Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Shelar.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My dad was in the Navy and my mom was a bit of a gypsy, so I moved around a lot as a kid. I spent most of my early years in cities in North Florida, including Edgar and St. Augustine. I lived just outside of Washington D.C. for three years. That is where I landed by first job. I was a paperboy for the Washington Post, starting at age 13. I went to Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA, where I worked as a sports writer for the Statesboro Herald for four years. An opportunity with the Paralympic Games (the Olympics for athletes who are physically disabled) brought me to Atlanta, GA in 1993. I’ve been here ever since. My first job in construction was with a trade association called the AGC (Associated General Contractors) of Georgia. There, I learned about the skilled labor shortage facing the construction industry. In 1998, an opportunity to lead an organization focused on the skilled labor shortage opened up for me. I was twenty-seven years old when I was named Executive Director of CEFGA – the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia. I never thought I would be with the same organization for 20 years, but here I am! And I love what I do more than ever! Today, I am President and CEO of a thriving organization that employs nine full time associates focused on addressing our industry’s skilled labor shortage and helping people find rewarding careers. We still have a skilled labor shortage in construction, but our team is finding creative and effective ways to address it.
Has it been a smooth road?
No. It has not been a smooth road. I would say the biggest challenge in my professional life was navigating the economic downturn of 2007-2013. We were not prepared for the downturn. We did not have much of a nest egg as an organization and we had to lay off 70% of our staff. This is a terrible feeling as the leader of an organization. On one hand, you have hard financial realities. On the other, you have people who are doing a good job, but through no fault of their own, they are losing their jobs. As a leader, I had to look them in the eye and tell them we could no longer employ them. But, I learned valuable lessons from this, including the importance of building a nest egg, diversifying our sources of revenue and diversifying the types of services we provide.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
CEFGA is a FOR IMPACT organization, also known as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. We were started in 1993 to address the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage. CEFGA promotes the construction industry as a career by supporting construction training programs, and job placement of work ready people throughout Georgia. We are building the construction industry one person at a time.
We are most known for our Construction Ready Program, started at Westside Works in 2014 in partnership with The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Integrity CDC. This four-week, intense, boot camp style program has since expanded to a total of five metro Atlanta locations, and in four short years, we’ve placed nearly 700 metro Atlanta residents into full time careers.
What sets us apart from other nonprofit and workforce development organizations are our deep, long-standing relationships with construction employers. These relationships empower us to know what employers want and enable us to help job seekers connect to these employers to build meaningful careers.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes. Atlanta is a thriving city. I feel like we already have so much to offer, and in many ways, we still have so much potential as a city. I can’t imagine a better place to live no matter where you are in your career. Atlanta is an exciting place to be in 2018 and will be for the rest our lives!
Contact Info:
- Address: 261 Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. NW
Atlanta, GA 30314 - Website: www.cefga.org
- Phone: 770-313-7938
- Email: shelar@cefag.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CEFGA-87573268359/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CEFGA_Jobs
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-shelar-161a054/
Image Credit:
Jason Hales
Kara Martin
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