As the largest electrical distributor in the U.S., Wesco is no stranger to meeting the needs of the construction industry—and that includes prioritizing workforce development. Earlier this year, the FORTUNE 500® company announced the launch of its $200,000 Wesco Cares scholarship program to support and invest in the futures of students entering the electrical trades. In partnership with the Independent Electrical Contractors association and ELECTRI International (an electrical construction foundation established by the National Electrical Contractors Association), the scholarship intends to do more than just attract interest in the skilled trades: It also ensures a continued investment in the careers of future skilled workers.
“We’ve kind of got to put our money where our mouth is,” says Nelson Squires, executive vice president and general manager of electrical and electronic solutions at Wesco. “By creating these scholarships, we’re doing our part in getting people more interested in joining the trades. It’s not going to be just a large financial investment. It’s going to have to be a people investment.”
Pitching a career in the trades begins with finding the right audience—and Wesco has been reaching out for years. “We’re participating in high school trade shows on community college campuses, on regular four-year campuses, really trying to attract people into the trades,” Squires says. “Not only does Wesco have the scholarship program, we have a team of people that does this [outreach at schools]. We’re trying to touch as many people as possible.”
The scholarship program is open to any student; however, it is facilitated differently through the two partnerships. “IEC’s scholarship is open to their members, students and their families. ELECTRI International is funneled through their apprenticeship program,” Squires says.
With higher-education costs rising and the construction workforce aging out, skilled-trades careers are beginning to see a resurgence as a valuable and lucrative career path. “With the high cost of education, who wouldn’t want a scholarship to learn a trade?” Squires says. “You hear stories about people graduating with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. They’re still paying those loans off when they’re in their 40s,” he says. “This is such a nice opportunity to learn a very viable trade and make very good money in a short time. Six-figure incomes are not uncommon, and this is a job that isn’t going to get marginalized by artificial intelligence. You’re still going to need experts out there.”
Construction companies can no longer sit on the sidelines and wait for skilled workers to come to them. “We know there’s high school fairs, there’s college fairs. There’s all these opportunities to connect and reach out,” says Squires. The worker shortage isn’t going anywhere, and according to Squires, it’s up to individual companies to step up and help solve the labor problem. “Everybody can do something, you know, even smaller companies, they can. They can have a role in this, and that’s why we’re trying to lead by example, but also encourage everyone else to do the same thing.”
