Youth may solve your labor drought

The Boys and Girls Club of America shares a philosophy with the best business schools in America: There’s no better credential than experience. And there’s no better business experience for young people than materials handling.

 Joe Sing, executive director of the Memphis Area Boys & Girls Club’s Technical Training Center, thinks logistics is just the ingredient to prepare kids for the real world. His Center is located in the heart of logistics central—near FedEx and UPS headquarters. His strategy is to train kids in logistics basics so they have some practical business skills to offer future employers.

FedEx is a prime example of on-the-job training. Kids can work there part time while going to school. Sing feels even if logistics isn’t at the top of the list of their career goals, it will at least give these kids some practical business acumen.

At the Memphis Technical Training Center, students learn both soft and hard skills. Examples of the latter include forklift operations, picking, packing, and inventory management. But Sing feels the soft skills are the ones that will make his students most employable: team building, presentation skills, and conflict resolution.

If what I read in the business papers is true, Sing is on the right track. A recent article in the Washington Post says not only do businesses want people with practical work experience, but so do most business schools. The article quotes an MBA student who says he doesn’t respect fellow students who haven’t been out in the working world before entering business school:

Let us know if you’re singing Sing’s song by offering young people an introduction to materials handling. If the shallowing of the labor pool is one of your concerns, this might be a win/win for both your company and for kids who need career guidance. If you think this is a bad idea, that’s great blog grist too.