What to Do When You Cant Find a Job After College

What to Do When You Cant Find a Job After CollegeIf youve just graduated, left school, and started trying to set yourself up in your career, but find you cant find a job after college. Youre elend alone. It can take time after graduation to find the good, fulfilling full-time employment that will get your professional life off on the right foot. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) Rather than freaking out about not having your first job, why not try taking these 4steps towards getting hired? A few small tweaks to your job search strategy can make all the difference.1. Reassess the strategyPerhaps your plan was to get hired by a large company who recruits on campuses and hires grads before theyve even turned in their final papers. But a very small proportion of the recent post-college workforce lands jobs like these. If you didnt, dont worry. Focus now on smaller and younger companies that recruit differently, but might be really keen for a c andidate like you. Look to local businesses. Think outside the box. And refocus your energies to companies that stand a better chance of interviewing you.2. Try applying to the same company a few months laterAlternatively, if youre still jobless after a few months and you missed your shot with your dream company, you might still get another chance. Lots of these big companies underestimate how many recruits theyll need and will often have a second round. Be ready and on the lookout to take advantage of this.3. Dont freak out about experienceEmployers both know and understand that you dont (and couldnt possibly) have the 1-3 years experience fruchtwein job advertisements say a company requires. If you have the right background and skills, plus perhaps a relevant internship in your field, then companies will consider you for these positions. When in doubt, apply.4. Apply to different companies in different locationsWhen in doubt, expand your horizons. Consider roles, companies, even c ities that may not have been on your first list of options. Try smaller companies where youll be able to get tons of on-the-job training and experience. Try boutique firms, or training programs that will nurture you and invest in your development.The bottom line is never to give up before its over. And it isnt over. There are millions of opportunities out there for the college educated. And, with a little bit of luck and pluck and drive, youll get one of them soon.

#MakingTime A Day in the Life of an Executive Director Who Merges IT Readiness With Philanthropy

MakingTime A Day in the Life of an Executive Director Who Merges IT Readiness With Philanthropy Women can do anything but not everything. As the largest online career community for women, we at Fairygodboss realize that balance is a myth, and that picking what to prioritize when everything feels important on a day-to-day basis isnt always easy. In the MakingTime series, women share with us how, for one day, they chose to spend their fruchtwein precious resurce time.--Who Sue Wallace WhatExecutive Director of National Workforce Solutions for Creating IT Futures wife and mother to three sons Where New Hope, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minn.--525 a.m.I turn off my alarm and slowly roll out of bed. I am not a hit the ground running type of person. After a cup of coffee, I check and respond to work email, and then dress and drive to the gym. I try to work out most mornings once a week, I work out with my personal trainer.650 a.m.After my workout, I return home, where more often than not, I find that my firefighter husband has thoughtfully prepared breakfast for me. I eat, shower and get ready for work. Driving into the office takes about 30 minutes. 845 a.m.I get to work, stash my lunch in the break room fridge, settle in at my desk, and read and respond to work emails.905 a.m.A new IT-Ready class is abfluging in Edina, so I pop in long enough to say hello, introduce myself, and share a bit about how IT-Ready has literally changed lives. Obviously I hope that IT-Ready can help improve the lives of the students in this particular classroom and I hope theyll remember us after theyve launched their tech careers. Giving back takes lots of forms, and I hope that one day they can serve as mentors or even employers, hiring our latest IT-Ready graduates. The students excitement is palpable and it puts a smile on my face as I head back to my office.930 a.m.I have a conference call with representatives from our national partner, Wounded Warrior Project, which is helping get IT-Ready to veterans and their spouses.Because theres an acute shortage of qualified workers, the IT industry has more than a half-million jobs open in America. Thousands of these jobs are in help-desk technician or software testing roles, earning double the national wage. IT is a great field for veterans transitioning into civilian life, and IT-Ready can prepare them for tech roles in just eight weeks with full-time training. Like women and people of color, veterans are under-represented within the IT industry, and we want to change that. Thanks to a grant that supports our work with Wounded Warrior Project, we now offer IT-Ready online, giving preference to veterans, transitioning military, and their spouses. Wounded Warrior Project is providing training space to offer IT-Ready classes for veterans, so we discuss some of the outfitting logistics. We also discuss ways Wounded Warrior Project can raise awareness of IT-Ready and how our program can help veterans launch an upwardly m obile and financially sustaining career in the civilian workforce.1030 a.m.I meet one-on-one with one of my employees, something