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HIRED! The Podcast With Travis Miller
Welcome to HIRED! The Podcast, where host Travis Miller dives deep into dynamic dialogues with top hiring experts. Join us for candid conversations that transform companies into coveted destinations for talent and empower candidates to stand out from the crowd.
HIRED! The Podcast With Travis Miller
How to Fix the Skills Gap (It's Not What You Think) (Ft. Christelle Keefer) | Ep. #61
Is the "skills gap" real, or is it just the story we've been told to believe? In our first-ever on-location episode of HIRED! The Podcast, host Travis Miller travels to the U.S. headquarters of ABB Robotics to find out. He sits down with Christelle Keefer, Global Segment Manager for Education at ABB, to investigate the surprising truth about retraining our workforce for the age of automation, who is truly responsible for building the next generation of talent, and how quickly it can actually be done.
This conversation provides a practical roadmap for any leader trying to solve the labor shortage and for any professional looking to make their career future-proof. We debunk the myth that upskilling takes years, explore why industry must partner with education, and reveal what individuals can do to become indispensable in a crowded job market.
// ABOUT OUR GUEST
Christelle Keefer is a trailblazer at the intersection of robotics and education. As the Global Segment Manager for Education at ABB, she leads the charge in developing innovative curricula and global partnerships to prepare the workforce for the future of automation. In recognition of her impact, the International Federation of Robotics named her one of the "10 Women Shaping the Future of Robotics." Christelle also helps guide the industry through her work on the A3 Robotics Technology Strategy Board.
// CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST
⏵ Christelle Keefer
⏵ ABB Robotics
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#skillsgap #automation #futureofwork #manufacturing #robotics #workforcedevelopment #leadership
I hate to put the weight on industry, but I'm going to put the weight on industry.
Travis Miller:Hello, very excited to be at a little bit of a different location today. Welcome to hire the podcast. I am Travis Miller, and I am wildly excited today to sit down with Christelle Kiefer, a true trailblazer in robotics and especially in education and workforce development. She's the global segment manager for education at ABB robotics. Christelle has been instrumental in bridging the gap between cutting edge automation technology and real world learning environments. Her passion for inclusivity and early STEM engagement has not only earned her recognition as one of the 10 women shaping the future of robotics by the International Federation of robotics, but she also has she's also made her a mentor and inspiration to countless students and educators, whether it's collaborating with high schools or leading global initiatives. Christelle is at the forefront of cultivating the next generation of innovators. Christelle, thank you and welcome. Yeah. Thanks so much for coming. This is to our US, North American headquarters and manufacturing center. It's so great to have you here. It is fantastic to be here, and I think the easiest way to start the conversation is to start at the beginning, because you, like so many others in robotics and automation, have a very interesting, almost circuitous journey to how you got here and you started in HR and instructional design, and now you're leading education for one of the biggest robotics and automation companies in the world. What sparked the transition and how has your background influenced your direction and how you approach workforce development?
Christelle Keefer:Sure. So not every path is a straight path. I would say, you know, when you're starting off young, you think you want to do a certain job, but your career path is always going to take you in different directions. So keeping that in mind, it keeps life exciting. I always had a passion for learning new things and exploring and getting my hands on I was under, you know, car bodies with my dad trying to learn how to change tires. I was on the roof with my dad learning how to change shingles. I loved cars so much, so I knew that I wanted to get into some kind of manufacturing. Growing up, my dad was a tool and die maker, so that helped. But when I had graduated high school and gotten into college. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, then I thought I wanted to be a psychologist. Then I met someone that introduced me to human resources, and I found that to be extremely interested. Still wanted to be in manufacturing, though. So with that in mind, there was an internship opportunity at Chrysler automotive. Now stellantis and I ended up getting a job there. So I worked at two different automotive plants, and I was just mesmerized by the robotics and the automation and the whole manufacturing process. I loved working at the plant. It may not be for everyone, but I knew that's where I belonged. Then I ended up doing my master's in instructional design, curriculum development, and was developing curriculum, again, learning new things. I was meeting subject matter experts in developing training for the Federal Aviation Administration, the Ministry of Defense, and then different automotive manufacturers. But, you know, after I worked for Raytheon, I ended up working a little bit in healthcare, a little bit in finance, but my heart was still in manufacturing. So then ABB robotics had a position open for training, a training manager for the US. And you know, with my degree in training, I'm like, this is a perfect fit. So, you know, another message here is, if you want to get into robotics and automation, there are so many career paths here, from human resources to communications to marketing to marketing, to shipping, receiving the factory. Do you have to have a four year degree? No, can you get a graduate out of high school and get the training you need to work in our factory or as a supervisor? Yes, so.
Travis Miller:Yeah. I mean, if you have a passion for the industry, but don't necessarily have the aptitude or interest in the in the engineering or technical side of the business. It's, I think it's still important to have the experience in the industry. I was talking to a gentleman at a different company recently who's searching for a director of finance and accounting, and he really wants that person to come from industrial automation, to come from robotics, because to know the ins and outs of the industry, despite working in finance and accounting, is still a tremendous advantage that helps them to become significantly more successful. But you had a you said you had a circuitous path, and. All straight line, but for somebody that doesn't have the advantage or life experience that you did, working in your in your dad's facility, being a part of that every day, being under cars, how can parents and educators make that spark fan that flame early on, so that kids who aren't in your position can still be exposed to it and still get that initial interest as a child that can build into that passion as an adult.
Christelle Keefer:I hate to put the weight on industry, but I'm going to put the weight on industry. It's a relationship, it's a long term partnership. So how do parents get excited? How do educators get excited? Well, is industry plugged in to education? Is industry there just simple, you know, a simple visit to a school talking about your career path and what do you do? You know, like a it could be a lunch and learn where industry comes in and says, Hey, I'm an engineer, and this is what I do. And here are some videos. Or say, hey, classroom, come take a field trip to my manufacturing facility and see me. Parents buy in. Is huge too, because I don't think parents realize the potential for all of these exciting new jobs that are evolving. So inviting the parents to come to expose for manufacturing or to the field trips and supporting the students. Some parents may not have the time or the need, but maybe when they hear their children talking about it, they realize how important it is. But industry being plugged into education, what they get, what industry gets out of the job market, is what they put in. So when you're there in the elementary schools showcasing your products, the students get excited about it, and they see it. And then when you're there to coach their teams for first robotics, Vex, robotics, the competitions, they'll remember you, and when they graduate, they're going to think, my goodness, I still have, I still kept in touch with Christelle from ABB. I think I want to work for ABB, even if they don't down the line, they may So, or they'll want to purchase our products as well and use them. So it's a win, win.
Travis Miller:So you put the burden on on industry, but it can't only be on industry. How do you put, how can a community take on some of that burden for instilling programs like like FIRST Robotics, like FIRST LEGO League, which, even as an active parent in my community that is engaged in this industry, that has a pretty unhealthy and substantial Lego hobby At home, I still like by accident, found out about FIRST LEGO not promoted at all, very little advertising or awareness through our community park district for programs like this, a robotics camp for a couple weeks when my wife and I are working, we can't take our kid to it, versus 47 different soccer, soccer leagues that are possible. What can communities do to invest in programs like this, to make more of the community, more parents aware of it, so they can allow access to it, to their children?
