BEYOND THE BUILD | Construction Internships: How S. M. Wilson's Internship Program is Helping Build the Future

Internships for aspiring construction professionals offer a blend of learning and professional development opportunities. They have emerged as a cornerstone for cultivating the next generation of talent by bridging the gap between theory and practical application.

“No matter what career path someone explores in the construction industry, a soon-to-be graduate or a person interested in entering the industry should consider an internship or shadowing opportunity before investing time and money into the field,” said Diana Wilhold, Deputy Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer with Construction Forum.

“That firsthand experience enhances the decision-making process for the individual, allowing them to learn what aspect of the industry they might like. An internship also allows the intern to determine if that company is a good fit for them and if the work the company provides is their area of interest.”

For an employer, these internships offer vital tools and a better understanding of attracting, nurturing, and retaining fresh talent. This ensures a steady pipeline of skilled workforce ready to tackle the industry’s future challenges.

Gaining Real-World Experience

S. M. Wilson offers internships for undergraduate and graduate students interested in a career in the construction industry to promote interest, expand minds and deliver a more hands-on experience. Offered from May through August, these internships have resulted in multiple summers spent with the company and then full-time positions upon graduation. Other intern opportunities include cooperative programs for those students within driving distance of the company’s main office or projects close to their school.

“Our program offers our interns the opportunity to learn in the field and the office. Our interns are provided the experiences to assist in continuing their education outside the classroom and starting a career in the construction industry,” said Maggie Farrell, Human Resources and Diversity Manager.

“Our team members work to bring these interns into the folds of a project each summer to give them a true understanding of the field they are studying and the direction their lives may go if they choose to continue.”

Over the last seven years, S. M. Wilson has welcomed 40 college interns through the program. Many have gone on to accept full-time positions with the company after graduation.

This summer, S. M. Wilson had eight summer college interns from universities, including Missouri S&T, Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), and Alabama A&M.

Beneficial for All Parties

Internships allow students to cultivate skills and gain a more in-depth industry perspective. They also give students valuable experiences and a chance to find their footing before entering the workplace with potential new employers.

“The interns will experience working in that company’s culture and procedures. In turn, if the intern is successful at work and makes great connections, that employee will be more likely to hire that intern once they graduate. The company hosting that intern is putting in the time and money as they would with any other new employee. Employees also have the opportunity to see what is working and not working for the retention of their company, “ said Amber Parker, Workforce Development Program Manager with the Associated General Contractors in Missouri (AGCMO).

Wilhold agreed that every person a company connects with should be viewed as a potential team member who could fill a future open position.

“Just as it's important to the company, a soon-to-be graduate should take the opportunity to learn and accept an internship or network to have the ability to job shadow several companies for pure exposure and knowledge growth in all aspects of the build,” Wilhold said. “Not every company performs work the same way, nor do they specialize in the same type of build. An intern can get an idea of the type of work they might be doing and the colleagues they might soon be working with.”

Enhancing the Experience

“We are providing these interns with real-world experiences and the on-the-job training meant to assist them in their journey toward a future in construction. Our team members are committed to giving these students all the necessary tools and information to move toward those careers,” said Jason Gasawski, Director of Operations with S. M. Wilson.

As the summer drew to a close, each intern had different takeaways about what they enjoyed most about their experience.

“I enjoyed the community outreach and making a difference in my project,” said Ciarrah Bell, a civil engineering student at Missouri S&T and a second-year intern with the program.

Bell was a project engineer intern with the team at Columbia Public School’s new Southwest Elementary School, a joint venture project with Reinhardt Construction. In June, Reinhardt/Wilson team members volunteered in Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity’s first Women Build 2024, where more than 100 female volunteers constructed three houses together.

SLDC 4th Annual Planroom Open House - We'll Be There!

This is an event to welcome contractors, construction companies & developers to network as they have the opportunities to learn, join and/or participate with following:

Professional Networking Groups:

• Employment Connection Section 3 Certification
• Site Improvement Association
• St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers (SLC3)
• Construction Forum
• Missouri Women in Trades (MOWIT)

Upcoming Opportunities

• Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) Projects
• SLDC Projects

Planroom Offering

• Headcount (project management software)
• RSMeans Data (construction cost estimating software)
• PlanSwift (estimating software)

And more...

This your chance to connect, learn and grow! See you on Sept. 18, 2024 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Northside Economic Empowerment Center (NEEC) 4248 Cottage Ave St Louis, MO 63115. 314.617.0360

Why Construction Needs More Access to Opioid Overdose Meds

Drugs like fentanyl kill more workers in construction than in any other industry, but some states limit permissions around Narcan and other lifesaving antidotes, says a Nevada union leader.

When people think about the potential dangers of working on a construction site, falling off scaffolding or being injured or killed by heavy machinery are typically the situations that come to mind. To be sure, these are all very real risks. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that construction workers already face the highest number of fatal work injuries compared to any other profession. 

However, according to a study last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses, primarily from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, take more construction workers’ lives than anything else. It’s time to shine a light on this hidden crisis and ensure that all overdose treatments are available where they’re needed most. 

Some workers in construction and other labor-intensive fields, especially those on short-term contracts, already start off with a disadvantage; poor health coverage and little paid time off, if any, to recover from injuries. Driven by the initial need to quickly return to work, pain management through self-medication can easily spiral into addiction and death.

And, as I mentioned, overdoses are more deadly than the hazardous work on the job. In 2020, the BLS reported an at-work fatal injury rate for construction and extraction occupations of 13.5 deaths per 100,000 workers. That same year, the CDC reported that the group saw 162.6 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 workers.

The challenges of trying to save lives and fight the stigma of drug addiction are enormous in an industry where physical injury is common, but making solutions and help more available can save lives.

