Niel Dawson has been the executive director for the IEC Atlanta & Georgia Chapters for 28 years. He’s done most every job there is at the chapter from accounting to setting up training to member and workforce recruitment. He knows from experience that a skilled workforce is the number one concern of all electrical contractors, and that is why the chapter invests so heavily in those services. Niel has a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in human services development that provides him with a unique opportunity to use my education for the improvement of services to IEC members.  

Niel says this SPARK panel discussion on Innovative Workforce Solutions will not be talking about the problem, but rather about solutions to the problem.  

“There is no one silver bullet to the issue; it requires utilizing any and all ideas and resources to chip away at the shortage,” he says. “We address a whole host of these in our panel discussion. You cannot solve the issue of the workforce shortage by just hiring more skilled workers. You need to take a multi-faceted approach to recruit, train, and retain your workforce. Our panelists share strategies they utilize and provide, such as an online hiring platform, best practices to recruit from schools, utilizing social media, offering unique employee benefits, and much more.” 

Niel is joined by these panelists: