On this episode, we'll get the insight from women in the skilled trade industry about how trades aren't just for men and how women are making solid careers out of the programs offered by Lincoln Tech. Lincoln's mission is to provide superior education and training to our students for in-demand careers in a supportive, accessible learning environment, transforming students' lives and adding value to their communities. Alison Neuman, Program Manager of Workforce Development at Johnson Controls, Inc. - Buildings Solutions North America: The skilled trades are for everyone. I agree that stereotypically we would say or in the past it's a male dominated career. But being a technician in the field is a phenomenal opportunity for both men and women. 00:00:18 Morgan Woodtke, Lincoln Tech Graduate and Diesel Technician: My advice to any woman who wants to get into this, don't be scared. 00:00:23 Jennifer Hash, President of Lincoln Tech’s Denver, CO campus: When I got into this industry, I would say probably about 3 to 5% of our students were female. I looked at it today at the Denver campus. 11% of our students are female. You know, there's creative things with collision. It's not just wrenching on cars. 00:00:39 Host: Welcome to the official podcast of Lincoln Tech. On this episode, we'll talk to the women who encourage other women that are currently working in the trade industry and how the trades aren't just for men anymore. Lincoln Tech’s mission is to provide superior education and training to our students for in demand careers in a supportive, accessible learning environment, transforming students’ lives and adding value to their communities. Now let's chat with the women who make the trades program great. 00:01:03 Hash: I'm the campus president at Lincoln Tech in Denver, Colorado. We are a skilled trades college and we train technicians in auto diesel, HVAC, collision, electrical and welding. 00:01:17 Host: I always thought that women weren't interested in the trade field, but I'm guessing that I'm wrong here. 00:01:22 Hash: Women got into the trades, I believe, during World War two, when soldiers had to go off to war. Women went into the factories to build airplanes and ships and everything. That's how Lincoln Tech was founded. When soldiers were coming back, we wanted to make sure that they were trained and had a skill that they can go into work and get back into society coming from the wartime. Over the years, we saw the decline in women being in skilled trades after that when the men came back. But recently it is still definitely a male dominated industry and our focus with the skilled trades gap is women were an untapped resource to be able to make sure those skilled trades continue to move on and that gap closes. We talk about it all the time and with the high school students, with the adult students that we need people not just going the traditional university route. We need students to be able to go into the skilled trades since there is such a need in those industries. 00:02:24 Host: What would you say to the women out there about the program? 00:02:26 Hash: I would just say skilled trades is an amazing opportunity for anybody, even though it's a male dominated field, that women can be very successful in it. It's all about getting that education. And Lincoln Tech does provide an amazing education for skilled trades and has that support system. We work with a lot of industry employers that want to grow their female population and their female staff, and we're here to help that. We're excited to help with it and it is a great industry to get into being both with the education being only about a year and then working with our career services department to obtain those employment opportunities. 00:03:08 Neuman: My name is Allison Newman. I'm the program manager for workforce development for Johnson Controls and I support workforce development strategies for all of North America. 00:03:18 Host: So Allison, what's so good about this program? 00:03:20 Neuman: I think exploring a career, being technician, being in the skilled trades is very, very attractive to women. When you compare costs of a technical degree versus a 4year degree, it's astronomically cheaper. You are able to enter the workforce faster. Yes, you may still incur some debt, right, to pay for it, but you are going to be earning dollars much faster than a student that's having to pay back student loans. And it's a field in which the yes, there is the hands-on piece, but more and more women, we are getting them into STEM, getting them attracted to robotics competitions and STEM based curriculum in the middle schools and high school so that the next path doesn't necessarily have to be an engineer in a four year school. How about I get an electronics certificate? How about I get an HVAC certificate, start getting that hands-on experience, start making some money? We have ...
