This Wednesday, February 5th, the Society of Women Engineers will host the SWE Career Fair in partnership with Engineering Career Services.
Like the name indicates, this is a special career fair for women engineers. As we shared in an earlier post, women are the future of the construction industry. An event like this is an important part of growing our state’s construction industry as a whole. Without this vital workforce, we won’t progress as we need to.
Why do we need to inspire women specifically to join the construction industry?
Because they are only a small percentage of our construction teams. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up only about 10% of the construction industry workforce. This percentage encompasses all construction industry jobs, but even fewer hold positions on the jobsite. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 1 out of every 100 employees working in the field are female.
Why the gap?
We are missing out on many valuable skilled laborers because of established norms. In this historically male-dominated workforce, women don’t believe a career in construction is possible. Not only are their peers not joining the workforce, but there is also a lack of female mentorship. This discourages current female construction industry professionals from advancing and younger generations to challenge the norm by choosing a career in construction from the beginning.
But, we at I Build America – Ohio have hope for the potential growth.
Currently, only 13% of construction firms are owned by women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that female ownership has grown to 64% over the past 5 years. And, female construction managers are becoming even more prevalent, growing from just about 6% in 2003 to 8% in 2018.
Female leaders are an important part of growing our workforce, eliminating the barriers – both perceived and realized – other women have faced. Their efforts in recruitment initiatives like the SWE Engineering Career Fair will advance women in the workforce and the industry as a whole. According to the SWE website, this event will help the organization meet its key pillars of “professional leadership, education and outreach, knowledge, and reaching full potential.”
The 2020 SWE Career Fair will be held on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, from 1:00-6:00pm at the Ohio Union. Next-Day Interviews will be held on Thursday, February 6, 2020, from 8:30am-4:30pm.
If you know or anyone you know are a female engineering student of The Ohio State University, you won’t want to miss out on this event. Not only will you make valuable connections to advance your career, but proceeds from this event will help support engineering student organizations for important causes, including scholarships and campus programs.
Visit their website to learn more.
