Graduates, look beyond college: Skilled trades offer great jobs in North Texas | Opinion
High school graduation season is a special time. It marks the culmination of watching kids around us – in our schools, neighborhoods and homes – grow up and embrace young adulthood.
The entire General Motors Arlington Assembly plant team congratulates all of our area’s 2024 high school graduates on their achievements. Each of the graduates we are celebrating is a future leader with the potential to drive our local economy and community forward.
To the graduates, be proud of this moment for what you’ve achieved, but also be excited for what’s next. You are entering a new chapter and have untapped potential to leave a lasting impact on those around you and the community you live in.
As you explore the new possibilities available to you, consider pursuing manufacturing and skilled-trades job opportunities right here in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Recently, four-year universities have seen a decline in enrollment. Some graduates note that rising costs, a desire for faster entry into the workforce and a lack of classes focused on their areas of interest have led them to explore other options. Manufacturing and skilled trades opportunities in the DFW region offer new graduates good-paying jobs that can lead to long, prosperous careers and allow them to make a significant impact in their communities.
These opportunities allow you to work with your hands, solve new problems and change how people experience their day-to-day lives. At General Motors, we’ve embodied this into an aspiration to innovate and connect people to what matters most to them.
At Arlington Assembly, this shows up in the production of world-class full-size SUVs, including the iconic Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, and GMC Yukon.
Not only are manufacturing jobs fulfilling, but they are ones you can build a life around. In addition to a competitive starting wage for new hires, the benefits of manufacturing careers are bountiful. From world-class health care and benefits packages and development and training opportunities to tuition assistance programs and flexible work assignments, these opportunities provide life-long career paths.
They are jobs you can work for decades to provide for your family and help you become role models and leaders in the community.
My journey with General Motors is a great representation of the endless opportunities available in this field and how you can build a career. Prior to becoming the HR director at Arlington Assembly, I worked at several General Motors locations, including Flint and Warren in Michigan and Oshawa in Ontario, Canada, as a labor manager and a quality engineer, in industrial engineering and as a group leader. I strongly encourage students to explore manufacturing and skilled trades.
Our world is changing faster than ever. This year’s graduating class will come up with ideas, products and technologies that aren’t even in our realm of possibility today. What won’t change is the role manufacturing and skilled trades play in building these ideas and bringing them to people all over the world.
“I built that,” is a gratification that will never lose its luster. General Motors and other regional employers can help job-seekers find that long-lasting satisfaction.
Christena Wilson is the human resources director at General Motors Arlington Assembly.
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