Here’s How Your Company Can Engage with Emerging Talent

As part of your member benefits with NFPA, we help to connect you and your company to students who are learning about fluid power and looking to enter the industry. We have several programs established that are designed to provide our member companies with opportunities for company visibility, recruitment, and giving back to the future of the industry.

Below are just a few of the ways that NFPA can connect you with students, schools, and faculty ranging from middle school and high school up to 2-year technical colleges and universities. Please contact us at workforce@nfpa.com if you would like to get involved with any of these programs or would like to schedule a time to meet to learn more.

Fast Track to Fluid Power

Our Fast Track to Fluid Power Program helps to establish a pathway for students from middle school up to 2-year technical colleges to learn about fluid power and the companies within the industry. We currently have “Fast Track Hubs” at Macomb Community College (MI), Triton College (IL), and Waukesha County Technical College (WI) where we try to build relationships between these 2-year schools, local middle and high schools, and our member companies. We have several programs to help get you involved with these students:

• Host a Fluid Power Action Challenge. This hands-on project helps to introduce middle school students to fluid power and your company!
• Participate in the Speaker’s Bureau. Speak with middle school, high school, technical college, and/or university students about the industry and your company.
• Judge  Scholarship Applications. We have two scholarship programs that you can volunteer to judge student applications.

Power Partner Universities

This is a recognition program designed to showcase universities that provide excellent fluid power curriculum as well as those who participate in all the following NFPA programs. Our power partners include Cleveland State University (OH), Iowa State University (IA), Milwaukee School of Engineering (WI), Murray State University (KY), North Carolina A&T (NC), Northern Illinois University (IL), and Purdue University (IN).

• Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge*. This hands-on design and build project connects university students to NFPA industry members through mentorship, sponsorship, and participation at the final competitions in April. This is one of the most rewarding opportunities in terms of company visibility and engagement with students eager to learn more about fluid power.
• Fluid Power Clubs. We have 21 Fluid Power Clubs at universities across the country. If you would like to speak with these students, host them for a facility tour, or help provide and support a project that they could work on, please let us know!
• Speaker’s Bureau. Speak with university students about the fluid power industry, your company, and any open positions or internships.

Additional Ways to Get Involved:

• Join a Workforce Engagement Group. These groups serve as a forum to discuss activities and opportunities designed to connect NFPA members with the Fast Track to Fluid Power and Power Partner programs, giving participating members increased visibility to educational institutions in their region and recruitment opportunities to more successfully interact with students interested in fluid power.
• Receive Student Resumes*. We collect student resumes from our partner schools and share them with our member companies monthly. If you would like to receive these resumes, please send us the name and email address of the contact at your company who would like to receive these.
• Create a Company Profile. We encourage our member companies to create a company profile on our foundation site where we ask you to share some information about your company along with an HR contact and links to your job postings. We direct students to this page to learn more about companies within the industry and to find jobs.

*Participation in these programs is reserved for Pascal Society Members only. If you are interested in joining the Pascal Society, please visit our website here.