Is the Future of Work Already Here? with Andrew Zimdars

Speaker A: Around every corner, there's a story of perseverance, partnership and possibility. Welcome to Horicon Bank's banking on Business2 podcast, offering insights and tools for business visionaries. Each episode, we sit down with business leaders and community partners to talk about what's important to them and their communities.

Speaker B: At Horicon bank, we come together to support, celebrate, and strengthen the places we call home. Let's learn from these stories and practical ideas and keep doing good together like we have for the past 130 years. Banking on Business 2 is hosted by these Horicon bankers turned podcasters, Eric Wiesnan,

Speaker C: Business Development Officer, and me, Becky Schimf, marketing specialist.

Speaker D: Welcome to banking on Business2 podcast. Today we're talking with Andrew Zimdars, Director of Partner Services at GPS Educational Partners. For those of you not familiar with this organization, GPS Education Partners is changing the lives of thousands of students by validating the technical track as a viable career choice and providing them with a pathway to prosperity. Welcome, Andrew. We're glad you're finally here.

Speaker C: Thanks for having me.

Speaker E: All right, Andrew, let's let our listeners get to know you a little bit better. We're going to do a rapid fire intro to the expert.

Speaker A: We fire off the questions, you answer as quickly as you can. Ready, set, go.

Speaker E: Ready?

Speaker C: Got it? Yep.

Speaker E: All right, here we go.

Speaker C: First job ever, dishwasher, uh, at a restaurant, uh, up in Door County.

Speaker E: Oh, nice. Nice. Coffee or tea?

Speaker C: Definitely coffee. Although probably actually more of a smoothie guy. Uh, oh, yeah, okay. But coffee.

Speaker B: All right.

Speaker E: Do you have a local favorite?

Speaker C: Uh, so if I'm doing a shout out for, uh, smoothies in particular? Daily Dose, uh, it's a smoothie franchise here locally. They've got a location in Pewaukee, Cedarburg and Hartford. It's awesome.

Speaker E: Do you have a favorite smoothie as we go on?

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm gonna have to go get one. So they have, like, a strawberry banana one. That usually is my go to.

Speaker E: Okay.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker E: What do you wish every business owner understood about today's students?

Speaker C: So all the generational complaints about, uh, these kids, you were those kids. At some point, everybody looks back at the generation that's younger than them and has some sort of complaint. The reality is, is, like, the kids today are just like, kids, kids of the old. And, um, the reality is, like, most frustrations that companies have with what kids are doing, their older employees are doing these same things. So kids are modeling the adults. In a lot of ways, it makes sense.

Speaker E: All right, last question. What are you looking Forward to most

Speaker C: this summer, probably attending a bunch of brewers games with my son. He's, like, old enough now that he can get into them and stay through nine innings. So, yeah, that's a big dream. So probably those. Yeah.

Speaker E: All right, fantastic.

Speaker D: And that brings us to our conversation today. For someone brand new to GPS Education Partners, what are the problems you're solving? Just tell us a little bit more about it.

Speaker C: So, um, kind of two things. One, we, I guess our model is that we host many schools in a business. Uh, and the whole idea is that for students that don't see engagement in traditional school and need kind of a reset to the four walls of what school looks like, uh, who are interested in getting into manufacturing and technical careers. For those students and those families, it's a reset to be able to pursue an educational path that better suits their needs. And then for our employers, um, we're serving by filling a talent need and a pipeline for them to identify, ah, potential students that could fit into their employee pathways, um, at the high school age, and then train them up and get them ready so when they graduate high school, they can be hireable.

Speaker D: It's outstanding. Wow.

Speaker E: Okay. GPS Education Partners has been serving Wisconsin communities for over two decades, celebrating 25 years this year. Is that right?

Speaker C: Correct.

Speaker E: Yep. Congrats.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker E: Why do you believe work based learning has become even more critical today?

