Builders’ Day began with a request from the local school district’s Career and Technical Education Department to expose their students to career opportunities in construction, and to expand on the Architecture Construction Engineering (ACE) Mentorship program, a program that has been very successful in Utah in the past few years. Our team saw a great opportunity to meet a community need and to build collaboration in the construction industry in Salt Lake City (SLC) with the creation of an interactive career fair.  

The team partnered with the Utah ACE Board, Granite School District and Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) to create an inaugural event specifically for students to both obtain internships/full-time positions and to feed into college construction programs. The goal was to discuss our industry as a whole and present a variety of opportunities that may or may-not require college education.  Companies representing every trade in the industry, including architecture and design firms, engineers, consultants, and general contractors, came together to support the initiative.   

The one-day event bused students to SLCC for four hours, where every student received a gift bag including PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).  All 5 major commercial general contractors in SLC participated, as well as over 30 trade partners from every discipline, Union Representatives, two major home builders, Community Organizations/Non-Profits (ACE Utah, Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Utah, Utah Women in the Trades), and other various industry vendors (3rd party testing agencies, Milwaukee Tools, survey/drone survey, safety equipment), crane and equipment vendors.  The students were welcome to flow through the event at their own pace and those who participated in the interactive stations at each booth were given raffle tickets.  The event ended with a large raffle giving students supplies to start their career in construction including PPE, tools, laptops, and iPads. 

Goals:  

• Inspire students to consider a career in the construction industry, provide educational materials about the industry  
• Highlight the variety of potential exciting employers, and connect these SLC leaders in the construction industry to continue building the future of our industry 
• Create memorable interactive experiences (hands-on booths were required by each participant) 
• Build excitement for education programs (i.e. college, trade, apprenticeships, etc.) 

At the end of the event, many vendors confirmed they offered both internships and full-time positions to students who attended Builders’ Day as a result of their interactions at the event.  We were also able to present a $2,000 check to the SLCC Associate Dean of Apprenticeship and Construction Related Technologies to contribute to their programs.  The Mortenson ACE Summit met this year and is looking to replicate events like this around the country to make the Builders’ Day event occur company-wide.