As the new government and major corporations work to reorganize and regroup, one thing keeps popping up again and again in the news. The time is coming to bring manufacturing back home. By encouraging more companies to build their manufacturing infrastructure locally, they can keep more people employed, build local economies, keep more money from leaving the country, and ensure a certain standard of quality in the work performed.
No one is saying this change is going to be immediate; in fact, most experts do not look for improvement in the current economic and career downturn for another year at the very least, but all that simply gives us time to prepare.
For the budding entrepreneur and skilled worker alike, a local manufacturing boom is just around the corner. Especially as so-called green-collar industries are being encouraged, someone has to produce the infrastructure and output the products this new high-growth field is going to require. Soon you will be able to find manufacturing jobs in many areas where they were not previously available.
Of course, all this is not to say that it is impossible to find manufacturing careers at the present time. Even though the news is full of tales of companies shutting down plants and laying off workers, some areas of manufacture are continuing to thrive, many of them hiring more people even as other plants close their doors forever. Although the Midwest and the Great Lakes region in particular have been the hardest hit by this downturn, many jobs still remain waiting to be filled if not created in populous states such as Texas, California, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Those looking to get into this promising field face stiff competition at the moment. However, if you are willing to be flexible now, you stand a better chance of already being in place to take advantage of the situation when things really start to take off. Accepting lower wages makes you less likely to be laid off in the future, and those new to the field stand to gain as older, higher-paid workers are offered settlements, leaving their positions open to those who can do the work for less. When things pick up again you will surely find a sizable raise in your future and have the satisfaction of knowing that you got in on this entry back at the ground floor.
If you look at any list of manufacturing jobs currently available, you will likely find that a good many of them are not technical positions but are more management and corporate oriented. These are a perfect place for those with more experience, who may have spent a lifetime in a technical position and suddenly found themselves laid off with a small to nonexistent settlement. If this sounds like you, perhaps the next step is a climb up the ladder. With your long years of experience, you may be the perfect person for a management job. These positions are likely open because their previous occupants did not understand the world of manufacturing inside and out. By taking such a position, someone who has spent a lot of time on the floor will be able to make things run more efficiently, saving the company money and making him or herself an invaluable asset to the corporation.
Local manufacturing jobs are not the only ones available. There is always the option of being a foreign consultant, especially if you speak another language. The manufacturing industry is currently doing much better in other countries, however many of them still look to us for technical advice and expertise. If you have a lot of experience behind you or if you are well educated and up to date in the latest manufacturing techniques and strategies, you may find a good, solid career working for an international company.
There are many jobs in manufacturing currently available. You simply have to know where to look. Experienced or not, with enough time spent searching, you can likely find a job, if not a career for yourself, either way. In this way, you can be well positioned to take advantage of the coming local manufacturing boom if you just have enough patience to wait through these more difficult, slow times first.
One thing is for sure, and the experts all agree: no one knows how we are going to get out of the current financial and economic mess we are in, but it will happen. When it does, one of the first sectors to take off will be manufacturing, and it will help pull the rest of the economy up along with it.