I do weekly with all three of my direct reports. We discuss which IT-Ready classes are in which stage where things stand in terms of outreach and recruiting the status of assessments for students for incoming classes and generally how people are doing. Are there students who are nervous or need encouragement?Are there students who are financially struggling? While IT-Ready is offered free to students, there is no stipend associated with it, and eight weeks can be a long time for someone to go without income. So I want to be kept apprised of that. If somebody says, Hey, Im struggling, we can help connect them with community resources so they dont have to drop out.And where do things stand in terms of placement after graduation? Its not enough for IT-Ready to equip students with entry-level tech skills we want these folks to become employed full time, and we do whatever we can to help make that happen.As a supervisor, I try to offer encouragement and support to my kollektiv, helping them overcome challenges and equipping them to make good choices that benefit our organization.1115 a.m.I have a video conference with another of my direct reports, our centralized team lead. Until recently, each individual IT-Ready location was responsible for vetting candidates making koranvers applicants had a high-school diploma or GED interviewing them by phone to gauge motivation and interest ensuring they completed an online workplace personality assessment testing them for basic foundational math and reading skills and, finally, conducting an in-person interview.Having each site perform this work was problematic for a couple of reasons one, it took a tremendous amount of time on the part of our program managers, which is time wed rather have them devote to nurturing relationships with employers and workforce development resources within their comm unities. IT-Readys continued success depends upon our graduates securing full-time employment in the tech industry, so we need to continually build our community presence and classroom-to-workplace pipeline. And two, it introduced variability where we are trying to keep the playing field as fair and balanced as possible.The centralized team also handles a lot of day-to-day logistics for us for example, they have the codes for the e-books we use, and they document student attendance. Our meeting is detailed we discuss how the team is collecting and processing data, and how were using and sharing that information within our organization. Were in the midst of a lot of change right now. Creating a more centralized structure has been part of the game plan to better manage the growth. 1215 p.m.I break for lunch, eating the meal I brought from home. Im really bad about eating at my desk, and spending that time reading and responding to emails and listening to voice messages.1 p.m.I meet with another direct report who is overseeing the logistics of our expansion into Chicago and Phoenix. In Chicago, were utilizing space at a college campus, while in Phoenix, were using space at a workforce development community resource. So there are detailed logistics involved making sure that each workstation is equipped with a PC and what have you. During our discussion, we realized Phoenix needed more surge protectors. Its a relatively minor thing, but something that could have caused serious repercussions had we overlooked it. And in Portland, we are switching from laptops to desktops for our new space, but we arent actually physically located in that space just yet. However, we need the laptops in Minneapolis for a pilot class we will be running simultaneously with the regular IT-Ready class. So weve shipped desktops to our current location, and I will travel out there next week to help set them up. During our meeting, we realize that the current space isnt wired for Internet connectivity, as laptops have Wi-Fi capability that the desktops do not. So my employee needs to determine if we can add a Wi-Fi access card to the desktops. There are lots of moving pieces when we expand into new cities, and there will always be snags, but I try to model for my team how we always need to be moving forward and problem solving.130 p.m.I have a conference call with a property broker I have been working with in Portland. Since our start there, we have been leasing space in a co-working location, but were looking now to build our own site. We have found a property and are working with the landlord to build out the site to meet our needs and sign a lease. I am heavily involved in making sure we get that site outfitted properly with the hope that we will be up-and-running for a summer class in a brand-new space we can call our own.2 p.m.I have an introductory meeting with representatives from a Fortune 50 tech company. They are really interested in the mission of the wor k were doing, so we discuss all of the ways companies like theirs can lend support mentoring, speaking to students, conducting mock interviews, hiring or offering financial support.I learn that like every other employer in the tech sector, this company has a dearth of qualified applicants for job vacancies. Companies literally are poaching tech employees from each other to fill needed spots. The industry needs a bigger pool of job candidates, and IT-Ready is doing just that creating more job candidates.I discover that the company has such great need for entry-level tech workers for its data centers that it has been going into retail stores and recruiting employees working there to undergo tech training. So there definitely is potential for a symbiotic relationship and we need to keep our conversation going. 