Speaker C: I'm a millennial. Everybody's heard about the millennial student debt thing, right? Um, we all went to college for the experience instead of the pathway. Um, and I think, um, you know, more and more students, uh, are feeling the pressure to know what they want to do when they get out of high school and to figure out, like, am I going to go to college? Am I going to go in the workforce? What do I want to be when I grow up? So work based learning provides them an opportunity to, at a low stakes, figure, uh, out, like, what they're good at, what are they interested in, what they want to do after high school, uh, what are their skill sets, um, and then for our employers, it's a way to identify potential pipelines of people they can hire after high school. But, um, I think as a, as a whole, anytime that our graduates come out of high school better prepared for, like, what they want to do and why and better understand themselves. I think as a community society, we're better off if that's occurring 100%.

Speaker E: Yep.

Speaker D: And with many of these students struggling to find their connection between the education and an attainable career, you successfully have proven that a Four year degree, like you just said, really isn't the only way and the only path to success. Um, with the gap for skilled workers like we hear about in CNBC and everything, Journal Sentinel, uh, it continues to widen. I mean, what's at stake for just the Wisconsin employers if we don't correct that?

Speaker C: Yeah. Uh, so we all know that there's this thing, the silver tsunami coming, right? There's people that have years and years of tribal knowledge and experience and understanding of companies that are about to retire. And so there's gonna be this massive shortage of workers, um, coupled with the fact that our birth rates are declining. And so there are just fewer and fewer high school kids filling those jobs. So employers that are going to be reactive to that and instead be trying to find employees in 5, 10 years are not only going to have employees that might not be as skilled as they would like, but they're going to be fighting with everybody else for those same employees. And so the more you can identify early on, like, hey, we're going to fill our talent pipeline, going to train up, we're going to fill those gaps and we're going to train them in the skills they're going to need for 10, 15, 20 years from now. AI, you know, all the technologies that are coming out that make things more, um, you know, less about actually doing the work and more about controlling the programming and the robotics that are doing the work. Um, if they can get young people trained on that, show them their culture, retain them, um, they're going to be legged up on their competition in terms of talent pipeline.

Speaker E: I have not heard the silver tsunami just saying. Oh, I have not. That's just going to stick. All right, GPS Ed talks about building pathways and preparing students for careers. What does success look like at the student level?

Speaker C: So if you ask the business, a lot of times it'll be did the student hire on. Right. Um, and certainly that's our goal is to hopefully help that company get an employee that they can hire. Um, but I think from the student level, when a student graduates and has a better sense of who they are, their skills, their interests, uh, and has grown in their maturity and their soft skills, durable skills, all those things, um, and just has a path towards success, prosperity, um, and then can go into society and be a better contributor to society, I think that's the ultimate goal. Right. Uh, and then all the other things will work themselves out. But when a kid leaves and we feel like they have a good plan and they know where they're headed and you know, they have the skills to be successful. That's, that's a win for us.

Speaker D: I've been very fortunate that I've been able to attend three of the graduations so far.

Speaker C: One more next week.

Speaker D: And I can tell you that, well, the whole thing is a great job. My favorite part by far is when the kids go up there and have their panel.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: Just how honest they are and how happy they seem.

Speaker C: It's just, it's just very unfiltered.

Speaker D: It is, it is in a good way. Both ways though. I mean.

Speaker C: But, uh.

Speaker D: So I can already come up with a bunch. But I mean, would you be willing to share a story that you've seen where, you know, this model has really helped change? No names please.

Speaker C: But yeah.

Speaker D: Certain students trajectory or just one? I mean that now that you've been doing it for a while, just one that really sticks out in your head.

Speaker C: There's so many, right? Um, there really.

Speaker D: I've only been to 3 and I've already heard 12 that I could probably name.

