Building the Talent Pipeline Starts with Awareness
Across the skilled trades, employers and workforce organizations are working to build the next generation of talent. But building a stronger pipeline isn't only about reaching students when they're ready to graduate.
Before young people can consider these careers, they first have to know they exist.
Can You Make It? is a career awareness and exploration book series designed to introduce students to the skilled trades earlier—through relatable stories, real careers, and hands-on experiences that show the work, people, and possibilities behind these industries.
Why Grades 3–5? Students in grades 3–5 aren't ready to choose a career—and that's not the goal. They're ready to discover what's possible.
At this age, students are curious about how things work, how things are made, and the people behind them. It's a chance to expand what they know exists before they start making decisions about courses, programs, and what comes next.
Career awareness today can help build tomorrow's talent pipeline.
Connecting Classrooms & the Skilled Trades
Educators want meaningful, age-appropriate ways to introduce students to careers beyond the classroom. The skilled trades want opportunities to help young people understand the work and careers behind them.
The challenge is connecting the two. Educators may not know an industry well enough to introduce its careers and answer students' questions. Industry professionals know their work but may not know how to translate it into an engaging experience for an 8-, 9-, or 10-year-old.
Can You Make It? gives them a place to start—together. Each Can You Make It? story can take a skilled trade and turn it into an age-appropriate career-exploration experience built around a relatable problem, real careers and hands-on discovery.
The story sparks curiosity. Educator resources at the back of the book help continue the exploration. And a hands-on component gives students something tangible that connects what they read to the real world.
Put The Big Jump to Work
The Big Jump is designed to fit into the workforce outreach you're already doing—or help you start something new.
Use the book to introduce precision machining during MFG Day, facility tours, classroom visits, career exploration programs, and community outreach. Pair it with 3D-printed pedal spinners so students have something tangible to take home and remember the experience.
Bring It Into Your Local Schools
Want to reach students beyond a single event or tour? Sponsor books for a local school or classroom.
It's a simple way to put career awareness resources directly into students' hands while giving manufacturers and educators a chance to build a stronger connection.
Your Skilled Trade Could Be Next.
The Big Jump starts with precision machining. The Can You Make It? series is designed to go further.
Future stories can introduce students to other skilled trades and hands-on technical careers—from electrical, carpentry, HVAC, and welding to other areas of manufacturing and beyond—using the same approach: relatable problems, real people, and hands-on exploration.
Your Skilled Trade. Your Careers. Your Story.
If you represent a trade association, workforce organization, or industry that needs young people to understand its careers, let's explore what the next Can You Make It? story could look like.