Video Transcript – ASC Competition
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This event is about an opportunity to see well over a thousand students in the construction engineering field. It’s unique that we have so many schools here. We have over 40 different schools here right now. Every year it seems like the teams are better prepared for using new technologies or using new means and methods to do what we’re asking them to do.
And through all that we have an opportunity to visit with these students and get to know them and potentially have the opportunity of employing them. This event just gets bigger and bigger and it’s a student competition and conference for the faculty. The student gets a chance to compete against each other in a real life type problem – move forward with a solution to those problems.
There’s a lot of camaraderie but there’s a lot of rivalries too between the schools.
A lot of the people that we hire out of school in the last eight years that we’ve been here, have come from this event. We are furthering construction education and we’re trying to meet the needs and goals of the industry, the needs and goals of students, and also the needs and goals of the faculty.
[Mark Breslin, Industry Author & Strategist, President, Breslin Strategies, Inc.]
I started in the field just like you.
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[Philip Barlow, Assoc. Professor, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Director, ASC Region 7]
The competition is fairly straightforward. It’s very intense. The students start at 5:30 a.m. and receive their problem statements from each of the sponsor companies. They’ll then take those problems to their – they would call them war rooms – and compete with usually teams of six. We’ll be in that room for all day long. I mean 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. intensely working on those problems and coming up with their solutions.
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The sponsor companies typically bring a problem that they’ve lived through themselves so it’s real real-life information. You get to see how students respond to that.
It’s real. We have projects that we give the students that are real-life projects that we’ve built. We change them a bit but we make it as real as we can make it.
Each of those companies provides a written problem statement and they are based on problems they’ve either done, are currently under construction, or something that’s up-and-coming.
We give them a really challenging problem as do all the companies and they’re working under tight time constraints.
It’s a big concrete job so we’re asking them to do a estimate on the concrete and come out with a budget.
The problem we gave to our teams this year is a multifamily high-end condo unit development.
It’s a student housing job. It challenges them on commercial construction.
Problem sponsors will go up to the rooms and they’ll discuss their thinking and they’ll clarify questions and they’ll make sure they’re on the right track and they’ll give them support.
They might have til 8 or 10 o’clock at night and then they have project deliverables that they have to deliver whenever that sponsor says it’s due.
They have to turn in a bid price to us by 10 o’clock tonight.
And then there’s a hard time line at the end. We’ve seen students run through halls and you know trip up and fall and you know just desperately get their things in on time.
It’s really fun to watch the last five minutes as the students come running down with the proposals.
[Scott Glick, Professor, Colorado State University, Director, ASC Region 6]
Somewhere between eight and ten o’clock at night students are running around because they’re worried about not getting things printed, worried about getting things done, and they’re just kind of frazzled by that point.
The clock is gonna start ticking down and time is never in your favor there towards the end we’re trying to get a bid close down.
We have a nine o’clock deadline just like we do in the real world and if there are a minute late they’re disqualified.
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The other unique aspect of the ASD conference is the ability for faculty all across the western United States to get together and discuss ideas regarding curriculum, regarding student interactions, development of materials,textbooks that they utilize.
Right now while we’re talking there is a showcase for software companies telling us their latest updates. Earlier today we had a roundtable of how do we measure student learning outcomes to make sure that they are in line with what the industry is demanding.
We accomplished this by getting the faculty together. We have roundtable discussions regarding curriculum and accreditation requirements so we can learn from each other and learn from industry what industry is looking for. So we’ll be sitting across from dinner. We’ll be sharing a drink, we’ll be just talking in the hall, and have opportunities to have those kind of discussions to better the education of all our students.
The culmination of the problems that they’re solving results in the presentations on Friday and that’s exciting because you can compare them apples to apples and see how their solutions compare to each other. And then the judges will judge them based on their presentations. Every year we were amazed at what the students produce in 24 hours and some of the things that they they find the creative things that we haven’t thought of. We’re just absolutely blown away and amazed at what the creativity that the students come up with and the work that they produce.
It’s surprising how close they get. It’s amazing that what they come up with is generally how we built the job.
In some cases they come up with ideas that maybe we didn’t even think of and you know that’s very exciting to us.
We had some students that came up with some really clever things. We had a couple of students that really nailed the estimate portion and that was truly impressive.
We saw creativity, we saw leadership.
I really feel strongly about women in construction. So there’s a couple of women on one of the teams that were the leaders and they just rise to that role.
These kids have had anywhere from 12 to 15 hours to make a presentation that includes computer graphics, and been modeling, and scheduling, and complete budgets. It’s very impressive.
I think what you’re seeing here was really the cream of the crop and their respective universities. Each year you just see a lot of these universities continue to just raise the bar.
Thank you.
