Category: Workforce Development

Workforce Wednesday: The sheet metal trade | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

If you’re creative and like working with your hands, while making more than $20 an hour, then you may want to consider taking up a career in the sheet metal trade. It’s part of Alaska’s $7.3 billion construction industry

Earlier this month, Cari-Ann Carty with the Alaska Process Industry Careers Consortium and Jim Letts, President of Sheet Metal Incorporated, joined Daybreak to talk about the industry. Heating and ventilation type of work is what you find most in Alaska. It also includes welding and industrial fields like shipbuilding. Letts said it’s more than welding.

“It’s a fabrication for ventilation systems,” he said. “We have things that we build from scratch from a flat piece of metal to a 3D object, of course there’s architectural sheet metal. It’s multifaceted.”

Pay Range

  • Entry Level: $21/hr + 5% raise every 1,000 hours
  • Journeymen: $41/hr + $23 per hour in benefits

APICC Outreach Coordinator

  • Martha Peck
  • (907) 770-5250
  • Martha@apicc.org

For more information on employment and training, click here.

Source: Workforce Wednesday: The sheet metal trade | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Fishing Officials Work to Get Young People Fishing Permits

KODIAK (AP) — People in the fishing industry are looking for ways to help young fishermen join the workforce.

During the ComFish conference in Kodiak earlier this month, industry officials talked about ways to help young people overcome barriers to entry, such as permit loans, a sustainable fisheries trust and possibly community permit banks, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported.

“Over the decades that we’ve all been here, we’ve seen and experienced a lot of changes, and it’s important to understand the trend and use our collective island experience to chart the course for our future and identify the challenges and work toward finding solutions,” said Theresa Peterson, who moderated the forum. “I think one of the greatest challenges we’re identifying is access to our fisheries for the next generation.”

University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Courtney Carothers says the age of the average permit holder has increased by 10 years since 1980 and more students aren’t fishing despite historical ties to it. Despite the decline, she said young people still know fishing has value.

“Most people that we interviewed whether they were older, younger, directly engaged in fishing or not see fisheries as integral to the health and well-being and the identity of their communities,” Carothers said. “It’s not something that people aren’t interested in figuring out how to best serve their communities.”

Alaska Sea Grant Director, Paula Cullenberg, says her organization has funded a study on ways to combat the aging fishing workforce.

“It’s not a federal fisheries management issue or a state fisheries management issue, this is an issue for our state as we look to the future of our resources and our economy,” she said.

Source: Fishing officials work to get young people fishing permits | Peninsula Clarion

Experts Teach New Fishermen the Ropes

The Kachemak Bay campus of Kenai Peninsula College is offering half a dozen classes for boat owners, deckhands and others next month at either minimal cost or free.

The classes include three put on by the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, which are Drill Conduc-tor, Stability Training and Ergonomics For Fishermen.

The other three are Deckhand Skills, Vessel Systems and Aluminum Fabrication. Read the full article here.

Source: Experts teach new fishermen the ropes | Homer News

Workforce Wednesday: Travel and Tourism | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Alaska is expected to see record numbers of visitors this year, which means more potential jobs in the tourism industry.

Josh Howes, president of Premier Alaska Tours, joined Daybreak to talk about jobs in the industry.

From cooks and servers, to motor coach drivers and vehicle maintenance workers, pay can range anywhere from $15 to $50 per hour, according to Alaska Process Industry Career Consortium.

Howes said his career started with a seasonal summer job. To be successful in the field, you have to be a people person, he said.

“If you have those people skills, it’s a great, great fit for you. It’s very, very fun,” Howes said. “You can take those people skills and apply them to any other industry, any other relationship in your life, whether it’s working in customer service, helping folks get through a challenging moment or, you know, making sure they’re having a great, great time and having a trip of a lifetime.”

Companies hiring:

Alaska Railroad

Aramark

NANA Corp

For more information on jobs in different industries in Alaska, visit the Alaska Process Industry Career Consortium website.

Source: Workforce Wednesday: Travel and Tourism | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Bristol Bay fishermen prepare for quality mandates

The coming mandate for higher quality fish deliveries in Bristol Bay could be particularly difficult for watershed residents, but some have said it could also be good news in the long-term.

Read the full article here.

Source: Bristol Bay fishermen prepare for quality mandates | KDLG