Speaker C: I think as a generality, it's kind of seeing a student that comes in very immature, thinks they know what they want to do. Some career interest survey at the high school told them they were going to do this or that. Um, kind of felt like they had it figured out. Right. And then to kind of be able to see that evolution of growth, uh, to be just more informed and mature when they graduate. I think that's one kind of success that always stands out to me. I think another one as a kid that came in that just felt like, had been beaten down by like lack of success in the educational system, um, feeling like they didn't fit in the pathway of traditional school and to kind of see that, you know, when you first ask them, when they come into the education center in our classroom, you know, introduce yourself and they'll say, I'm so and so. I'm, um, from Blank High School. And then their head drops and then at the end when they have like their head lifted high, I'm so and so I work at Blank. I get to do this, that and the next thing. And there was a joke yesterday that like I'm 18 and I'm trusted to work on high level machine and just to know that they are doing the, the role of like somebody that's very senior at their company. We have some students working at companies where they're getting asked to train new employees that are coming in that are maybe like 10 years old or 20 years older than them and they're 18. And they're training people, um, so to see that kind of growth from either a student that didn't know they wanted to do or was really kind of like at rock bottom to now being really set up for success after high school, those are always the ones that get to me, the emotional moments at graduation and stuff like that.

Speaker E: So that's the student side. How do employer partners benefit not just in work workforce development, but in community impact as well.

Speaker C: Yeah. So I think we always stress to our businesses like, look, this is uh, a way for you to identify and train and recruit future employees, but it's also a way for you to just give back to your community. At the end of the day, if all of the graduates are going into the community and are better pre to work in manufacturing, the trades, there's a boomerang effect that, that'll positively affect you even if it's not directly working at your company. And I think it just, you know, from the, the lens of just public relations in the community, you're going to get the publicity that you are doing good things and helping young people. Um, the families are seeing that, the schools are seeing that. Uh, and then I think just internally we always say that the students that come in are a mirror to your culture and to your processes and your training. And so it's a way to better understand how does your internal culture and training model look and work. Because if it's not good, the students will, uh, through the process of having them in there, it'll show out. Right. And so it's a way for a company to kind of like see where do we need to improve and how we train people, uh, where maybe certain gaps in our culture, um, you know, where are we not retaining the students because of those gaps. Um, so it's kind of an internal improvement mechanism, uh, as well, you know.

Speaker D: And I'll say one of the graduations I sat at, I was fortunate enough to sit at a table where there was four people that were from the work sponsor and Andrew. I'd not be lying if those guys were just as excited as the graduate when they were going through it. They were just as pumped up, sitting at the table, hooting and hollering and just smiling and laughing. So that culture on both sides, it really does make sense.

Speaker C: And if I can add to that, it's interesting some of your kind of oldest, what people might think as crustiest old guys on the job floor end up being the guys that get the most, um, involved and excited about this because it's a way for them to give back to the next generation, impart their knowledge that they've created onto somebody else. And it also kind of gives them the release to say, this is in good hands, I can retire now. Because some of these guys are holding off retirement because they just don't have, they don't feel comfortable that there's somebody else ready to take their spot.

Speaker D: So, and then where do the education centers fit in and what should employers understand about that and how the students spend their time? Because you know, I'll be truthful, like uh, I still until recently really didn't understand though they're not in their high school anymore, they're at your school. But then they're in the way because almost like a day in the life where just, where the word, you know, just piece the pieces together for everyone.

Speaker C: Well, after this is over, I'll have to get you guys out for like a tour. So the idea is, is that we run this, this classroom that's embedded into a local manufacturer, uh, that's like a regional hub for that area. And that's where the kids go to class with us. Again, the focus is like, hey, this doesn't look like real school, traditional school. This is very much looking like the career path you want to get to. So we're going to focus a lot on attendance, uh, you know, career coaching, technical skills, um, and really hold you accountable and coach you in that classroom. So they spend half of the day there, um, finishing their high school curriculum, graduating with a diploma from their home high school because they maintain the status of being a student at the high school they're at. Um, and the ed center has a bunch of different kids from a bunch of different uh, high schools there. And then the rest of the day we put them into a youth apprenticeship and they have to work and get skills, um through that and experience through that. And so um, what's really cool is that this kind of work based learning full circle happens where in the classroom they're being coached on things that are going to happen at the job and then the employers are giving us feedback on what's happening at the job and then we coach them in the classroom. So the whole thing just has this like constant communication loop. And so it's just a much more intentional youth apprenticeship work based learning experience that kids can get, um, than you know, just a traditional classroom would have.

