- Careers and transportation and logistics involve the movement of goods and materials from one place to another.

This industry is essential in a global economy where businesses rely on the timely delivery of goods to customers.

And with that comes many opportunities for job seekers.

Today in the career center, we'll explore career opportunities in transportation, go on the job with a heavy equipment operator, and learn about career training options for people interested in the transportation industry plus communication tips for teens.

Stay tuned.

- [Announcer] The Career Center is made possible by General Motors, (electronic music) and by these supporters, and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) (students chattering) (bell ringing) - Miss Pisani, I found a career quiz online, and it asked me about my interest.

It made me think about the careers I might like.

- That is so fantastic.

Great job taking the initiative and doing that on your own.

Can I take a look?

- Sure.

- Oh, wow.

This is so cool.

Really interesting.

Nice job.

- What's a career quiz?

- I found it online.

It asked me about my favorite hobbies or what my favorite class is in school.

This looks interesting.

Maybe I should take the quiz.

- It's a great idea to do that.

And there are many free ones online and they don't take very long, right?

How long did it take you to do this?

- It took me about three minutes.

- So after three minutes, you get an interest score for 15 different career options.

It's really good to figure this out now while you're in school, and then you can decide on different types of career options and things that you can explore further.

- Yeah, I was surprised by my results.

It showed me some industries I won't even thought about before.

- What were some suggestions?

- Business, technology, transportation and logistics.

- Transportation and logistics?

What's that?

- That's the best part.

It shows you about the industry on the survey.

Look right here.

The transportation, logistics, and distribution industry is all about the movement of goods and resources safely and efficiently.

- And the results also show you courses that you can take that will be helpful to prepare you right now.

And it describes a little bit about the work environment that you can expect.

You know, I have some videos on careers and transportation.

Let's watch it and see if anything piques your interest.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] The transportation, distribution, and logistics industry is all about moving people and things from one location to another quickly, safely, and at a low cost.

Transportation methods include aircraft, railroads, waterways, over the road, and through pipelines, as well as warehousing and storage.

Workers in this industry design transportation systems, operate or repair equipment, plan how to move materials, and take care of storing products.

Quick facts to know.

This industry employs over 5 million workers, about 3.6% of total US jobs.

Trucks delivered nearly 70% of all freight in the US.

The most commonly shipped items are food clothing, furniture, and electronics.

The US spends more than $1.64 trillion on transportation logistics.

Despite the idea that driverless trucks may move freight down highways within the next 10 to 15 years, there are many current job openings in transportation and warehousing with a strong need for workers expected in the next several years.

Experts estimate that there are 50,000 truck driver jobs unfilled and trucking related jobs account for about 1/3 of the job openings in the industry.

Many openings are also currently available and expected in the future for school and public transit bus drivers, forklift operators, and stock movers and distribution warehousing workers.

A wave of retirements in railroad and maritime workers will create further openings.

Most careers and transportation and logistics pay wages that are higher than the national median.

For those seeking employment, pay special attention to these metropolitan areas where growth will be especially robust.

New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago.

Automation helps make aspects of the industry more efficient, such as bar codes that track goods for shipping and distribution.

Pilots of ships and aircraft depend on automated navigation equipment to operate safely.

GPS technology is heavily relied on in many jobs, although workers need to troubleshoot changing conditions and make adjustments often more quickly than technology is able to do.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Ever wonder how your breakfast cereal got from a field of oats to the box on your counter?

There was a logistics manager behind every step that moved your cereal from its start as a raw material to processing, packaging, and storing, and finally, to transporting it to the grocery store.

These managers must meet the requirements of their customers and their employer.

Much of their work involves resolving problems around transporting goods, coordinating with different suppliers, finding needed materials, and handling customer issues.

Most other departments in an organization rely on the logistics group work.

So collaboration is frequent.

They will often oversee a team of other logistic specialists.

Their work may take them from a steel mill to a warehouse, factory, shipping or rail yard, and to the executive boardroom.

