Dive Brief:
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William Lyon Homes in Newport Beach, CA, isn’t leaving its future work force to chance: The builder is pitching construction careers to local high school students by arranging for them to “shadow” architects, mechanical engineers, landscapers, and sales reps to learn about the business before they make up their minds about post-teenage life.
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The builder's recent Job Shadow Day attracted 60 juniors and seniors from two local high schools to meet with the experts and tour job sites.
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The company says the event is designed to “inspir[e] a new generation to become leaders within the building industry” and showcase homebuilding in a positive light.
Dive Insight:
William Lyon Homes’ Job Shadow Day is in keeping with a call from industry associations for the field to focus on education in order to attract more young people into the employment pipeline. More than 80% of construction firms are struggling to hire enough carpenters, equipment operators, and laborers to work on their job sites, a recent industry survey showed. And 61% are unable to fill vacancies for professionals, like project supervisors, estimators, and engineers.