarra, APCA Workforce Development Coordinator

It’s been a busy year for ACPA’s Workforce Development program, with many new initiatives to help our members recruit job candidates. By drawing upon the latest technology, strategic partnerships and good old-fashioned networking, we’re ready to see a fruitful 2018 for recruitment in the concrete pumping industry. Below is a summary of our most recent efforts to help you find the future operators for your pumping business.

PUMP OPERATOR SIMULATOR

This year, we’re excited to introduce one of our newest offerings in workforce development—the pump operator simulator. Drawing upon the latest video software technology, the pump operator simulator will bring great benefits to our members and their job recruitment efforts by giving job candidates a realistic virtual experience of operating a pump. The simulator will travel with us to job fairs so candidates can feel the first-hand excitement of pump operation—complete with an authentic pump operator remote from Schwing America, Inc.

Like many video games, the pump operator simulator offers different levels of play. The first of the simulator’s four levels is known as the “ground level.” This offers a very simple pour and is ideal for our recruitment efforts at job fairs. Levels climb to higher degrees of difficulty, including a parking garage, the top of a building and a below-grade pour. But unlike many video games, there’s a no-pressure atmosphere where users don’t score points or have requirements to advance to the next level. With our simulator, it’s all about the learning experience of operating a pump, not the competition.

While users will have a great time working the remote, they’re also exposed to a real-life pumping situation which means the simulator can also be used in training new operators. The operator must adjust the simulator until he has access to a good view of the pump truck and the area into which he’s pumping. With the remote, the operator moves the boom, starts the pump, blows the horn—everything he or she would do in a real-life pumping situation. When the pour is complete, the simulator requires you to fold up the pump boom and turn off the truck.

The pump operator simulator experience is a lot of fun, and you’ll want to check it out. If you’re at World of Concrete 2018, be sure to stop by the ACPA booth for a demo. You may even want to test your skills with a level four pour!

In addition to the simulator, we’ve formed a strategic relationship with RecruitMilitary, one of the leading resources for connecting with America’s best talent—its veterans. In 2018, we’ll join RecruitMilitary at 12 of their veterans’ job fairs. We’re planning two job fairs in each of our six regions. One of the two fairs in each region will be a physical, on-location job fair, and the other will be a virtual, online event. We’re looking forward to promoting concrete pumping careers at these fairs, and we hope our members will be able to join us when we’re exhibiting in their area. We’ll update you with veterans’ job fairs dates when schedules are available.

Our partnership with RecruitMillitary also provides ACPA members with special access to the RecruitMilitary.com database. Through this database, all ACPA members have the ability to advertise an unlimited number of job postings for the year. It’s an amazing opportunity for our members to recruit new talent.

What’s more, our members can purchase a RecruitMillitary annual user license for $750—an incredibly deep discount off the standard charge of $3,000 per user license. By purchasing a user license, ACPA members will have 12 months of access to thousands of veterans’ resumes. To simplify the process for users, the resume database categorizes veteran job-seekers by demographics, location, job expertise, experience, interests, military status and more.

UPCOMING OPERATOR VIDEO

ACPA is also working on other new initiatives to show real-world pumping experiences, such as our upcoming Day in the Life of an Operator video. Filming is now complete, and we’re working on finalizing the voiceover script at the time of this writing. The 10-minute video is designed to present a real-world pump operating experience: an operator getting up, driving to the job site and performing a concrete pumping job.

The Day in the Life video will support the two recruiting videos we show at job fairs. Our ACPA members will be able to share the video with pump operator candidates to give them an idea of what operating a pump is really like. It will be a great way to make sure potential job seekers are serious about a concrete pumping career. Voiceovers for the video will be completed in both English and Spanish. The video is expected to be available in 2018.

PLAN NOW FOR YOUR FUTURE NEEDS

We hope our members will take advantage of these very special opportunities this year. Even if your company isn’t currently hiring, it’s important to begin planning now for your upcoming recruitment needs. Many of you still need to request to receive notifications when new resumes are posted to the ACPA Career Center. Receiving these notifications is vitally important and beneficial for every member, and they can even help companies fill positions in other parts of the country. It’s one of the best resources we offer for connecting job seekers with our membership, so be sure to take advantage of this great benefit and sign up to receive Career Center notifications.

To do this, or if you’d like more information about any of the other benefits mentioned here, contact me at chay[at]concretepumpers[dot]com or (614) 431-5618, and I’ll help you get started.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you and working together to make 2018 a prosperous New Year!