Manufacturing Day brings students to local employers
Students gather at the Wilbur Berkey Field House in Smithville and await a bus to take them on a site visit to Wayne County employers.
With world-class manufacturers and educational facilities right here in Wayne County, the area managed to sustain the Great Recession better than most areas.
Wayne County’s unemployment rates beat state and national averages throughout the recession and still do to this day. But a new problem emerged: The county’s top employers are still searching for employees.
Six years ago the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce created the idea known as Manufacturing Day with help from partners at the Wayne Economic Development Council and the Orrville Chamber of Commerce in order to address that concern.
The program will return Oct. 5. Justin Starlin, president of the Wooster chamber, said Manufacturing Day has grown every single year. The idea is simple: connect local high school students with local manufacturers to build the pipeline toward good-paying jobs.
“This is by far the largest event of its kind in the state of Ohio,” Starlin said, adding it is one of the largest in the nation.
Every school district in Wayne County had students select their top-five businesses they would like to visit. Buses drop the students off at one of those locations for a site visit and chance to learn about what each employer does day to day. This year Starlin said the chamber is estimating more than 650 students will visit with 16 employers across Wayne County.
When Manufacturing Day first started, 150 students visited with four manufacturers. Top employers in the county like Wooster Brush, Schaeffler, Frito-Lay, Seaman Corporation and others will open their doors to the county’s high-schoolers.
Employers can hope a few students are interested in joining their ranks while students learn about solid jobs right in their own backyard.
“The focus of the day, in order for Wayne County to continue to grow like it has, is to find qualified workers,” Starlin said.
Starlin explained that for years employers have searched for qualified workers who can pass a drug test. But in the future employers also will try to replace older workers who retire from their positions. “Overall the retirement question is going to be a real thing in the next 3-5 years,” he said.
Starlin said this is the goal of partners like the WEDC and Orrville chamber. The WEDC, for instance, has a county-wide Workforce Development Strategy it is working to implement. The Wooster chamber has worked to spear-head Manufacturing Day to address the workforce problem, and new this year will be follow-up visits hosted for students and their parents.
Starlin said RayCo will host a Parents’ Night on Oct. 9 to meet with any parents and their children interested in working for that company. The goal is to have “more in-depth conversations” about the business and how their child can make a living there. There are plans for other employers to implement parent visits in the future. This is the next step Starlin said the event will grow.
After six years Starlin said the community is now seeing “success stories” in the form of employees who were students that attended past Manufacturing Day events. “We are trying to open the doors for the youth of today for tomorrow’s opportunities,” Starlin said.
For more information on Manufacturing Day, visit the chamber’s website at www.woosterchamber.com.