n November 2024, Aaron Bartel and Kris Jensen stood before a group of 500 students at West Anchorage High School, myth-busting misbeliefs about the construction industry and highlighting all the career possibilities the field provides. The presentation was the realization of a dream three years in the making.
Associated General Contractors, or AGC, of Alaska’s Workforce Development Committee has launched its Contractor Classroom Playbook, an online guide and resource for industry stakeholders to connect the field of construction to Alaska’s schools. The Playbook is based on work by Jensen, Bartel, and others.
At a time when trades all over Alaska face a critical shortage of qualified workers, the Playbook is a practical tool for encouraging students to explore construction jobs. It’s also a resource that other AGC chapters are hoping to use as a blueprint.
“We would make headway, but it felt like one step forward, two steps back,” admits Bartel, vice president of BC Excavating. “Every time we would connect with the right people and make progress, that person would leave their job, or we’d get roadblocked, and we’d have to start over again.”
The committee also recognized that contractors wouldn’t want to waste time with untested methods.
“It’s hard to dedicate time if something’s not productive,” Bartel explains. “I already have a thousand things I’m not doing, so to walk away from the job to do something else—I’m going to need some kind of return on investment to do that.”
Bartel and the other committee members wanted to set contractors up for success inside the classroom. What was needed, the committee decided, was a comprehensive guide for making inroads at schools: making first contact with the right person, creating presentations and talking with students, and developing job-shadow and internship programs. The aim was to create a straightforward and repeatable process for contractors wanting to engage with classrooms from Anchorage to Bethel and beyond.
Don’t be intimidated by the number of pages, though. Each section in the Playbook provides three primary website resources for each topic. The appendices are supplemental and are a living document that will change over time with feedback from contractors and educators.
Kris Jensen, area manager for QAP, says the Workforce Development Committee thoroughly researched and curated the websites they chose to include.
“There’s so much information out there, it can be so daunting that you just don’t start,” he says. “You could Google a thousand sites to learn about job shadowing—so we researched websites and really found the three that we felt were most useful and engaging and helpful.”
“If you’re just up there delivering a PowerPoint, you’re going to lose them,” he advises. “If you’re unpracticed at telling your story of how you got into construction, they can see through it. You get the best reaction from students when you’re just open and honest.”
The Contractor Classroom Playbook offers tips like passing around photos or tools during a presentation so students can have a tactile experience; it encourages contractors to come up with hands-on activities that engage kids in interactive learning.
Keeping students interested can be as simple as a quick math lesson. One trick Jensen uses happens when a student inevitably asks how much money can be made in construction.
“I get them to pull up the calculator app and make them do a math problem,” he describes. “How many hours in a week is a full-time job? How many weeks for a year? What’s the wage? We multiply it out, and that helps get them into it—rather than me just telling them a number.”
Area Manager, QAP
It’s no secret that the state—like much of the nation—has experienced a deficit of workers. The hope is that talking directly to students will show them how many different opportunities the construction industry offers, sparking an interest in at least some young people to pursue construction careers in Alaska.
Around the time the AGC committee was starting to develop the Playbook, the Anchorage School District, or ASD, launched its Academies Pathway program, which uses workforce-focused curricula in the classroom. When AGC of Alaska saw that the curricula for construction wasn’t Alaska-specific, it worked with ASD to refine the career tree in the Academies program to reflect career paths in the state.
Likewise, We Build Alaska, which promotes the various career opportunities in the state’s construction industry, is another resource that goes hand-in-hand with the Contractor Classroom Playbook.
Together, Jensen says, these initiatives have the potential to “move the needle” on Alaska’s qualified workforce.
“We know it takes years and years to make something fully happen, but if we can just keep moving the needle a little bit, at least we can feel like we’re doing our part,” he says.
“Everybody was going, ‘How did you do this? What are you doing?’ There was nobody at AGC National that knew more than us about this,” says Bartel. “Which, to me—we’re just little Alaska. That was one of the turning points where I realized, wow, we’re kind of trailblazing, here.”
The digital nature of the Contractor Classroom Playbook means it can easily be shared, not only among Alaska contractors but nationally. Jensen envisions creating a “national push,” where AGC of Alaska’s Playbook is distributed to all AGC chapters.
“We’re hoping it grows and that we can exchange ideas,” he says. “Because if we’re all doing this individually, we’re siloed, and we’re not getting the message out. But if we come together nationally, we can move that needle even more.”