To ensure safety, performance, and effective quality management, these workers maintain detailed records and make reports on topics including customer service issues, training, and safety.

Logistics managers must have strong skills in communication, problem solving, planning, and math.

A bachelor's degree in supply chain management, logistics, or business administration helps to develop these qualities and is often required.

With consistent demand for these workers and competitive salaries, this job is a good logistical choice.

(upbeat music) - [Shandre] Hello, I am Shandre Huff, a civil engineer at the Michigan Department of Transportation.

More specifically, I focus on maintaining the intelligent transportation systems around the Metro Detroit area.

As you know, there's tons of traffic on Michigan roads, but we also have two bridges that are responsible for moving products to and from Canada.

First is the Blue Water Bridge to Ontario, located in Port Huron, Michigan.

And second, the Ambassador Bridge to Windsor is located in Detroit, Michigan.

Now you use Michigan roads every day to get from point A to point B.

No matter if you're just going from home to work, home to school, home to the grocery store, or just going anywhere, intelligent transportation systems, commonly known as ITS, play an integral role in making sure your journey goes as smoothly as possible.

MDOT monitors and manage traffic and transportation operation centers that are strategically placed around Michigan.

Individual ITS devices are the main tools that make that possible and sometimes various ITS devices are combined to provide optimal traffic management for certain areas.

Some individual device types are dynamic measure signs, which overhang the longer major highways.

These signs are typically used to display information about traffic editions such as travel times, construction, and road incidents.

Closed circuit televisions are used to visually monitor and manage traffic flow, and microwave vehicle detection systems collect traffic data.

Sometimes individual devices can be combined to provide more information for MDOT to help manage traffic, but they can also inform drivers of upcoming hazards.

Roadway weather information systems collect weather data, paving data, and water level data.

Also, MDOT Flex routes along US-23, and soon to be completed I-96 provide up to the minute traffic information and improve driver safety.

Flex routes used the previously mentioned devices and gantries to provide real-time traffic information.

The DMS provides advanced notice of traffic conditions.

The other signage display recommended fees and show yellow chevrons that warn up incidents ahead in a given lane.

In this case, you should probably move to the open lane.

Green arrows indicate open lanes and red crosses let you know that the lane is closed along the corridor.

Currently, these devices are critical to help MDOT improve safety and ease traffic congestion.

But as technology advances, Michigan's ITS devices will help make sure that our infrastructure is ready for the next waves of innovations with connected vehicles and autonomous transportation.

- Another student, Caleb, visited Operating Engineers 324 and chartered a heavy equipment operator.

Let's take a look at how his visit went.

(upbeat music) - What if there's a career that lets you be a part of building big things that people use every day?

I'm talking about highways, bridges, and tunnels.

Yeah, that's a job you could do.

Today, we're exploring careers in road construction.

I'm in Howell, Michigan at the Operating Engineers 324 Construction Career Center.

This training facility prepares workers to operate the heavy equipment using road construction projects.

I might get a chance to operate some of these machines later, but first I'm meeting with John Hartwell to learn why this career is worth considering.

Why should someone pursue a career in road construction?

- Road construction, operating the heavy equipment, it's fun.

Who could ask for a better career?

You're outside, you don't have to go to a cubicle, we have the biggest toys in the sandbox, that's for sure, and through registered apprenticeship and through Operating Engineers' Local 324, the training's free.

All a person has to do is put in an application, qualify for it, for the registered apprenticeship, and we provide the rest.

- [Caleb] Tell me about this facility we're looking at.

- So this facility that we're at in Howell, Michigan is sitting on 560 acres.

We have 12 classrooms up front that we do classroom training in.

We have a simulator room with 12 simulators in it.

We have over 120 pieces of heavy equipment out here which you see a few in the background.

We offer three and four-year apprenticeship programs that earn while you learn models.

So you're actually working for a contractor on a job site, making money, coming back to the Apprenticeship Center to get some training.

It's a win-win model.