Christelle Keefer:I'm thinking when you say access and in there's so many soccer practices after school, embedding and incorporating automation and manufacturing into the school day, because you don't see wood shop as much. But that was a huge benefit you don't see. I took a class on just learning how to make an omelet or whatever. Those those hands on, those project based learning classes, are super important. So if we can get educators to incorporate manufacturing or topics around automation into the classroom, so that those students that don't have transportation after school, they can't. They may not be able to join that club, but having it in the school, or at least showcasing and having field trips and showcasing different technologies that are evolving and how that applies and getting students interested, think is really important. I had a class in Detroit invite me to talk to students that are finance. They're interested in finance, and how is robotics and automation play into finance? And funny, because they were learning about a robot that was making pizzas, and how do they use their finance degrees and catering to this robot that was making pizzas? And how would this be used globally as well, because there are cultural differences. So my response would be incorporating it into the everyday. But then again, on the industry side, it's important for industry to partner with the teachers to make sure the teachers feel confident and they're there side by side. You know, being a mentor to the educators and being a support system to the educators and to the communities as well. Yesterday, I was at an advisory board meeting. Happening with the Auburn Hills. We're in Auburn Hills right now, Chamber of Commerce. They brought industry. They brought education. I mean, they brought everyone together to talk about, what do we need to do as a community to support these technologies. So it is a team effort as it is an ecosystem that you had mentioned earlier. I'd imagine that kids in the surrounding area and around districts
Travis Miller:and communities, around companies similar to yours have a little bit of a leg up. I mean, you just showed us your incredible training center right over across that wall, and you said that on Fridays, your customers go home at noon so that local kids can come in and get to play with the robotics, get to take some of the the training courses. What about in? Can't think of a better term, but manufacturing deserts where they don't have ready access to something like this. And you talked to me about the cost of shipping a robot to a school be astronomical, and so how can communities that don't have easy access to resources like this? How can chambers and districts and individual schools and individual educators get access to tools and programs like this so that they can have similar access to kids that are lucky enough to live in proximity.
Christelle Keefer:There's a couple different ideas that come to mind. There's, I've seen STEMI busses. So it's a big bus with technologies inside this bus, and one of the technologies inside this large bus that rotates around different communities and states has our dual arm collaborative robot Umi in there and different simulation softwares that students can use. So that's an option. Another option is to find industries in your local communities that be willing to invite you in to see their factories, to see, you know, their packaging facilities, and how robotics and automation is incorporated into that if transportation isn't an option, then maybe industry comes to the school and talks to the students in the school. Another important thing to do is competitions, whether local or you could have, you could have little clubs that are done on the side that where they're competing within the classrooms. ABB donates 100 license of our robot Studio software. So if you can't afford the equipment, we will donate to a school the software, and they can pair it with augmented or virtual reality, or just use the technologies they have their tablets that they have to use a virtual simulation of a robot. So there's different options and different avenues to explore to get kids exposed to robotics and automation.
Travis Miller:How many companies in the industry do you see making this investment? ABB is global brand. They obviously care about this by investing in someone like you and the resources to do that, the donation of the product. But how many of the smaller companies do you see making this investment, and how do you convince them that it is a worthy investment despite very little tangible results, now.
Christelle Keefer:Yeah, you're starting to see more and more companies realize the importance when they hear the statistics of the labor shortage. So as they start to feel the pain points of my goodness, my labor force is retiring, and nobody wants to do this job anymore. Now I have to automate industries, and even smaller businesses are starting to realize I have to pour in to the next generation in order to get out the next generation. So it's just, it's a win win for both. So if what, like I said, what you put in is what you get out, if you're struggling with getting the employees that you need, then you need to go out there and be at the career fairs, talking to those students. And I'm starting to realize that more and more smaller companies are seeing the bigger companies. And I've had some individuals reach out to me saying, Hey, I'm a smaller business. It's just me. But will you give me some ideas of what I can do to reach out to local schools? It's as simple as just talking about your career path if you want to do it via Youtube, but in person is definitely a different experience than over or over online.
Travis Miller:I saw Alex Chausovsky speak at CSIA a couple weeks ago, and he was talking about the unemployment rate. And you know, nationally, we're at about four and a half percent unemployment rate. But for highly skilled technical people, engineers, highly skilled manufacturers. It's under 1.1% unemployment rate and shrinking because of the institutional knowledge that is that is retiring. The demand for talent in these technical industries is. Is through the roof. What do you see? And maybe you can only speak from ABBs perspective, but I doubt it. What do you see the good companies doing differently to attract the talent to their organization? I think I'm going to start there and save the other part of my question for later to not mix
Christelle Keefer:it up. So what can they do to attract there's a couple things. It's not just about salary for the next gen anymore. It's about what are the benefits to working for you? Because it is competitive, not only for the students. The students are competing against each other to get the attention of the industry, and we can talk about that later, but the industry is competing to get the right talent that they need. So what can industry offer? Flex Time, benefits, shares, but also internships. Co Ops rotational programs. And ABB has a rotational program where for two years, students are paid a very nice salary and they will go from job to job and explore their strengths and their passions. And at the end of the two years, they say, Hey, you know, this is what I really enjoyed about the job, and ABB will offer them a job that aligns with their passions and their strengths. So I think that's a huge win, is allowing the student to be able to experience different departments, from project management to engineering to logistics and all of that. I think that's a highlight.