3 p.m.I return a call to an academician in Texas who is conducting research and thinks there might be an opportunity for collaborating with Creating IT Futures or CompTIA. My j ob involves vetting opportunities like this and weighing in what resources are available, what can we share, whom do we need to involve, what do we have that might be a good fit for them. It turns out that this particular opportunity probably isnt a fit for us, but I need to make three other internal phone calls to share what Ive learned.Last week, I had a similar networking coffee with someone and it could be a relationship good for us longer term but right now isnt the right time to move forward. I would say thats one of the biggest challenges our organization faces because weve grown so much and so quickly communication. Making sure that everyone remains in the loop in the right order.345 p.m.Im speaking at a workforce development conference in San Antonio in May about how were going to tap into the next generation to help resolve our IT workforce issues, and how that will require a multiple-angle approach. Although the conference is two months away, I already am being asked fo r slides and bio, so I spend time crafting my remarks and developing PowerPoint slides. I do really love my job. I feel very fortunate to help people access training that taps a passion and gives them a credential they need to start along a successful career path. We just plant the seeds and watch them grow. I try to make sure some of my joy and excitement for my work comes through my remarks.5 p.m.I try to leave the office by 5 p.m. although I dont always succeed. My commute home takes about half an hour, and I spend that time listening to music as a way of decompressing and transitioning from work to home. My husband and I have twin boys, who are 20, and a younger son, who is 14.Im definitely a planner, so I know what were eating every night for dinner. If my husband gets home before me, he will start it. Dinner involves whoever is home to eat with my husband and me our 20-year-old twins often have plans, but our 14-year-old son almost always eats with us. Hes involved with Boy S couts and he takes cello lessons, so I drive him to those activities. Im also actively involved with Women of Today, a civic organization, so I will attend those meetings or events.I respond to work emails well into the evening. I know I should have more work-life balance but between meetings and calls during my workday, I sometimes cant answer work emails until that night. There always is laundry, and there always are dishes, but we have been pretty firm about teaching our sons how to do their own laundry and how to clean up after themselves. Sometimes they need a little prompting, but in our house, everything is a team effort. I pretty much do most of the cooking, but when it comes to vacuuming, dishes, laundry, I put my foot down a long time and told our sons they needed to help carry the load. And they do.830 p.m.Things start winding down in our house, and I try to be in bed, reading, by 915 p.m.--Interested in contributing to Fairygodboss MakingTime series? Email infofairygodbo ss.com with MakingTime in the subject line.

The Upside to Cover Letter for Resume Template

The Upside to titel Letter for Resume Template A titel letter is targeted at a particular employer, which is the reason why it ought to be impeccable and perfectly-written. Your titelseite letter should persuade the prospective employer that youre the ideal candidate for the position. It is a chance to express genuine interest in a company. The resume cover letter is intended to allow the employer to understand how they may benefit from what is presented in your resume. Details of Cover Letter for Resume Template Not only must you to take into consideration the contents, you also need to consider what structure and formatting will make it stand out. Once you are pleased with the format, enter all the appropriate content in the sections. Templates also show you exactly what elements you want to put in your letter, including introductions and body paragraphs. The template will comprise of all of the important segments and sections. Your cover letter should stick out from di fferent letters, explaining how your abilities and experience will cause you to be an asset to the prospective employer. Writing a cover letter for work in the education and teaching field is about the specifics. An interview to additional review your requirements and my skills would be mutually beneficial. A sample will be able to help you decide what things to put in your letter, and the way to format the letter. Be aware that in case you choose one of. Reading through our sample student and internship cover letters will provide you with a clearer idea of the way to compose your own. The letter needs to be concluded with a call for action where the contact particulars of the applicant needs to be included. Cover Letter for Resume Template Features Be sure to list your relevant abilities and any certifications you might have, including your cover letter for resume template Handlers card. You will also want to know how to compose a great resume. Contact Information The ver y first part of your cover letter should incorporate information on the way in which the employer can contact you. Choose the Resume Cover Letter option and pick the template you want. These dos and donts, in addition to the registered nurse cover letter example, are intended to offer you the information that you want to compose your very own strong cover letter. You can see the complete cover letter at the next link. To assist you craft the ideal cover letter, were supplying you with a few examples to assess. The entire cover letter are available here.

