The next generation of builders: the KCB Apprentice Training Program
You have probably heard that there is a shortage of skilled labor available these days, and in our experience that is certainly true.
Previous generations of young carpenters and woodworkers were often drawn to the trade by family tradition, community, or simply by sheer exposure to building and craft in their daily lives. Builders and craftspeople would have been everywhere, regulars at local meeting places, spreading the word about what a life in the crafts looks like. In the slang of those times, people skilled with their hands were celebrated as “mechanics” for their mastery of the mechanical, structural world and its materials. But as hands-on production jobs became a less and less visible part of city life—consider how many once-industrial spaces in your neighborhood are now picturesque condos or storefronts—the mechanic was relegated to the auto shop while many other forms of craft work moved out of the city, out of daily neighborhood life, and fell off the list of desirable careers for young people seeking their path.
At least ten or fifteen years ago we started asking ourselves, “where are all the mechanics?” This question has evolved steadily into: “what will it take to help this promising candidate become a carpenter, a woodworker, a project manager?” Happily, we have reached a moment in KCB’s history when we are ready to move forward with our longtime vision of a formal training program, aimed at helping those who are new to the trades develop the career skills we both will need.
Currently comprising nine apprentices ranging from high school co-op students to experienced workers in their 30s who are seeking a career change, the program is off and running. We’re committed to a cyclical, yearlong training routine that combines at least one monthly in-class session with the apprentices’ daily on-site or shop work. That will combine with extracurricular studies and training to form a four-tier plan where each level is predicted to take around a year to complete (though apprentices are welcome to grow at any speed they can).
Trainees’ growth and achievements are marked on a chart that’s shared with the whole production staff, so that they and all their teammates will know what skills they have under their belt, and which ones they still need to practice. Coming soon will be a dedicated workspace at KCB HQ, where we can book work blocks or even repurpose rain days into productive training sessions, all in the aid of checking boxes on skills charts, moving forward.
Yes, this *will* be on the test…and the apprentices are not the only ones hitting the books! We have lots to learn and develop, to put it mildly: in true KCB “dream-large” tradition we’ve laid out a sprawling, ambitious goal and are keeping ahead of the trainees by about two weeks at any given time, building the airplane as we fly it. Does it help that we have been designing the plane in our heads and hearts for several decades? Yes.
We hope this will result in a strong new generation of KCB staffers, but that isn’t the only reason the training program has taken flight. Some of these folks will stay with us for long, happy careers while others may decide the work isn’t for them. Either way we are invested in developing and growing the community of skilled, energized tradespeople in New England and beyond. To that end, KCB is also teaming with our colleagues locally and nationally to share information, learn about the ways others have faced these challenges, and support each others’ efforts towards workforce development. To make it all connect we’ll also be intensifying our outreach to the many schools in the Boston area where craft is still part of the curriculum so we can let students know what we’re up to. Looking forward to sharing more about this program, and these trainees, as we travel.
Images by Corey Nuffer.