- [Caleb] I was really starting to dig this work, so John sent me over to the excavator to dig.

- [Danielle] All right, Caleb, you ready to give this a shot?

- I mean, I hope so.

- All right, so we have two basic joysticks.

The one on your right, if you push that one forward, your arm is going to move down.

Oh, okay.

And if you pull it back, the arm will move back up.

If you move it to the left or the right, it's going to curl or uncurl your bucket.

- Okay, like, okay.

- Then over here, your left one, if you move that one forward or back, it's going to bring the whole bucket and arm closer to you as you bring it in.

And if you move it out, it'll take it away from you.

- Okay.

- Seems like you're getting the swing of things.

Now, how about we pick up a bucket full of dirt and we dump it into our pile over there?

- Oh, the real test, if I can move it over- - Yep.

It's gonna be the real test.

- I think so, yeah.

- [Danielle] Okay, let's give it a shot.

- This is not easy, I gotta say.

Doing a couple hundred more times here.

How we doing?

- Doing good.

Now, lift up on your bucket a little bit.

That's that right joystick.

- Okay.

- Pull back, good job.

- Ah, yes.

- It's going.

And now you're gonna swing around and go ahead and dump your bucket.

- Okay.

- Great job, Caleb.

How do you feel about that?

- Oh, I feel great, thank you.

This was a lot of fun.

Thanks for teaching me.

- Yeah, no problem.

- What are some misconceptions that you think people might have about this career?

- I think some people really think that because you're coming through an apprenticeship and because you're working in construction, that it's dirty, grimy, low pay, but actually, quite the opposite.

It's a great career, it's got great benefits.

It's very equal opportunity.

We have a lot of females that are in our program and it's equity for everybody that's involved.

- It sounds like it can be a rewarding career to pursue for sure.

- It's very rewarding career.

You really get to see what you've accomplished in a day.

It's very satisfying.

Whether I'm putting pipe in the ground or I'm putting iron in the air, I know what I've accomplished and it's working with other good people out the other trades that are out there.

It's a brotherhood, a sisterhood.

That that camaraderie is really nice to go to work and have.

- So right now, is there a demand for this job?

- There's a huge demand for this job right now.

We have a crumbling infrastructure here in the state of Michigan, and we're gonna repair that infrastructure.

That's an ongoing process that'll always be going.

There's a lot of attrition in our industry, people are retiring out.

So we're looking for the next generation to come in and do the job.

- [Caleb] I was beginning to think that I could get the swing of this.

So John invited me to try out the crawler crane.

The challenge is to catch your swing and gently lower the hook into the bucket.

So I gotta catch just, like when it's over the barrel, how am I gonna do that?

- So say it's coming to the right and you wanna catch it to the right, you wait 'til it comes all the way to the right, then you wanna swing to the right so that it brings your boom tip over top of the ball and it'll stop your cable from swinging.

- So I'm watching it now.

How do I stop it from swinging?

- So you would- - Go to the right mark?

- Yep, oh yeah.

So start swinging now.

There you go.

Swing, swing, swing.

All right, now let off nice and easy.

Yeah.

It's a little adjustment, so you gotta make, so push it a little bit.

You don't wanna give it too much.

- Okay, which way?

- So you'd wanna go to your left, so forward.

- [Caleb] Oh, I'm feeling good about this.

- [Dalton] Yeah.

Now, yeah, you'd wanna start cabling it down a little.

- I guess I didn't get into the barrels so maybe a B+ there on the grade.

Thank you for showing me.

I feel like I have an actual understanding of how this works now.

- Oh, it's no problem.

It takes a lot of practice.

- Yeah.

- Takes a lot of practice.

- What are some advice you'd have for a younger person who's considering this as a career choice?

- My advice to a younger person seeking this as a career choice would be to seek out a Department of Labor registered apprenticeship program.

We're affiliated with a union directly through it that provides those great benefits, those lifelong pieces that you want in a career opportunity.

- [Caleb] Thank you, Operating Engineers 324 for showing me around and letting me operate some of these impressive machines.