Freelance Engineering Theres a Site for That

Freelance Engineering Theres a Site for That Freelance Engineering Theres a Site for That Freelance Engineering? Theres a Site for ThatFreelancing as a mechanical engineer can be tough, especially in the construction field. Websites like freelancer.com and guru.com tend to be centered around the gig economy, leaving engineers in the cold. On top of that, more traditional industries like construction have been slow to adopt innovative hiring techniques.Ramzi Jreidini, a civil engineer and the CEO and founder of Handiss, has tischset out to change that. His website is designed to help freelance engineers and architects find clients and clients to find freelancers.Jreidini decided to start the site when he ran into his own difficulties going freelance. At one point I was working for a company and wanted to open my own transportation company, he says. My opportunities for entrepreneurship were slim. I had to work at established companies. I was always frustrated with that.For You The Ris e of the Master of Engineering Management Degree You have to show proper value to companies. Its really, really important to make sure that they are capable of delivering to our clients. Ramzi Jreidini, CEO and founder of Handiss Assad Mawad, a civil engineer and project manager is one of the freelancers found on Handiss. Image HandissTo create those opportunities, Jreidini started Handiss, in Lebanon, where he had the most contacts and experience. The site is much more than a Craigslist for engineers. Currently, every freelancer that signs up undergoes a rigorous vetting process. This includes a review of their qualifications and samples of their work, as well as an in-person interview.You have to show proper value to companies, Jreidini says. Its really, really important to make sure that they are capable of delivering to our clients.But building and construction companies dont always want to select every employee individually. So Jreidini has an option for its free lancers to form kollektivs. Individuals can create a team of people they have already worked with or that they have found on the site. They can then offer their skills as a single unit to potential clients.With or without a team, the site makes it easy for clients and freelancers to connect.I signed up to Handiss immediately after seeing their advertisementit was the only platform where I could offer my engineering services directly to clients, says mechanical engineer Rayan Zakhour. People publish information about any engineering or architecture services they need, and engineers and architects quote for these jobs. They send their deliverables anywhere in the world, and receive the money, all through Handiss.Its at payment where the site takes its cut ten percent. But signing up for freelancers and clients is free, something Jreidini intends to maintain.Handiss has more than 1,000 freelancers from six countries. Though anyone in the world can sign up to work anywhere in the world, the site services primarily the Middle East at the moment. But they will soon release a new platform with a greater focus on U.S. and European markets.Its a step by step process, Jreidini says. You cant just go in and expect things to happenyou have to build credibility, a client base, and demonstrate the quality of the people on the platform to get the trust of the industry.If all goes according to plan, the life of the freelance engineer could get easier and more lucrative. Its really going to change how we work, but its also going to be a big challenge. This industry is really resistant to change, Jreidini says.Whether or not Handiss can single handedly make that change is a question to be answered in the course of time.Weve been up for just a year and half year, he says. We are still at early stages. Mark Crawford is an independent writer. Read moraMeasuring Motivation12 Skills You Need to Advance an Engineering CareerHow to Interview on Camera for a New Job For Further Discuss ion

Four Student Members Take Top Honors at the Old Guard Competit...