Speaker E: So it's like Monday through Friday, just like a normal school day, only it's,

Speaker C: you know, juniors go to class in the morning. So it's for juniors and seniors, juniors in the morning and then they work in the afternoon. Seniors go at work in the morning and then have class in the afternoon. And then as they get farther along in the program, um, the seniors can have the ability to earn some full days because we have that flexibility in our scheduling. So for, for our uh, our general contractors and skilled trades out there, it's really nice because we have that flexibility to send a kid to a job site for the full day and then they don't have to worry about like kind of this kid popping in and out. Sure, they can get a full 8 to 10 hour day and just see that whole evolution of how that site's working in a much different way than if they're just there for a couple hours.

Speaker E: Makes sense. From your seat. What are employers most hungry for right now? Technical skills, durable skills, reliability, communication. How is GPS ED responding?

Speaker C: Yeah, so I mean, yes to all of them, but, um, I would say the thing that we hear the most from our employers is that uh, the technical skills they can teach, right? The kids have to come with something, but the technical skills they can teach those, but they need people that have reliability, good attendance, good attitude, ask questions. All those soft skills, durable skills that we're trying to coach in the classroom and teach and embed in the students when they graduate. We just hear that across the board that that's for employers, what they really, really want.

Speaker D: I will add a comment to that. And the soft skills is unbelievable, just from what I've seen, like all the kids standing up, shaking hands, wanting to make sure they introduced the weird guy sitting at the table. No, it's really, it's really something that's been lost in the last couple years. So the fact you guys spend so much time on that soft skill I think is just phenomenal. So I guess the last question for the business owners and partners out there watching, you know what'd be a good first step to try to get involved? And once again, because some programs have one kid, some programs have multiple, so they can start slow. I mean, so is, what's the first step for them?

Speaker C: So I would say is we talked about the education center, but you know, that's just one business. That's the regional Hub. In reality, 95% of our businesses that are interacting with us aren't hosting an ed center. So I don't want a business to think they have to do that part of it. Um, you know, we're just looking to talk to businesses about what might it look to have a youth apprentice there from Our program. Right. And that might be one. To your point, it might be multiple. Um, but the initial, um, you know, kind of ask or encouragement would be just to reach out to us and say, hey, we're interested in this. Let's just talk through it and, and see maybe kind of how ready are you? What are your gaps? Um, you know, what are some of the things you don't even realize about what 16, 17, 18 year olds can do on the job site? Um, the state of Wisconsin laid out an awesome, um, guideline for, for youth apprentices that allow them to do virtually anything when it comes to, like, manufacturing and the trades. And so just kind of like having that understanding and having that conversation and then us being able to explain, like, what goes into it. Um, it's just a discovery conversation and then, you know, kind of go from there.

Speaker E: Now it's time for the interesting animal fact.

Speaker A: Here's where we are going to get a little bit inspirational for our listeners. As you know, Horicon bank is the natural choice for banking. And that's just not a tagline. Its commitment to being environmentally friendly and supporting environmental causes.

Speaker B: So in that spirit, you will hear an interesting animal fact and we'd like you to turn it into a piece of inspirational advice.

Speaker E: Are you ready for this? Many of us know this fun fact. When geese fly in a V formation, they rotate the lead position. As each bird tires, the group goes farther because leadership is shared.

Speaker D: Now let's hear your inspirational advice, Andrew.

Speaker C: I, um, guess we tell our students this all the time. Your best ability is availability.

Speaker E: Oh, nice. Nice. Okay, Anything else on that or that's.

Speaker C: Yeah, it goes for sports, it goes for, uh, you know, the job. If you're there, that's like 90% of you know what you need to do. M. And then the rest you can fill in the gaps on. But you gotta be available. You gotta be at your job every day and. And if you do that, you're most of the way there.

Speaker E: All right, uh, well, thank you for joining us today.

Speaker C: Absolutely. Thanks for having.

Speaker E: It was great to hear about all of us. So good.

Speaker D: Thank you, Andrew.

Speaker E: Appreciate it.

Speaker C: Thanks.

Speaker B: Thank you for tuning in to stay in the know on all Things Banking on Business 2, please visit horiconbank.com bankingonbusiness2 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker D: Sam.