A group called TechForce Foundation has launched its FutureTech Success campaign as an industry-wide and multi-faceted effort to solve the technician shortage in the auto industry.
TechForce Foundation’s strategic goals with the campaign are three-fold:
- Reposition the outdated grease-monkey stigma of the profession. Through storytelling and interactions, convert parents and influencers of 13-18 year-olds from naysayers to champions of the profession by delivering the message that being a transportation technician is a successful, in-demand and valued career path
- Reinvigorate hands-on experiences. Get direct funding, resources and employee engagement back into high school auto shops and afterschool programs nationwide, and make tactile challenges available for young men and women to, once again, interact with auto and diesel technology so they may experience the rewards of working and creating with their hands
- Harness the resources and best practices of the auto industry by packaging and presenting in a way that allows future techs and their parents to find these tools. The group will utilize the collective voice of the industry to deliver a unified public message that America respect and values technicians, and that they’re needed to keep America rolling.
TechForce Foundation worked with five of partners this year to create PSAs in support of the campaign. The videos-”featuring Tommy Pike (video above), John Hennessey, Leah Pritchett, Jeff Allen and Joe Ray- are hosted on the Tech Force YouTube channel and on its website, which is becoming a portal of information for future technicians.