Four Student Members Take Top Honors at the Old Guard Competit... Four Student Members Take Top Honors at the Old Guard Competit... Four Student Members Take Top Honors at the Old Guard Competition Finals(Left to right) The three top winners at the Old Guard Oral Competition Finals at IMECE 2015 Gorman Donnelly of Union College (third place), Pin-Yi Chen of National Taiwan University (second place), and Tyler Pharris of Baylor University (first place). Top undergraduate engineering students from around the world gathered in Houston on Saturday, Nov. 14, to compete in the Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition finals at the ASME 2015 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE). The four top presenters at this years event were Tyler M. Pharris of Baylor University, who took first place and won $2,000 for his presentation, Effects of Flow gestaffelte anordnung on a Highly Loaded, Low pressure Gas Turbine Blade at Low Reynolds Numbers Pin-Yi Chen of Nat ional Taiwan University, who placed second and received $1,500 for her presentation Latte Art by a Robot Arm third-place winner Gorman Donnelly, who received a $1,000 prize for presenting The Design of an Optimized Patient-Specific Spinal Fusion Cage Using Additive Manufacturing and Matthew Lesniewski of the Milwaukee School of Engineering, who placed fourth and won $500 for Cost Reduction of the XL-110 Flex Strap Machine.The first rounds of ASMEs Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition are open to undergraduate engineers at regional ASME Student Professional Development Conferences (SPDCs) held around the world each year. Participating in the competition gives students the chance to present their public speaking and communication skills before audiences of professional peers. The competition emphasizes the value of an ability to deliver clear, concise and effective oral presentations, particularly pertaining to some sphere in which an engineer is or should be involved . Baylor University student Tyler Pharris took the top prize at the finals with his presentation, Effects of Flow Separation on a Highly Loaded, Low pressure Gas Turbine Blade at Low Reynolds Numbers.The 2015 Old Guard Finals featured the winners from regional SPDCs held in Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Daytona Beach and Lubbock, as well as in Beirut (Lebanon), Cairo (Egypt), Gujarat (India), Istanbul (Turkey), Toluca (Mexico), and Topi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). The competitors presentations could last up to 15 minutes and were each followed by a five-minute QA session. All finalists presented in English and addressed a technical, economic or environmental aspect of engineering as it pertained to their work interest.In the end, the judges selected Tyler Pharris of Baylor University as this years champion. Last year when I competed in the SPDC, I practiced my presentation about 17 times, so I knew my slides like the back of my hand, said the understandably pro ud yet humble Pharris. This time, I practiced four or five times, but I ended up being able to feel very pumped about it. I thought I had a chance (to win in the finals), but every single person who welches up there had a wonderful presentation and they were excellent speakers, so they were giving me a run for my money. Pin-Yi Chen of National Taiwan University during her presentation, Latte Art by a Robot Arm, which won her the second-place prize at the event. Pin-Yi Chen, the beaming runner-up from National Taiwan University, was thrilled with her Old Guard experience I think it is an amazing journey, she said, smiling broadly. I really thank ASME for providing this amazing opportunity. Because of ASME, I had the chance to come to the USA three times this year Im so thankful for this. Its a life-changing experience, and I have decided to study in graduate school here next year.Where will she attend? Chen, clearly pleased with her triumph and looking forward to taking the next step in her engineering journey, said, I dont know where yet, but I know Im going toJoshua Olesker, Public Information

How to Use Twitter to Build Your Music Career

How to Use Twitter to Build Your Music CareerHow to Use Twitter to Build Your Music CareerTwitter can be a powerful way to connect with your audience and potential new fans. Use the platform strategically to avoid the noise and impact your bottom line. Set Up Your Twitter Page First things first You need to set up a Twitter account if you dont have one already.Simply visit the Twitter website and click the sign up button. Twitter will walk you through the steps of setting up your page and will teach you how to make your first tweets, the 140 character posts you send out to your followers to let them know what youre doing. The whole process takes just a few minutes, and you can use your account immediately. Start Following Once your Twitter account is in place, its time to start looking for other Twitter users to follow. If you know friends who use Twitter, start by following them and then checking to see who else is following them you might find more people to follow in their lists. Since you want to use Twitter to