JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With a growing demand for skilled workers across Florida, local students were able to get a hands-on look at what a future in the trades could look like.
Construction Ready’s CareerExpo was back at The Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center in Jacksonville this week, aiming to close the skills gap and connect students with real opportunities in construction and other high-demand fields.
On Tuesday, Scott Shelar, president and CEO of Construction Ready, showed News4JAX the ins and outs of this facility and how students benefit from this.
“We want to make sure people know you don’t have to get a four-year degree to be successful in life. It’s our main message here. There are other actually better paths to success for a lot of people. That is learn a trade, become an electrician, become a plumber, become a mason and you can make a lot of money,” Shelar said.
Those are exactly the kinds of trades students explored at the expo, and it wasn’t just limited to high schoolers.
“You have to start talking to young people before they get to high school, you have to make them aware of these opportunities. And we’re pushing them as young as second grade,” Shelar said.
To take part in this expo, students must already be enrolled in a trade program at their school.
Once there, they build on their skills and compete in the SkillsUSA State Championships.
“It’s sort of two championships in one. The state championships of the best young carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers in the state of Florida. They come here to Jacksonville every year to determine who is the very best, who is the gold medalist,” Shelar said.
And while students are competing, the industry is urgently hiring.
Experts say the construction field will need to add more than 430,000 workers in 2025, and nearly half a million more the following year— just to meet growing demand.