Travis Miller:Well, I want to combine that thought with something earlier that you said, and when you're going out to talk to these, these students, and sometimes very young students that you that they'll remember you and reach out to you in the future and say, Hey, Christelle, I'm graduating or I'm looking for my internship. And then they have a leg up on their ability to get a job. But then you also have a leg up on attracting people who have a passion, who have an interest, who you helped develop. Can you speak to the it's almost a dual purpose, the students and the and the employers about developing those relationships and building that network early, without knowing if it's ever going to bear any fruit, but the importance of it and how early should somebody be starting?
Christelle Keefer:It's never too early to get started. I have an eight and a half year old at home, and she was exposed to robots, you know, every single day of pretty much our adolescent life, and the earlier they're exposed, the more excited they get, the more comfortable they get around it. But I would say, I mean, even if you're not going to get that individual, you're mentoring that individual, the expectation isn't to get something out of it. The expectation is to inspire, to ignite that passion. I have a female that I'm mentoring that is a psychology major. Is she going to go into robotics? I don't know. Maybe not, but it doesn't matter. It's just about building people up and getting them to realize their passions and having them move forward. Why? Because we have open jobs and we need people to do what they love doing, not what their parents told them to do. So I think mentorships regardless of if they're coming to you or using your products or not, is just really important, because it's always great to have someone that, as a female, can relate to another female saying, Hey, I know you're in a in healthcare, but I can relate to some of those challenges that you have in management or whatnot. It's just it's a great way to build confidence and team and the next generation to be confident in what they do and stronger in what they do, because they know they can fall back and rely and get the training and ask the questions and not feel defeated when they get into the workforce. I think it is so much of it is about starting early, and even for smaller companies investing in those student programs, the co ops, the internships, can be incredibly important just talking to to another organization who
Travis Miller:that's actually what he's gotten really, really good at, is developing relationships with local schools and bringing in a consistent stream of interns, for lack of a better term, and he's able to find and identify the ones who do have that, that passion, that spark, and bring them on full time. And it's really helping him grow past that kind of middle stage where a lot of companies get stuck. His challenge is finding the people to lead and mentor and grow them beyond that as he continues to grow. But that's been a huge boon for his company. Is that investment in people before they have the skill set, they just have to have have the passion and the intellect and the drive, those things that you can't really train because you can train a lot of it. Yeah. So what are I know you and your organization are doing a ton to train your customers and to train your your employees on what's coming next. How do you how do you train people? Or how do you advise other organizations to train people for the future, sometimes for jobs that we don't even know are going to exist yet.
Christelle Keefer:Yeah. So you know that jobs, the titles, are changing. They've changed, they've evolved. Job descriptions have changed, they've evolved. So how do we predict the future? I would say the best thing is to focus on soft skills and professional skills, because the theory that you learn in class this year is going to change in five years. But the project based learning, and when you were involved in that project, and when you had to use in the or in a competition, you had to use critical thinking, communication, teamwork, being face to face with people from different countries as well, I think, is a really important thing to learn, but it's the soft skills, it's the professional skills. If you can train and learn that you can become adaptable and constantly and that passion and that curiosity for learning is huge. So if a student is excited about what they're doing, and they have the questions and they're eager to learn because they love what they're doing, then they can pretty much do anything, as long as they have the mentors, the training, and then there they get the hands on applications to what they're learning.
Travis Miller:If you were advising a smaller organization that doesn't have the budget of a company like ABB, where would you focus on the training and development in their organization if they're only able to invest so much? What do you think would be the biggest difference maker for their organization?
Christelle Keefer:Internally or for students externally?
Travis Miller:Let's start with internally.
