Career Day Saturday Highlights Growing Marine and Composites Industry in RI

About 40 employers from across New England and as far as New York will be on hand in Newport Saturday to find workers to fill jobs in the growing marine and composites industries.

The career day event is hosted by the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association and the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport.

The event takes place from 10:30 am to 1 pm. Three breakout sessions, which start at 9 am, will be held so career seekers can learn from experts.

The Great Recession dealt a blow to the boating industry between 2008 to 2010 and as people stopped buying boats and everything that goes along with them, talented workers jumped ship to other industries.

But things have changed in a big way since then. According to the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association and the IYRS School of Technology and Trades, the loss of talent combined with the market recovery has created a “perfect storm brewing in the marine workforce.”

“The marine industry suffered such a blow from 2008 to 2010. We lost a lot of talent to other industries and we lost a lot of talent to retirement,” said Neal Harrell, president of Brooks Marine Group, a Newport-based recruiting firm that specializes in the marine industry, last year in advance of the ninth Career Day. “We have positions open all over the industry, all over the country, but we don’t have the skilled labor force to fill those positions.”

A skills-gap study being conducted for RIMTA estimated the trend isn’t going away anytime soon. By 2020, Rhode Island’s marine industry will need to hire an additional 1800 workers.

According to RIMTA CEO Wendy Mackie, the perfect-storm scenario in the marine workforce is not news to the industry, and organizations such as RIMTA, area trade schools, and local high schools have worked in concert for several years to offer programs that give individuals a base of training on which to launch their careers.

“In our region, we are extremely fortunate to have trade schools like IYRS, the New England Institute of Technology, and MTTI; high schools with amazing teachers who are getting young people excited about the marine trades; and a high concentration of marine companies that are working together to solve our workforce challenges,” Mackie said. “We are all working together to cultivate new talents, but in the meantime, it is a buyer’s market for anyone with skills that apply to the boating business—whether those were gained around boats, or they are skills such as carpentry or electrical and electronics expertise that can transfer to the marine trades.”

The skills-gap study conducted for RIMTA puts the average marine-industry salary in Rhode Island at approximately 5% higher than the average salary in the state’s private sector.

Career Day organizers encourage job seekers at all levels to attend the event—from skilled tradesmen and -women, to managerial talent, to those who have no experience but have a sincere interest in the marine and composites industries and a willingness to learn.

Attendees can talk with boat builders, marinas and boat yards, marine manufacturers, educational institutions, and composites companies that also work in non-marine sectors such as transportation, military and architecture. Attendees who want to deepen their skills can learn about the free training programs offered by RIMTA and the IYRS programs in Composites Technology, Marine Systems and Boatbuilding & Restoration.

See below for more details. For other jobs in the region, look below at the Patch Job Board. Tip: narrow your search by zipcode and distance for more local jobs.

WHAT

Marine & Composites Industry Career Day, hosted by the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA) and IYRS

WHEN

Saturday, March 7 / 10:30 am to 1 pm

WHERE

IYRS School of Technology & Trades (449 Thames Street, Newport, R.I.)

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Breakout sessions starting at 9 am with experts will be held according to the following schedule. Individuals who attend the breakout sessions can get early entrance into Career Day at 10 am.

9:00 am - “Navigating Your Job Search” with Neal Harrell, President, Brooks Marine Group

9:30 am - “What Brewer Yacht Yards Look for in a Candidate” with Rives Potts, President/COO, Brewer Yacht Yards

11:00 am - “Skills Needed in the Marine & Composites Industry Workforce,” a panel of experts moderated by Wendy Mackie, CEO, RIMTA

ADMISSION

Admission is free. Pre-registration is not required but is recommended; a registration link can be found at www.iyrs.edu/careerday.

MORE INFORMATION

www.iyrs.edu/careerday