advance your music career, your label or other music related business, look for fellow music fans. Journalists, artists and other industry names are excellent targets. Tweet Wisely The beauty of Twitter is also its downfall. Its called the TMI effect. Twitter can be a great way bedrngnis only to keep fans informed about your news but also to make them feel closer to the whole process when you tweet about things youre working on as youre doing them. The trick is not to go too far and overload people with so much information that they ignore your tweets. For instance, peppering your tweets about your show dates with tweets like Im out buying strings for the tour can be fun for people to read, but chronicling every step is too much. Be Personal Although giving people too much info can be a Twitter turnoff, not giving them enough attention can be equally damaging. There are many services, like Twitterfeed, that will pick up your blog RSS feeds and post them to your Twitter page, doing the tweeting for you. This is good for your blog traffic, but if your only tweets are through a feeder, then people might stop paying attention. Make sure you keep adding personal tweets with the tweets picked up by your feeder. Otherwise, people might get bored and might stop following your feed. Join the Conversation Social interaction is the point of Twitter, so jump into the conversation. Not only may you end up building relationships with people that can help you in your music career, but you will also draw people back to your own Twitter page, where all of your news about your new release, tour dates and more can be found. You may even draw in some new fans. Dont Waste Too Much Time Like MySpace, Twitter can be an enormous time sucker. Dont substitute interaction on Twitter, MySpace or any social networking site for actually DOING something. Twitter can be a tool in your promotional arsenal, but it should never come befor e the basics like practicing, playing shows and promoting yourself. Your number of Twitter followers, like your number of MySpace friends, is a pretty poor indicator of how much youre accomplishing, so dont forget most of what you need to do for your music career needs to happen outside of the virtual world. Things You Can deutsche bundespost on Twitter Here are some actions you can take- and tweet about- to keep music fans interested Updates from the studio when recording.Updates on the manufacturing process (announce when the artwork is finished, when the master has been approved, when finished copies are delivered, etc.).Reminders about release dates, shows, and other news.Updates from the road when youre on tour.News about deals its ok to talk about.Day-to-day work news.

The State of American Manufacturing 2019

The State of American Manufacturing 2019 The State of American Manufacturing 2019 The State of American Manufacturing 2019.mb-2 margin-bottom 12pxU.S. manufacturers had a great 2018, but concerns continue to accompany every positive trend.This starts with output. The value added by manufacturers rose 7 percent in 2018, to nearly $2.4 billion. This represents 11 percent of the American economy. Yet viewed as a percentage of GDP, manufacturing continued to decline, just as it has for the past 70 years.The 2018 tariffs benefitted some producers, but trade suffered. While the United States exports only a small fraction of what it manufactures, those shipments dropped precipitously late last year as China and other nations retaliated against U.S. tariffs. Equally concerning, companies that sourced Chinese partes for their factories had to scramble for replacements to keep their lines running.Employment, a key measure of manufacturing muscle, rose for the fifth consecutive year, adding 1.4 1000000 workers since the bottom of the recession. Today, producers employ nearly 13 million workers, 8.5 percent of the non-farm workforce.This actually understates the number of jobs, since it does not include mora than 760,000 contract factory laborers who work for temporary employment firms. Nor does it include outsourced services once done by factory workers, ranging from warehouse management and equipment maintenance to design and engineering.Recommended for You Manufacturing Takes FlightManufacturers also worry about replacing 2.9 million baby boomers who will reach retirement age over the next decadeand about finding workers with digital skills to operate increasingly sophisticated machines.Labor Productivity (output/hour) Source Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborThat may mean producers will have to raise wages. The gap between manufacturing (averaging $27.38 per hour) and service jobs ($27.43) has evaporated, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet h ealth insurance still gives manufacturing the edge 92 percent of manufacturing employees were eligible for health insurance benefits in 2015, compared with 79 percent for all other businesses, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.U.S. manufacturing productivityand competitivenessrose rapidly since the 1980s. Where it once took 25 workers to generate $1 million in output, it now takes only 6.5, according to Mark Muro, who