One Thousand Students To Participate In Seventh Annual Oakland County Manufacturing Day Will Join Online From Their High Schools
Pontiac, Michigan – Oakland County Michigan Works! is hosting its seventh annual Manufacturing Day on Friday, October 1 with 1,000 high school students participating in live, online tours with professionals from 10 local advanced manufacturing companies.
“Manufacturing Day boosts our Oakland80 initiative by creating a buzz around advanced manufacturing careers for our students,” Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter said. “They will encounter not only the cutting-edge companies we have in Oakland County, but what it takes to build a successful career here.”
Oakland80 is the county’s strategic goal of having 80 percent of adult residents with a post-secondary degree or certified training credential by 2030.
This is the second year Oakland County Michigan Works! has gone virtual with Manufacturing Day due to COVID-19. Students will go on video tours of the operations, enjoy live online presentations by company employees, and participate in question-and-answer sessions where they can submit questions in real time. Company employees representing various departments will be sharing details about their jobs, educational background, and entry-level opportunities, including apprenticeships and on-the-job training programs.
North Farmington High School engineering instructor Amy Porter and her students participated in the virtual Oakland County Manufacturing Day last year.
“My students not only got to visit a local manufacturing company, but they learned more about the jobs available within the organization and the education and experience needed. They also got to see how the manufacturing industry has adapted and managed to work during this time, too,” she said.
Oakland County Manufacturing Day offers morning and afternoon sessions: 10:30-11:30 a.m. and 1-2 p.m., with room to add additional students. High school career counselors and teachers interested in having their classes participate should contact Daphne Hoeft at Oakland Schools at 248-209-2516 to reserve online spots for the event. The deadline to register is Tuesday, September 28.
“Oakland County Manufacturing Day is one of the highlights of the year for us,” said Workforce Development Manager Jennifer Llewellyn. “Our job is to help our manufacturers build highly trained and skilled teams and events like this help fuel the talent pipeline of next-generation professionals who will work at these employers, some as soon as next year.”
This year’s participating Manufacturing Day employers include:
- ABB
- Atlas Copco
- Brose North America
- Encore Automation
- FANUC America
- Hirotec America
- Hi-Tech Mold & Engineering
- Prefix Corp.
- Wenzel America
- 3-Dimensional Services Group
Oakland County Michigan Works! partners with Oakland County, Oakland Schools and Oakland Community College to organize this event.
National Manufacturing Day, held each year on the first Friday in October, is designed to showcase the many in-demand, technology-driven engineering, industrial, manufacturing, and skilled trades career opportunities available to young adults today.
Oakland County Michigan Works! operates service centers in Novi, Oak Park, Pontiac, Southfield, Troy and Waterford. Combined, they assist more than 105,000 job seekers annually. Services include career coaching, interviewing and job search workshops, placement assistance, training courses and job trend information.
The service centers also assist more than 3,000 employers seeking assistance with talent recruitment, apprenticeship programs, job fairs, candidate pre-screening, hiring and training support, layoff support and labor market data.
Service center staff remain available by virtual appointment to work one-on-one with job seekers to build their resumes, prepare for job interviews and help address other needs. To schedule a virtual meeting, call 1-248-858-5520 and select the office nearest to you. The service centers are hosting several virtual workshops for job seekers. A schedule can be found at www.OaklandCountyMIWorks.com.