A new group in Fort Worth is aiming to get students excited about a career in the automotive industry.
The “Automotive Task Force” was created by the Fort Worth Chamber Talent Committee, which is chaired by Brendan Harrington, the president of Autobahn Fort Worth, according to a press release. The task force is part of the Fort Worth Chamber’s “Business Retention and Expansion” effort.
The group is “addressing a critical issue facing local and regional companies in the automotive and fleet-dependent sectors – the difficulty in finding and hiring skilled candidates.”
“It’s a win-win because obviously, Tarrant County employers need good employees, and young students need a path to success. So they stay here and are successful,” Harrington told NBC 5 DFW.
Prominent companies such as Autobahn, American Airlines, Christian Brothers, BNSF, Caliber, and Trinity Metro have reported significant issues with finding skilled candidates for the automotive field.
Harrington is enthusiastic about the initiative.
“During my years in the automotive industry, I have been fortunate to be part of previous programs that successfully uplifted youth, bringing them into the industry with career planning, mentoring, hands-on training, and tools. I have seen kids get excited as they engage with the process and realize the opportunities and upward glide path in front of them,” he said, per the press release.
“Once they reach a core mechanical skill set, the kids can branch off into any desired career direction, whether it’s as an auto, aviation, or body shop mechanic, as an entrepreneur starting their own service business, or in one of the many customer-facing positions. I’m looking forward to bringing this model for success — for students and for local businesses — here to Fort Worth.”
The task force intends to work closely with Tarrant County College and Tarrant County school districts, ensuring that students have access to the latest technology and tools. Part of the plan is to make students aware of the lucrative career opportunities that exist in the automotive field.
“They may have an interest in automotive, but they don’t know what they could achieve with the attainment of some skills or the breadth of industries that they could go into, you know, the from airlines to again, to engineering,” Steve Montgomery, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber, told NBC 5.
Montgomery further noted that they would teach internal combustion engines, electrical components, generator work, and more.
“These are young technicians that need to be valued for their skills,” Montgomery told NBC 5. “Look, I invested all this time, all this energy, I have this diploma, so therefore, they need to be treated like in other trades that they’re valuable employees for the organization that they work for.”
To learn more about the task force or the Fort Worth Chamber’s Business Retention and Expansion efforts, contact Netty Mathews at [email protected].