Many community colleges and trade schools have food and facilities management programs, so Aramark Corp., for example, is now working to establish a stronger relationship with them, said Carol Price, senior vice president for organization and leadership development.
And Boeing Co. embarked on a partnership with Delaware County Community College three years ago after it could not find enough workers skilled in sheet metal assembly and composite fabrication, even after drawing from its own ranks of previously laid-off workers.
Boeing worked with the community college to create an instructional program and then enrolled new hires in it, or sent other employees for retraining.
Even if they will not get a chance to hire bright high school students for several years while they are in college, companies want to get on the students' radar screens early.
"We're doing a lot of things in the community and in the schools," said Christopher J. Wronsky, director of human resources in charge of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s maritime systems and sensors business, which is based in Moorestown.
For example, the company sponsors teams at two area high schools who participate in the First Robotics engineering competition. About 80 minority students from eight area high schools spend 11 weeks at Lockheed learning about engineering.
So eager is Lockheed to cultivate its future science workforce that it sends volunteers into second- and third-grade classes at elementary schools to act as reading mentors for age-appropriate selections about technology.
AstraZeneca P.L.C. holds a summer program for students from the Charter School of Wilmington, a math and science magnet high school.
"These are the best and the brightest," said Kimberly Wipf, executive director of human resource shared services at AstraZeneca. "I want them before anyone else gets their hands on them."
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