The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008

The journeymen of tomorrow
STORY AND PHOTOS BY HEATHER A. RESZ
Kevin Norton with Anchorage Sand and Gravel visits with South High School
graduates Robert Russell and Kevin Stark at a hiring event April 11 sponsored by the
King Career Center Senior Job Club.
A
first of its kind hiring event
brought together 36 Anchorage
construction industry employers
with 55 King Career Center students
April 11 in an effort to introduce
employers to students who are
ready to work.
Businesses affiliated with AGC of
Alaska, the Alaska Homebuilders or
the Association of Builders and Contractors
of Alaska were invited to meet
students, get their resumes and consider
them for summer positions at
their businesses.
“Students are ready to go to work
– literally,” said Gary Abernathy,
who organized the event with Laura
Hohman. The two are career guides
with the Department of Labor and
Workforce Development.
Sponsored by the career center’s
Senior Job Club, the event showcased
Anchorage School District students
from the Construction Academy and
King Career Center carpentry class
who said they were interested in construction
careers and who also met a
list of other requirements. Of those
students, 20 were graduates from the
Construction Academy.
Abernathy said the job club and
its hiring event grew out of a couple
of meetings he and Hohman had with
industry representatives.
“Employers recognize they needed
to be more involved and active,” Abernathy
said. “Companies know they
need to hire these students.”
At the first meeting they asked
employers about the hiring hurdles in
the construction industry. The second
meeting focused on solutions, he said.
“We are taking the suggestions of
the industry instead of doing our own
thing,” Abernathy said.
Anne Williams, KLEBS human resources
administrator, praised the hiring
event.
“I’ve been to a million of these
events,” she said. “I’m just blown away.
This is the best fair I’ve ever seen.”
Josh Sundstrom with Willowridge
Construction brought a secret weapon for
sizing up the candidates: Justin Rhoades.
“I already have a job, so I’m just kind
of here helping my boss,” Rhoades said.
Sundstrom hired Rhoades this spring
after meeting him at a Homebuilders
meeting he’d attended with Abernathy
and Hohman. Sundstrom hired him at
Dale Barkley with Builder’s Choice visits with East High
School graduate Rigoberto Gomez-Garcia at the April
11 hiring event. Some 36 businesses and 55 King Career
Center students participated in the first-time event.
the meeting and put him to work parttime
that afternoon, he said.
“I started out that way working as
a young guy,” Sundstrom said. “These
are the journeymen of tomorrow.”
He said he plans to hire two or
three students this summer.
Total, 15 students were hired within
a few days of the event and more are
expected to go to work as the season
gets underway.
Hohman said she hopes the hiring
fair will be an annual spring event.
Robert Cress, education coordinator
for AGC of Alaska, described the
“One Stop Shop” the career center Abernathy
and Hohman operate at KCC
as effective, innovative and unique in
Alaska. “They are making the very difficult
connection between students in
school and jobs.”
AGC members who participated
in the event were: Alaska Demolition
LLC, Anchorage Sand and Gravel,
Central Paving, Comanche Corp.,
Cornerstone Construction Inc., Door
Specialties of Alaska, Holland Roofing
Company Inc., Knik Construction
Company Inc., Raven Electric, Spenard
Builders Supply, Ukpik LLC, Unit
Company, Wilder Construction Company
and Wire Communications.
Senior editor Heather A. Resz is an
Alaska writer who lives in the Wasilla area.