Christelle Keefer:Internally, if they don't have the budget internally, how can they upskill their workforce? You can upskill your workforce by just having a champion, you know, having one person take the training and become the train, the trainer, for the rest of the workforce. And then sometimes, you know, I've talked to teachers, it's maybe the same for industry as well. Trial and error. You know, make mistakes and recover quickly and learn from it and move on and evolve. You just have to learn as you go, as technology's evolving, we don't all have the right answers, but as long as you try, and you know, there's so much content, free content on YouTube, online now that you can pretty much self teach, teach yourself how to operate something while safety is extremely important, make sure you're taking a safety training online before you do that, and do a risk assessment. But there's so much you can do with a limited budget as well, and making sure you hire maybe somebody who may have that expertise to teach the rest of the team as you're putting people through training and education at ABB. Where do you see the biggest emphasis? Where? Where is Abb focusing its efforts on developing its workforce? I think it depends on the career, really. But again, going back to the soft skills, if you're driven and you're the person that I can tell to do something once, and you're going to go and ask, even though you may not have the answers, you're going to the right people asking the right questions. It's all within the personality being a driven person to be able to find those answers and take the proper training and take initiative to learn and continually grow. Because it's not just I have a diploma in XYZ, it's okay. It's a continually learning and training process. Even if you have to go on the floor and operate a robot for hours at a time, do what you gotta do to learn the newer technology that's coming out. And as your brain starts to get the hands on to the robots, you're starting to realize, Oh, why can't the robot do this? And you're coming up with even more innovative solutions moving forward. So I do believe it's more on the soft skills side. Obviously, it's really important to know the theory, the mathematics and the science behind it, but really having that drive and that passion is what's going to help make you successful.
Travis Miller:How do we continue to communicate that to students and people entering the workforce, that these are the things to focus on, and that the best employers, especially as you're starting your career, are willing to invest in certain aspects of training. But if that base level isn't there, those are the things that we can't teach, the things that we can't train.
Christelle Keefer:Right. And that's where I think the competitions come into play, and the team projects come into play, because when the students are competing, even if it's a competition within the school, their brains just switch to competition mode. But they're having fun, they're. Learning. They're under pressure, something just broken now they have to troubleshoot. And then when you reflect back on the whole process, they then realize, Oh my gosh, I applied collaboration, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, all of these things that they wouldn't have learned if they were just sitting in a classroom with a PowerPoint slide. So I honestly believe that the team based projects and the real world projects that they can apply are super important for them to to implement in the education field. So we spend some time talking about,
Travis Miller:you know, the little ones. We spend some time talking about people getting ready to enter education or their career. We spent some time talking about people currently looking I want to talk about the people who are well in the thick of their careers, especially those people on the floor that might be worried about a company like ABB, who they've been they've been a welder for 15 years, and all of a sudden they see an ABB sales rep on the floor, and they're like, oh shoot, they're coming for me, when, in fact, I don't think that's necessarily the case. What can those people be doing now or soon, to make sure that they are continuing to grow with the industry and grow with the organization.
