Voinovich School Uses Virtual Reality To Recruit Workforce for Rural Internet Expansion
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(Athens) – Have you ever wondered how it feels to dangle from a 400-foot-high tower with a tool belt attached to your hip? The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service can help you visualize that from ground level.
The school is taking virtual reality headsets into various high schools and career centers across southeast Ohio to give attendees a sense of the requirements of these in-demand jobs. The school is one of the partners of the Southeast Broadband Network, a public-private partnership working to expand fiber optic and 5G access to 25 Ohio counties.
To connect southeast Ohio—where more than 50% of residents still can’t readily access high-speed internet—it’s estimated that more than 30,000 workers will be needed, most of which will be in-the-field equipment installers and engineers.
“These are highly skilled positions with a starting salary of nearly $50,000,” said Laurie McKnight, senior research manager at the Voinovich School, who is the primary advocate for broadband efforts. “The headsets are a great way to get kids interested in these careers.”
Training for these careers is offered throughout Ohio and can be as little as two weeks.
At an event held in October in Nelsonville, 70 students from Nelsonville-York and Trimble high schools, along with the Tri-County Career Center, participated, with over half expressing interest in careers related to broadband infrastructure. Many attendees also had the opportunity to try out VR headsets. Jocelyn Howard, the broadband coordinator for Hocking, Athens, and Perry counties, noted that the event certainly left a lasting impression.
“Everyone who has used them is impressed,” she said. “It’s always one of the most popular tables at our job fairs. They’re very cool little simulations.”
The Offices of Workforce Transformation and Development funded the headsets through a grant from the federal government’s Quality Jobs, Equity, Strategy, and Training (QUEST) program covered the start-up and equipment costs.
The tech sector is booming in Ohio, with the likes of Intel investing $20 billion in two chip manufacturing facilities to Gov. Mike DeWine, designating more than $86 million for start-ups in underserved communities like the ones in southeast Ohio. The infrastructure won’t build itself, so workers will be needed immediately and for the long term.
“This is workforce and economic development for the whole state of Ohio,” McKnight added. “The infrastructure has to be there to keep attracting more companies like Intel and Microsoft. The VR headsets are a tremendous recruiting tool.”