studies manufacturing at the Brookings Institution. Still, while smart factory technologies promise future growth, manufacturing productivity has hardly budged during the past five years, Muro said.These bright spots and concerns count because manufacturing still matters. It accounts for 70 percent of U.S. private sector RD, 55 percent of its patents, and 60 percent of its exports. Historically, it provided 35 percent of the nations productivity growth. And it employs 30 percent of its engineers.How manufacturers resolve those issues will make a difference . So lets examine them in greater depth.CompetitivenessAt $2.4 billion, U.S. manufacturing output is higher than ever, second after China, and 2.5 times larger than Japan and Germany combined. While it accounts for 11 percent of U.S. GDPlower than other major competitorsit eclipses the economic output of entire nations, such as Italy, Brazil, South Korea, or Russia.The strength of the U.S. manufacturing sector is no surprise. U.S. producers benefit from a large and wealthy domestic market and a vigorous economy.America also ranks high as a place where producers thrive. It ranks third on Brookings Institutions Global Manufacturing Scorecard and second for innovation on the World Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Report 2017-18. It is home to 10 of the worlds top 20 innovative cities, according to 2thinknows well-regarded Innovation Cities Index.In ansicht reports United States scores high on pro-business policies, business sophistication, innovation, energy costs, higher educati on, and workforce flexibility. No wonder annual direct foreign investment in manufacturing has tripled to $1.6 trillion since 2006.Listen to the latest episode of ASMETechCast Yet America has weaknesses, too. These include costly health care, lagging primary schools, and low infrastructure spending. Although new tax laws make corporate taxes competitive with other nations, tariff wars have hobbled supply chains. While large cities thrive, Americas rural communitiesonce home to thousands of small manufacturersnever recovered from the 2008 recession.Industrial RD is also a potential concern, according to the Congressional Research Service. RD has grown at lower rates than many competitors. It was also concentrated in such high-tech sectors such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, and aerospace. In other countries, more research dollars go into such medium-technology sectors as automotive and machinery manufacturing.The United States, like other developed nations, also faces low productiv ity growth. It averaged roughly 4 percent between 1990 and 2007, but has risen only 0.7 percent annually since.No one is certain why. Some argue that new technologies are not as powerful as past advances, or that it takes longer to realize their gains. Others claim data fails to capture the increasingly important service element in manufactured goods.Despite these clouds, more than 92 percent of manufacturers reported that they were optimistic about their companys outlook in 2018. It was the highest total in the National Association of Manufacturers surveys 20-year history.TradeWestern Michigan-based RoMan Manufacturing, which makes welding transformers, buys almost exclusively from U.S. vendors and sells 85 percent of its products in North America. Yet its struggles show how deeply the Trump Administrations trade wars have impacted many manufacturers.When President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum in March 2018, RoMan co-owner and CEO Robert Roth knew that domestic suppl iers would raise prices. Roth would like to pass those costs onto his customers, but then he risks losing bids to offshore vendors using cheaper aluminum. So he may have to absorb the cost himself.RoMan also buys coiled electrical steel magnetic cores for transformers domestically. When steel tariffs pushed up their prices, Roth started importing cores from an Israeli producer to remain competitive.The Israelis buy untariffed electrical steel, which costs less, Roth explained. When they export cores to us, its not tariffed because its considered a fabricated product. The tariffs let fabricated steel products into the United States at a lower price, because theres no tariff on the base material.Others have similar problems. Steel tariffs boosted the cost of Capital Cookings high-end ranges by $800 to $1,000, making them less competitive against imports. Steel beer keg maker American Keg had to lay off workers. Union Pacific paid $6 million in duties for a boatload of a grade of Japan ese steel rail not made in the United States.The Trump Administration placed tariffs on steel and aluminum tariffs to jumpstart U.S. metal production and on Chinese products to force China to negotiate on issues like forced technology transfer and export subsidies.These steps partially succeeded. Domestic steel shipments rose 5 percent in 2018 and several steelmakers announced plans for new capacity. America and China are negotiating, though the outlines of any final deal are unknown.Meanwhile, thousands of companies like RoMan, Capital, and Union Pacific are left to figure it out.Roth, however, has a