Maintenance Recruiting highlights career opportunities for eighth graders

Eighth grade students heading to high school may be unsure of their career path, wonder which jobs are in high demand or what high school classes they need to take to secure a job in their chosen career. Piedmont team members are a great resource for middle school kids who may be interested in aviation.

“It’s important to plant the seed with the younger generation and expose students to a career in the aviation field,” said Kwasi Bandoh, Piedmont Maintenance recruiter. By 2037, it is projected that 600,000 aircraft maintenance personnel will be needed to meet the demand.

Piedmont recently participated in a Junior Achievement career expo in Salisbury, Md.

The career expo attracted more than 1,000 eighth grade students from the surrounding area. Piedmont has a maintenance base in Salisbury so it provided a great opportunity for Piedmont to share career advice and engage students locally.

“We are hoping to attract future students for our 18-month aviation maintenance program,” said Barry Weiss, former Piedmont team member and department chair of a local community college. Barry displayed a CJ610 turbo engine to explain to students how a jet engine works. “(Delaware Technical Community College) chose to partner with Piedmont as I know first-hand that it is a great place to work having been a mechanic there for 20 years.”

The Maintenance recruiting team sees the value in educating younger students on the opportunities of aviation maintenance career. “We plan to be present at more career expos like this to get students excited about the high-demand career of aircraft maintenance,” said Kwasi.