Christelle Keefer:Couple things so top level management should be communicating to their employees to say, Hey, this is how we are going to get with the times. Not only will the workplace be safer, more efficient, we'll be able to be more profitable as a result of incorporating automation. But this is how we're going to support and set you up for success. We know you've been here for 1520, 30 years. Nothing to worry about. Will get you trained and then and then showcase the technology, have the workforce come into like an ABB, or if they can explain how that technology has become easier and easier to use, I think that, you know, with employees that have been in the industry for a long time, they think it's the hard C Plus Plus rapid coding that they have to know where, yes, you may need an engineer. You may need to hire an engineer to tweak some of the programming language in the background, but allowing the employees to realize that they'll still be able to breathe safer too, because now they don't have to do the dull, dirty and dangerous. They can focus on operating a robot, and we'll train you, and we'll be there to support you, and we're not going to get rid of you or replace you with a robot. We're just going to enhance your job so you can be happier and go home safer and your back doesn't hurt, you know, or whatnot. How long would it take somebody to come in and be skilled enough to be a valuable resource to the organization that is doing that welding job that they've been doing for 15 years. I would say it depends on the course they take. If they're just being a robot operator. We have a two day robot operations class to get go over safety robot operations. Then we have a four and a half day programming one class give you the basics of programming, and then from then on, you're going to have to go back, look at the materials, still get your hands on the equipment, but, I mean, we can get someone trained on programming in a week, and then from then on, they're just going to have to go on site, and then they may come back for training or network with someone else, or ask one of our trainers for some support, things like that. It's an ongoing learning process, but we can get you, we can get you skilled up and running pretty quickly. Because I think that's a big fear for a lot of people is that, well, I've been doing this job for 15 years, and now this robot's coming. I have to go back and get my degree in Robotics Engineering, otherwise I got nothing. And you're saying that they can,
Travis Miller:within a week, they can become an essential part of that company's future. And I asked you this question earlier, offline, but how much more
Christelle Keefer:productive and safe and efficient can a trained person and a robot be than just the person? Yeah, so getting trained in a week, that's the basics. Obviously, it takes time and time to evolve. But how much you're with a robot, the robots running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and then you have the person that was doing the job operating the robot. So if the robots down, they can troubleshoot that, but you're more efficient, more precise, more effective, safer. There's just so many benefits to having automation take over a repetitive, dull, dirty and dangerous task. Yeah, like, like, this thing we talked about a little bit, but tell me what, what this thing is doing and how this is going to
Travis Miller:improve the efficiency and safety of people that are doing similar jobs right now. Absolutely. So this is our.
Christelle Keefer:Pixel paint robot. What it's doing is you can program a design onto, let's say, a piece car body, and that end of arm printer will print the exact design on the car body. So not only are we We're sustainable, we're reducing waste. There isn't over spray and paint everywhere. We're more precise. There's less, you know, hazardous material being sprayed around the area, and you know, the robot. Can just paint the exact design precisely on that robot, same design, or even modify it. And let's say you want a little tweak or a different color, you can just do that without wasting time, money, resources to paint the object you want to paint. And how much faster could this paint a car than one or two people in that clean room with the brushes and the full hazmat for sure, a lot faster. And again, you're saving on hazmat material, you know, equipment, and all the PPE that you need for every single individual to be in that paint shop, where you just have the one robot, and then you still need some PPE for the operator and things like that, but still lots of benefits.
Travis Miller:I wanted to ask you about this, because you've been such a strong advocate for inclusivity and diversity, particularly in STEM education. I mean, your dad took the first step by, by bringing his daughter in, into the shop where, you know, probably two or three generations ago, and been like, you don't know, this is this man's work in here. Where do you see the industry going at its strongest and continuing to expand the workforce out of the traditional norms of who the people were doing these jobs.
Christelle Keefer:Couple things I see is we talked about how job descriptions are changing and titles are changing. Well, in order to be inclusive. Let's be inclusive and make it clear. Let's not make it look like a privileged job and make it complex and make it intimidating, because the job description if you if you encourage more people to apply, you're going to get a diverse workforce. Our nation is diverse. The United States of America is diverse. Our products need to be inclusive as well, because when you have ideas from different cultures and backgrounds and people who have disabilities are included in designing a robot, how many more robots can you sell? Because now you're able to cater to the people with disabilities and then other cultural groups as well. There's so much benefit to having a diverse culture in your workforce than having the group think and having the same people doing the same things, you're really limiting yourself and missing out, and I think your business isn't going to do as well as having a diverse workforce. So making sure when you do interview, you are opening up to people with disabilities, there's so many opportunities for people like, if someone's blind or hard of hearing or deaf, can they still operate a robot? There's technologies that can help aid with that as well. Are they limited? Yeah, they can be limited, but you can still expose them to the technology, get them excited, and get them into a job that where they can support automation and still be part of the excitement. So just having that the committees within the organization, diversity committees, and making sure that you highlight people in the organization who are different. And I mean, we're all different and diverse in our own ways. We're all mixed in some way, talking about their career path, talking about the stories and, you know, I talked about mentorships. It's, you know, we go over complicate things. Sometimes all you have to do is talk to someone about your career journey. Even if you're on the airplane with someone and they become you get inspired by them, and they're inspired by you. There's people I talked to about robotics and automation, and they had no idea. And it's just, it's a simple conversation. Whether you go into a school or you highlight an employee to talk about their background, you can relate in some way to someone and take it from there.
