Trade experts say multiple skills key to staying employed

BARSTOW • Trade experts say having a diverse skill set is key for trade workers to stay employed.

According to Bill Perez, with the Riverside and San Bernardino Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, those focusing on only one task or skill, such as welding, may end up out of work as jobs come and go.

For a blue-collar town like Barstow, being a “Jack of all trades” may be the way to beat the city’s crippling unemployment.

As of Nov. 2011, the unemployment rate in Barstow was 15 percent, much higher than the national rate of 8.6 percent, according to data released by the Employment Development Department.

To prepare for numerous job opportunities, students obtaining technical training at Barstow Community College are encouraged to learn more than just solar or welding.

BCC Director of Career Technical Education Sandi Thomas said she works with large companies in the area, including Molycorp and the military bases, to determine what they are looking for in potential workers.

“They want to hire employees who are crossed-trained, diverse in many more areas; you have to know some electrical, some HVAC,” said Thomas. “And for the cross-trained workers, it makes it easier for them to build employability.”

One of the more popular trades offered by BCC is solar technology, which the college has been training students in for more than a year. Both Perez and Thomas feel confident jobs in solar technology will be in high demand, especially as solar projects come to fruition, such as Fort Irwin solar fields or Bright Source’s Ivanpah Solar Project near the Nevada border.

But with federal funding of alternative energy projects at risk after loan scandals, Perez said there’s always a chance the “green movement” may be a “green bubble.”