Students explore careers at JRE’s Skilled Trades Night 2017

March 20, 2017

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On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, J. Ranck Electric (JRE) hosted its third annual Skilled Trades Night for area students to explore careers in the trades. Students and their parents, 130 of them in total, gathered at J. Ranck Electric headquarters in Mt. Pleasant.

“It’s promising and exciting to see so many students and parents attend,” said JRE Vice President and HR Director Angie Wood, “The evening was a great success, and we had incredible support from the JRE team, local educators, and union representatives.”

Attendees were greeted with a message that rang true throughout the evening: it doesn’t matter how much you know starting out, if you make the decision to show up and work hard, you can be successful at JRE. Because most of the time tradespeople are trained on the job, and that’s the case with almost all positions at JRE, the most important thing is a willingness to work hard. During Skilled Trades Night, the tasks demonstrated (stations pictured above) showcased skills an apprentice learns while he or she is working.

JRE Foreman Dave Doran explains why he left Skilled Trades Night with a warm heart:
“In one of my groups, there was a younger girl mixed in with some teenage boys. She was kind of shy, hanging back and staying close to her mother during my demonstration. I gave the boys a chance to sample the tools, then I encouraged the little girl to do the same. When it was time to switch stations, all the kids walked away but the girl came back and whispered to me ‘thank you for letting me participate’ with a smile. That was just one of the moments that make showing what we do worth it!”