different plan. His firm spent the past two years reengineering his transformers to take out 40 percent of their cost.Even though we saw steel prices rise, we still lowered our selling price dramatically, he said. Were trying to direct automakers to the new product and show them the opportunity.JobsBy now, almost everyone knows that while the United States lost 4.3 million manufacturin g jobs between 2001 and 2019, production reached historic levels. Yet economists are still debating why this happened.Some researchers assert that computers, robots, and automation have made factories more efficient. Automakers, for example, replaced menschengerecht welders with robots and battalions inventory clerks with computers. The same scenario has been repeated in smaller factories, too. Since the 1940s, factory workers as a percent of the labor force has been declining at a steady rate.Others are skeptical. The industry began automating 70 years ago, yet the number of manufacturing workers remained stable until 2001, when China received preferential tariffs after joining the World Trade Organization. Aided by government subsidies and low-cost labor, some Chinese imports sold for less than raw material costs in the United States.Between 2001 and 2016, about 80,000 U.S. factories closed their doors.Rural areas, once populated by many small factories, were devastated. Millions of jobs disappeared, with few options for similar work nearby.But while economists argue over why jobs have declined, there is one fact they all agree upon who gets hired has changed.Between 2000 and 2016, when overall manufacturing was falling 20 percent, employment was rising for workers with at least an associate degree.This may be due to the growing digitalization of manufacturing. Brookings Institution economist Mark Muro tracked the digital content of 545 professions and rated them on a scale of 100. Software developers, as one might imagine, scored 94 in 2016. Among manufacturing professions, engineers ranked around 70.The surprise was the growth of digital job content among shop floor workers between 2002 and 2016. Among tool and die makers, it rose to 51 in 2016, from 3 in 2002. Those in advanced manufacturing rose to 39, from 24 and basic goods manufacturing reached 33, from 15.When manufacturers talk about a skills gap, this is at least part of what they mean. Not only mu st they replace 2.9 million retiring baby boomers over the next decade, but they also must hire new types of workers with digital skills to replace the old. Deloitte warns that gaps in skills, especially digital skills, may leave as many as 2.4 million jobs unfilled over the next decade.It looks tough for manufacturers, but it could mean more opportunity for workers with the right training.AutomationFor manufacturers, the future is now.Take, for example, smart factories, also known as Industry 4.0 or digital manufacturing. This September, Germanys EM0 trade show will showcase 50 networked metalworking machineswith a difference.Those machines will all connect to a single data hub, but they will be monitored by controllers from different companies, said Wilfried Schfer, executive director of the German Machine Tool Builders Association, which runs EMO.This is a big step forward. Smart factory deliverablescombinations of Internet of Things sensors, cloud computing, Big Data analysis, a nd artificial intelligenceare only a few years old. Until now, they were the proprietary province of such automation leaders as GE, Siemens, Bosch, and their deep-pocketed customers.The development of plug-and-play standards gives smaller producers a way to get smarter without breaking the bank.Smart systems can provide new insights into machinery and workflows, and even use AI to schedule jobs, assign machines, and route parts autonomously. Either way, they yield real-world savings.Rockwell Automation, for example, ran a Big Data analysis of sensor data from a large coffee roaster and found it could slash the 100 excess machines it needed to keep production steady during maintenance turnarounds, said the companys director of advanced technology David Vasko.In Michigan, Kuka Systems linked more than 60,000 devices (including 259 robots) and business software. Its single assembly line runs 24/7 and churns out one of eight different unpainted Jeep Wrangler body types every 77 seconds. Other technologies are also transitioning to the shop floor. Industrial robot use is rising rapidlybut industry also bought more than 60,000 autonomous mobile robots to deliver products and parts in warehouses and on the factory floor last year.Meanwhile, large companies like BMW, Whirlpool, Boeing, and Adidas are using 3D printers to make metal and plastic production and spare parts. Adidas, for example, plans to print 1 million sneaker soles this year.One day, speculates Srivats Ramaswami, CTO of 42Q, a vendor of cloud-based manufacturing software, smart automation may enable wealthier nations to build factories near their engineers and markets without worrying about competition from low-wage offshore producers.Alan s. brown is a senior editor at Mechanical Engineering magazine.Recommended for You Manufacturing Special Report