Google partners with veterans groups to help 25,000 enter skilled trades

Exclusive: Google on Thursday announced a new initiative to partner with veterans groups to help 25,000 veterans, service members and military spouses enter the skilled trades, according to an announcement viewed by FOX Business.

Google’s announcement will feature a partnership with several prominent organizations that serve veterans around the nation, including Hiring Our Heroes, Student Veterans of America and the Home Builders Institute.

The move comes against the backdrop of a shortage of workers in the skilled trades amid surging demand driven in part by the artificial intelligence (AI) buildout.

Tim Chadwick, Google’s data center operations area lead for Ohio and Indiana who served in the U.S. Navy for 21 years, said in the company’s announcement that the initiative is “making it easier for veterans to make career transitions to high-growth careers like mine.”

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Google is partnering with veterans groups to help veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses access pathways to careers in the skilled trades. (Noah Berger)

“As a leader for Google’s data centers in Ohio and Indiana, I know there’s a major need for these types of professionals,” Chadwick said.

“Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of skilled trade roles open across the U.S. just waiting to be filled. These are jobs like master electrician, lead pipefitter, and project manager – high-growth careers that offer long-term financial stability.”

“But beyond just the growing need, these roles also make the most of the kinds of skills veterans and military families know better than anyone – skills like problem-solving under pressure, teamwork, and getting a job done right,” Chadwick wrote.

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The skilled trades are seeing a surge in demand for workers amid the AI buildout. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images)

Cory Boatwright, president and CEO of Student Veterans of America (SVA), said in a statement to FOX Business that the group’s “work with Google took us to 11 states to host 22 roundtables, and one lesson that stood out was that veterans want more pathways to meaningful careers.”

“We’re broadening what ‘student veteran’ means to anyone continuing their education in pursuit of something more: a degree, a certificate, a skilled trade. The student decides the path and what is meaningful to them,” he said.

“Our job is to make sure their pursuit is successful and leads somewhere great – skilled trades are an important part of that equation, particularly as states and employers look for talent to fill critical workforce needs,” Boatwright added. “If we weren’t thinking about skilled trades, then we’d be left behind.”

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Google’s new initiative comes after previous moves to boost veterans in the workforce, grow the skilled trades and advance access to AI. (Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Google’s announcement follows a move to co-found the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades with BlackRock, Ford and Carhartt to train 1 million workers in the skilled trades by 2030.

It also comes in addition to prior investments such as a $15 million partnership with the electrical training Alliance (etA) to put AI-powered learning tools on the trade floor, and a $4 million grant to Student Veterans of America to bring career certificates and AI courses to veterans nationwide.

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