 

Unseen Workers Deserve More Respect

Since 2016, deaths in the U.S. from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have more than tripled and, in 2022 more than 200 people died nationally every day from a synthetic opioid overdose. Yet, access to synthetic opioid-specific overdose reversal medications — such as Narcan — is still blocked in some states. 

The Food and Drug Administration has already approved overdose rescue agents designed to counter fentanyl. However, because of bureaucratic delays and paperwork, these lifesaving tools are not always reaching the frontline workers who need them. Each state must issue its own individual policy or standing order to allow access and availability to FDA-approved products, like reversal agents for synthetic opioid overdoses, but not all states have done so.

Three Benefits of Expanding Professional Development Opportunities in The Skilled Trades

Construction workers want more education, which leads to more career opportunities, which means a better construction workforce for all.

For skilled-trades workers, continuous learning is a career necessity which opens doors to new opportunities by future-proofing their skills—and as construction companies are beginning to embrace digital transformation, it’s more important than ever for their workers to continue to learn about the landscape of new technologies, processes and implementations.

The good news is that many tradespeople already see the value in on-the-job learning and dynamic credentials and are intrinsically motivated to upskill, putting the onus on employers and education institutions to ramp up access to these opportunities. Recently, the National Fire Protection Association released its Industry Trends Survey providing insights on the state of labor, training and technology in the trades. The survey shows that professional development is trending upward, with over half of workers planning to participate in more trainings than last year and 42% planning to increase the number of certifications they earn this year. Of those workers surveyed, 24% also expect to see employers allocate more of their 2024 budgets to training—a cause that workers are clearly ready to embrace.

Prep for A Digital Future

According to Deloitte’s 2024 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook, sustainable practices and technology advancements are the factors most likely to shape the industry this year. The report notes that the energy and construction industries have been moving more slowly towards digitization compared to other sectors, but disruptive technologies like generative AI are accelerating the pace of digital transformation. It’s becoming clearer to construction leaders that adopting industry-specific digital tools and harnessing the power of certain data can produce a host of positive outcomes, from greener builds to lower costs to increased quality and safety on jobsites.

Yet it’s critical that workers don’t get left behind as the industry fast-tracks its digitalization. As technology integration continues to be a top priority for the trades, workers will need training on how to best leverage these tools in their day-to-day work and the role these solutions play in improving outcomes. The NFPA survey found that the majority of workers are ready to learn—with 70% expressing interest in trying new and diverse tools on the jobsite. Most workers are eager to work in harmony with the innovative technology that will help augment their roles and are open to taking new approaches to historically traditional work.

A Competitive Edge

Across the skilled trades, trainings and certifications also play a critical role in shaping workers’ career trajectories and positioning them for long-term success. Unlike other sectors where it’s feasible for workers to complete a standalone, four-year degree and never look back, the hands-on nature of the trades coupled with how quickly techniques and tools are changing necessitates ongoing reskilling and/or upskilling. Certifications are one of many alternative credentials available to tradespeople, whether they’re looking to improve core competencies, gain specialized knowledge, earn more money, make a career pivot or achieve any other goals in between. Over the past few years, there’s been more and more discourse about widening skills gaps and the shrinking shelf-life of certain skills—especially as technology advances faster and faster—resulting in concerted efforts to offer workers diverse learning pathways to help them stay relevant in their fields. In fact, more than 40% of construction workforce growth in the past decade has come from low-skilled construction workers, driving home the opportunity to elevate knowledge in this sector.

Many of the skilled trades are facing pronounced labor shortages, driven by trends like quiet quitting from Gen Z, the great resignation from Millennials or the great retirement from Boomers. In the construction industry specifically, labor outlooks are somewhat of a mixed bag, with some sources pointing to a labor surplus while others paint a different picture, highlighting the urgency to attract and retain workers to meet rising demand. Regardless of whether the labor market is hot or cool, training and upskilling will always benefit workers as they vie for high-demand jobs and aim to display a competitive edge.

With fewer qualified workers to fill open roles across the trades, there’s a long-term need to entice the next generation of workers to consider blue-collar careers—a challenge that’s proven difficult but that the industry is taking steps to overcome. But there’s also a short-term need to ensure the workers who are currently in these roles can keep up with technological advancements and complete projects efficiently and successfully.

Improve Work and Work Enviornments

In industries like construction, quality of work is paramount since employees are building the structures where people live, work and play. The NFPA survey found that by reskilling or upskilling, 52% of workers not only increased their confidence, but 32% also felt safer with the tools and processes being used on jobsites. Additionally, 28% of respondents—up from 25% in 2023—anticipate that digital technologies will boost the overall quality of work by increasing collaboration and communication and improving the accuracy and safety of day-to-day operations.

To keep up with disruption in the skilled trades, construction management needs to consume high-stakes digital training to ensure they are competent in managing construction projects safely and in compliance to avoid costly shutdowns. Management should also provide digital training for workers to improve safety and performance. When employers offer trainings in convenient formats (e.g., asynchronous courses available on mobile devices), they can more efficiently and effectively enhance the skills and performance of their entire workforce at once. They’ll also be giving their workers the desired flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere and at their own pace—making professional development more accessible as employees progress in their careers.

The bottom line? The future of the skilled trades is digital, so workers and employers alike need to prioritize learning and working digitally in 2024 to ride the next waves of innovation and build a resilient workforce.

Expand your network with the FRB St. Louis facilities team and learn about the opportunities available at the Bank, including previous projects! Registration Details will be released soon.

When: Thursday, September 26th, 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Where: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Economy Museum (free/secured parking in the Bank's garage)