Travis Miller:Well, I think it's like it's a snowball, whereas, as you start to hire those first that first person, those first couple of people that come from a different background, that have a different life experience, that see the world through different eyes than than yours, and people similar, then they start to develop, develop the products and develop the background and the culture that promotes and celebrates the continued edition of a more diverse background, people with that come from different places in the world, that see things differently, that have different experiences, and it just continues to build and build and build, and the more people that are attracted to an organization gives you a significantly better. The option to hire the best people who have all of those skills that we were talking about earlier that you can't teach, coach or train, and focus on those that you can. And so I think it's just got to start. It's got to start with one it's got to start with one person who has the open minded ability to say, I want to hire people that don't see the world like I see the world.
Christelle Keefer:Absolutely and it's again, Skill versus Will. If someone has the will and the passion and the drive, you can't hire that all the time. When someone's passionate and driven and they want to continually learn that's a huge benefit to the company, because then you realize you can place them in any job, and they'll continually learn and excel and deliver, and it just makes your company more profitable stronger. And then they hire people that are similar as well, because it's not all about checking every single box on that job application. It's about the personality, and it's people hiring people. So people want to hire people with a personality, with that passion, with that drive, with ideas. And I think it's important for students, you know, they're competing against other students to get jobs. Even the people that don't have jobs right now, that may have lost their job, you're competing against others. So what are you doing to build your portfolio? Because back in the day, we'd have paper portfolios to showcase what we've done. Now you should either have a LinkedIn profile, you should have a website. Show me what you've done to stand out from everybody out there. Talk about the competitions, talk about the challenges that you've had, and talk about what are your passions and what challenges do you want to overcome in the future? What are some technologies that you want to develop that make you excited? Think highlighting those in interviews are really important to make you stand out in interviews and applying for jobs and things like that so.
Travis Miller:Well, you just stole my next question, which is, what is what can somebody do to highlight those things that aren't showing up on job descriptions. How can somebody overcome the the talent acquisition team or the AI algorithm that's trying to match resumes to job descriptions? How can they truly separate themselves, if they have that that will that drive that mission for themselves, to get them in front of companies so that they can showcase that aspect of who they are.
Christelle Keefer:Yeah, it's a competitive market, right? So your resume is not may not cut it. It may it may not 5050, I would say it may not, because there's so many. By the time you apply, you already see 100 applicants. There is it. How do you stand out? I think you stand out again by building your portfolio, being active on LinkedIn, making videos showcasing what you've done. Make sure your LinkedIn or your profile, your website's up to date, but showing up to to the automates, to the events, if some if you, if you're if you enjoy robotics and automation, go to that next Expo. Talk to the industries that are out there, get their business cards, keep in touch. So networking is huge. Attend a conference or an event and put yourself out there and really drive yourself to be there.
Travis Miller:What's the best way for someone to network with you and who are the best people that should be reaching out to you?
Christelle Keefer:Anyone can reach out to me. I love to connect. So LinkedIn is the best way to connect with me. Send me a message, and we'll go from there. I love to chat and talk and catch up with people and learn about their adventures and my journey as well. So love to connect.
Travis Miller:Yeah, and you're on the road all the time where, where are the next couple of places that people might be able to bump into you?
Christelle Keefer:I will be in. I'm headed to Germany this Sunday. I'll be at automatic it's a big automation show in Munich, so I will be there. And then after that, I'm headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota for an A three conference. It's the association of advancing automation. We have a board meeting there so but automatic on Germany and next week would be a great way to connect.
Travis Miller:If you're over in Germany, stop by and say hi. Christelle, this has been a pleasure. I truly, truly appreciate it, allowing us to see this facility really remarkable to see all of the advancements the technology and the learning and growth that's that's happening here at ABB in Auburn Hills. Big. Thank you to Noah Cuff, our producer, Noah, thanks for all the work and getting us set up out here. This was great. I'm Travis Miller, this has been HIRED! The Podcast, and we'll talk to you soon.
