Workforce Development
Engage and Recruit
Inspire the next generation to confidently say: “I built that!”
The entire steel industry is faced with the same skilled trade workforce shortage. While the approach can be more prescriptive, the solutions to workforce development can and should look different from business to business across the country.
Many fabricators are finding that early intervention at middle school and high school ages is necessary to expose the general public to the skilled trades, specifically the structural steel fabrication, training, and recruiting infrastructure.
AISC wants to help our members pique the interest of your own local community, invite them into your shop, and show them what a profitable and rewarding steel career path can do for them.
AISC Student Engagement Activities
Video: Fabricator Careers
Meet some of the people who can point at a building or a bridge and say, "I built that."
Explore Careers in Steel
Learn about the countless ways to develop your skills and build a successful career path in the industry.
Virtual Reality Tours
Explore all 360 degrees of the steel-making process with our virtual reality tours of several steel fabrication shops and mills.
Lead a Facility Tour
Access all the materials you need for giving CTE students a tour of your fabrication facility.
Host a Welding Competition
Find resources and sample templates for holding a welding competition in your shop.
Column Base Plate Activity
Provide participants with a hands-on learning opportunity about steel construction by connecting a column to a base plate.
Brace Gusset Activity
Teach about shop fabrication and site erection by guiding participants through the process of bolting braced connections to a gusset plate.
WUF-W + Shear Tab Beam to Column Connections Activity
Compare pinned and fixed connections by leading participants through the fabrication and erection of different beam connections.
Wide Flange Measuring Activity
Teach participants how steel members are classified through a measuring and math activity.
K-12 Structural Steel Activities
Access a variety of coloring pages, steel libs, crossword puzzles, and digital jigsaw puzzles.
Activities from Outside Organizations
DiscoverE Engineering Activities
DiscoverE has a library of hands-on activities to engage students with engineering topics.
ACE Mentor Student Activities
Find a collection of construction- and engineering-related activities for students of all ages.