The hospitality suite is a chance to show who we are. The students have worked for two long days. It’s a chance for them to let their hair down. It’s a chance for us to represent who we are as a company. You know kind of what our culture is, how we operate, and an effort to try to impress
them.
And then we have a social activity on the Friday evening just to get to know them on a personal basis to see if they’re the right fit for our company.
It’s not in a formal interview process we could socialize, we could see how they act in social situations. We basically get to have an opportunity to meet these kids and it’s truly all about the fit and finding the right student that has the right fit for our personality as a company.
It gives us another side of interviewing or being able to see people and what they have to offer.
[KK Clark, Project Engineer, Clark Construction]
You know, it really is a testament to be able to sit in a room for 18 hours and help lead a team to the final product and then turn around the very next morning and go through a rigorous Q&A session with Clark.
[Kathy Abbott, Human Resources, University Relations Mgr. Cupertino Electric Inc.]
That’s what we look for – people who want to be there are engaged and interested and that’s what you’ll find here.
[Patrick Prendergast, Project Executive, Skanska]
Energy, you know drive, communication skills, I mean when they sit down they do the presentations you know if you’re looking for somebody that’s vocal, that’s outspoken, that’s confident.
[Joseph Ella, VP Business Development & Marketing]
Obviously they’re able to effectively communicate, they have a presence.
[Jesse McDonald, Reconstruction Project Mgr.]
We can see how they act under pressure and see how they roll with the punches when it doesn’t go well.
[Russ Constable, District Engineer, NW District]
In my mind these kids are the best of the best so they’re there absolutely what all of us in the industry, all the companies that are here, are looking for.
[Christopher Manning, President Over Construction]
Well I’m looking for somebody that knows how to present, who’s calm cool collected, maybe a little bit of humor, capable of taking a tough question, and on their feet able to answer that the best they can.
[Andi Lewis, Project Engineer, Mortenson Construction]
They’re the ones that just brighten up when they talk, you can you can pick them out of the crowd like you know what that student is confident they’re ready to be here.
[Ben Craigs, Talent Acquisition Mgr McCarthy, SW Region]
You know I think what makes a student be a standout personality is someone that is comfortable giving a presentation and leading for their group and communicating what they’ve actually learned and what they know.
[Alan Laurlund, Sr. Vice President, XL Construction]
If a student’s been selected for one of these teams they’re probably in their top class in their University so right there there’s already a weeding out process if you will. So we already know we’re probably interviewing or seeing some of the top students in the nation here.
The whole thing culminates on Saturday with a career fair, probably one of the biggest career fairs on the west coast. You had worked with these students the last couple of days and they show up with a suit and tie and their resume in their hand and it’s just an amazing experience to see them. Students from all over the western United States will come in and interview with us. It’s a bit of speed interviewing but we have hired from that on the spot in those interviews. It’s a chance to really find that cream of the crop and grab them when they’re there.
The opportunities are endless I mean the career fair I call it the Super Bowl of all career fairs. It really gives you an opportunity to shake a hand and have that conversation. It’s a great opportunity for these students to pick and choose and decide where they want to be and with which company and kind of compare companies.
[Chris Parker, Project Director, Webcor Builders]
It’s really exciting to have the students come in see how excited see their enthusiasm for the project and then afterwards we get to talk to them we get to know them see what they’re interested in for their careers.
They just have an amazing opportunity to see a lot of companies in a short period of time and get their resume out to a lot of companies.
It’s also so much fun to watch the award ceremony at the end. Industry folks name their winners and identify who had the top three spots. And the competition itself really creates an excitement.
[Applause]
[Steve Johnson, Sr. Vice President, Swinerton Builders]
To me I think it’s a partnership because we do enjoy getting to see the students and see how their education, what’s coming up in their education, and how they’re progressing.
[Rod Hammett, Project Manager, Hensel Phelps]
What better way to recruit folks than to show them what we do and to get them excited about how we do it.
[Taylor Dolan, Project Manager, Gradite]
To me this event is about giving invaluable real-world experience to the students that they can’t get in a classroom.
[Joseph Ella, VP Business Development & Marketing, nibbi]
I mean I’ve heard quotes from students time and time again about how they feel like they learn more in the 24 hours that they’re here than they do in a semester back at school.
[Patrick Prendergast, Project Executive, Skanska]
Really is a opportunity for us to get to see kids and action and then get to be a part of education.
[Ben Craigs, Talent Acquisition, McCarthy, SW Region]
We’ve been very impressed over the past couple days with not only the students but the programs that are teaching them and supporting them. We always walk away really happy with the students we meet here and also the faculty that works so hard to help develop the talent.
[KK Clark, Project Engineer, Clark Construction]
Higher education is continually reinventing the game. They’re continually producing more and more qualified and ready students. It almost makes us want to reinvent our game. How do we continually match that as employers?
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