I learned that there are exciting careers in building Michigan.

The opportunities are as big as the equipment.

(ambient music) - I became interested in aviation when I joined the Marine Corps.

I've been attending school here since September of 2021.

My biggest goal is just to obtain my AMP license and work in the field in commercial aviation.

To actually work on aircraft, you have to have two license.

A airframe and a power plant license.

Power plant license allows you to work on the engine and the airframe license allows you to work on pretty much the rest of the aircraft.

Some jobs have different requirements, but the goal is to become a fully certified AMP mechanic.

Once you finish the aviation program, you can actually go to an airline and become an aircraft mechanic.

But with those two licenses, you are allowed to do a lot of other jobs.

I know some people that went to work at Disney World, working on their rides.

Some people worked at Cedar Point 'cause of the hydraulics and pneumatics.

You take all of these classes here, and then you take these tests at the very end to get certified, but those certifications actually cover a lot of subsections.

So you can go work on a train.

Engines are the same.

You can go work on diesels or something of that nature.

Some of the aircraft mechanics also go into the IMT, industrial maintenance technician fields or into the energy fields because they're bigger power plants.

The turbine is a turbine no matter the size of it.

I had heard about this program from a bunch of my friends who lived near the area and they said it was a really good program to get into.

So I just gave it a shot.

I moved back home from after my first year of college 'cause I think the freedom thing was just a little too much for being 18.

So I came back home.

My mom said, "Hey, if you wanna live here again you have to work or you gotta go to school."

About two weeks in, my mom comes to me, "Hey you wanna be an aircraft mechanic?"

I wasn't doing nothing else to be honest with you.

So I said, "Sure."

And after about four months in, I loved it.

I graduated from here in 2010.

From there, I moved to Cleveland, Ohio, got my first job at the airport out there.

I became a supervisor and also a lead mechanic.

Became part of the traveling team as well.

From there, I came back here in 2015 and got my associate's degree.

And then 2019, I became a full-time instructor.

But if this is something that you're thinking about, you should look more into it.

Go on YouTube, look at aircraft mechanics, reach out to different people, reach out to the school, see if there's somebody you could talk to.

Maybe a current student and instructor or somebody who has some years of experience just to get a little bit more background because you do work outside.

I don't think people understand that airplanes fly during the day, so they rest at night.

Most of the maintenance is done at night.

It's cold outside.

This is when the blizzards happen.

We wake up and all the snow's here.

When I was a mechanic, we were working outside at night.

So some people don't think about the environmental factors of it, and that's here in Michigan.

You go to California, it's 100 degrees outside and you're on tar pretty much.

That's not ideal as well for some people.

You do work night shift.

Nine times out of 10, you're coming in the game as a rookie, you're being placed on nights.

That's when most of the maintenance is done.

That's when we need the most man hours.

So you're gonna be working weekends, you might be working holidays.

The pay is good.

It's always double time, triple time sometime, depending on the companies like Delta, they do profit sharing and you get different bonuses and things like that.

But for the most part, you're working the graveyard shift until you work your way up seniority wise and move up in the company.

If you are thinking about coming here, also understand that this is a physical and a mental thing.

It takes a little bit of both from my experience to be successful in this.

And it also takes a go-getter mentality.

I was a lead after my second year in aviation, a supervisor after my third, and that's because I had a go-getter mentality.

When the work is done, there's always work to be done.

Let's move forward to the next thing.

So having that go-getter mentality, being a troubleshooter, a problem solver, that's another thing.

If you can troubleshoot, you will forever have a job in aviation - Communication is really important for people who work in transportation and logistics.

Think about communication for a bit.

What are your strengths in communicating?

- I'm a really strong public speaker.

I love talking in big crowds, so I'm kind of like the go-to person for that.

- I think empathy is my strong suit and understanding that I may not have experiences that other people do.

- What both of you are describing are really important components of communication and are helpful in your everyday lives and in the workplace.

