CEO Mark Tomlinson Discusses SME's Recent Partnership with Military on 'America in the Morning'

 
In an era of high unemployment, manufacturing jobs are going unfilled. In addition, service personnel are in need of jobs once they leave the military. 

Recently, Mark C. Tomlinson, CEO of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), was featured on the radio program “America in the Morning,” Dial Global's radio news magazine, to discuss the Society’s recent partnership with the US military to address these issues.  

SME and the Department of Defense have launched a pilot program to train veterans for manufacturing jobs after their service.  As “America in the Morning” notes, there are currently 600,000 advanced manufacturing jobs available, but companies have discovered a shortage of skilled workers. The number of unfilled jobs is only expected to grow.  By 2020, there could be as many as ten million open manufacturing positions..  That’s where the new partnership comes in.  Tomlinson says that veterans are already great candidates for jobs because of their technical background and capacity to learn.  The new program starts by testing participants on their knowledge and skill, then determines where any gaps might be, and designs a training program to fill those gaps.  Once participants graduate from the program, they’ll have the credentials that employers are looking for. 

To listen to the segment,click here. 

For more information about the program, click here.