How SkillsUSA brings the new generation into the industry

By Emma Peterson. 

With a workforce shortage in the roofing industry, the SkillsUSA competition is energizing young people to join the industry! 

Host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with John Esbenshade in Season 5, Episode 31 of Roofing Road Trips chatting about how people can get involved with SkillsUSA, build their teams for the competition and display their technical skills. John serves as the director of workforce development for the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) and through this role, he has gotten more involved with SkillsUSA.  

SkillsUSA is a national organization founded in the 1960s that, as John described, “Is designed to prepare the next generation of America's skilled labor.” Originally, this organization focused on construction and architecture. Fast-forward to today and the over 300,000 members across the United States work in "everything from EMT, robotics, cosmetology and estheticians.” John has spent the last couple years getting roofing added to the roster of skill-training that SkillsUSA showcases in their competitions.  

This past year his efforts paid off. At the 2023 event, he shared, “A number of competitors came there to compete on commercial roofing.” These teams of competitors got to work on mock-ups at the event and show off the skills and training they’ve put in. According to John, in order to get to this competition, these teams first competed in a “regional SkillsUSA contest, with the winner going to compete in a state SkillsUSA contest, and then the winner of that competing in a National SkillsUSA contest.” 

The teams that made it to this high-level competition started in their home states and regions, forming under the coordination of a contractor and one of the 4,696 Career and Technical Education (CTE) schools in the country. These schools collaborate with SkillsUSA to prepare students to work in the trades and this contest is one of the ways to motivate them by recognizing the hard work they’re doing.  

John explained that in the roofing industry, "We are interested in trying to find the next generation of leaders for this industry, the schools want their students coming through and being successful when they go onto their career. This [competition is a] really exciting point, where we're finally all starting to come together, and it's finally starting to mesh in some places.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more SkillsUSA.