You know, I've been working on a series of videos on 21st century skills and communication skills is one of the videos that I recently just shot.

Let's take a look at it and see what we can learn.

(upbeat music) You know those moments when you are just so excited about something and you can't wait to share it with others?

What do you do?

Text it, post something on social media, email, maybe record a video, call someone on the phone?

It's still a thing.

Each of these represent some form of communication.

They're all a bit different, but what they have in common is that they can be used to share your ideas with other people.

And if you get a text back or a comment on your post and they understood your message, that is a part of communication too.

When you're sharing and connecting with others and having this kind of exchange, you're communicating effectively and effective communication is really important in school, work, and life.

Time to find out how.

I'm Andrea Pisani, and I work with students every day to help them explore their passions and make great futures for themselves.

Communication is the way we use verbal and non-verbal methods to express thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to another person.

We connect with others through communication and we could do so verbally through reading, writing, speaking, and listening or non-verbally through visual and physical messages.

More often, we use some combination of verbal and non-verbal communication to get our message across.

And that's really the key, right?

To get our message across so that it's understood by the audience.

Sometimes the message we need to communicate is related to a school assignment.

Maybe you're collaborating on a project or delivering a presentation or maybe at work you have an idea to pitch to your boss.

How about that raise?

In fact, communication is essential in the workforce.

Effective communication creates clear expectations, promotes understanding, ensures accuracy and tasks, minimizes misunderstandings, builds trust among team members, and helps create a positive working environment.

In the transportation industry, the need for effective communication skills is clear.

And in some cases, can be a matter of life or death.

For instance, flight crews must use clear and concise communication to coordinate with air traffic control and passengers during flights.

If these teams don't communicate well, many people can be harmed.

Train conductors use effective communication to provide updates and instructions to passengers during trips.

Truck drivers use effective communication to coordinate with dispatchers, receive delivery instructions, and report any incidents or issues on the road.

Port workers use clear communication to coordinate loading and unloading of ships in transportation and in every industry, effective communication is an important ingredient in the recipe for success.

So what can you do now to practice your communication skills?

When you're talking to someone, listen.

Developing good communication skills not only means being able to effectively share your thoughts and feelings.

It also includes listening closely when other people are expressing their thoughts and feelings.

Practice active listening by making a sincere effort to focus on what someone else has to say instead of talking over them or cutting them off with your own ideas before they finish theirs.

At any given moment, there are a ton of things vying for our attention.

So be clear when you communicate or your message might get lost.

Career expert, melody Wilding has a great tip for getting your message through clearly, especially if you think the person you're talking to might be a little distracted.

The advice is complete the sentence.

Think about the main message you want to communicate and boil it down to one sentence.

You can say something like if you walk away from this conversation with one thing, I want it to be, insert your main message right here.

This is a great way to call attention to the thing you want them to remember.

Pay attention to the conversations that happen around you.

What are others doing well or not so well?

Being aware of how others communicate effectively or poorly can help shape the way that you express yourself in similar situations in the future.

Whether you're communicating to one person or a large group, the best way to develop the skill is to practice.

As you go about your day, try and identify all of the ways you are using your communication skills and what you can do to improve them.

To learn more about 21st century skills, be sure to visit our website, mifutureofwork.org.

There you'll find a whole series of videos taking a deeper look at the skills you'll need for the 21st century.

So what do you think about the transportation industry?

Do you think you might wanna work in that field?

- Being an aircraft technician sounds cool.

I'm gonna ask my mom to help me find someone to shadow so I can see how it really is.

- That's a great idea, Paige.

And I can help you find some sites to visit as well.

And if you wanna learn more about jobs and transportation, visit our website at mifutureofwork.org/transportation.

There you'll find videos, resources, and more to set you on your path.

And take a few minutes this week to complete a career survey.

The results will help you find a job that matches your interests.

See you next time.

- [Announcer] The Career Center is made possible by General Motors, (electronic music) and by these supporters, and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(playful music) (ambient music)