MSOE seeks construction management students
Jeong Woo wants to talk with any high school students who might be searching for a college degree program that has great job prospects after graduation.
Woo is the director of the Construction Management Program at Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he is working with area construction firms to attract more students to a field where jobs are going begging.
"We don't have enough people," Woo said. "Demand is there, but supply does not follow.
"A lot of our industry partners really have a hard time" finding people to manage construction projects, he said.
On Tuesday, MSOE hosted a group of students from New Berlin Eisenhower as part of an effort to get more high school students interested in the construction management field, Woo said. A group from New Berlin West will participate in the program on Wednesday. Woo is hoping other area school districts will participate in the program as well.
Industry representatives from Gilbane, Mortenson and Kiewit construction companies joined MSOE faculty and students for the program.
Since the recession of 2008, the number of students choosing to major in construction management at MSOE and other universities has declined, MSOE said in a statement describing the program.
The need for workers in construction — skilled trades and management — is definitely there.
According to a survey by the Associated General Contractors of America, 70% of firms report they are having difficulty finding qualified workers, including salaried and craft professionals, and 69% of respondents predict that the situation will remain the same, or get worse, during the next 12 months.
Besides ongoing shortages of skill trades workers such as carpenters and electricians, AGC’s Worker Shortage Survey Analysis also shows 38% of firms responding to the survey reported having a hard time filling salaried field positions and 33% reported having a tough time filling salaried office positions.
The five toughest-to-fill salaried jobs are project managers/supervisors, estimating personnel, engineers, building information modeling (BIM) personnel and quality control personnel, MSOE said.
MSOE is a four-year college, and construction management is a bachelor of science degree.
Construction management jobs require skills such as budgeting, planning, accounting and finance.
"Construction managers are not skilled trades people," Woo said. "It is totally on the management side.
"When we say 'construction,' a lot of high school students and parents have the wrong perception about the construction industry," Woo added. "They are thinking about tradespeople on the job site."
All the students graduating from the MSOE construction management program have jobs once they graduate. "It's been 100% for the past six or seven years," Woo said. Graduates in 2014-15 saw an average starting salary of $54,760.