Airgas - Lincoln Electric - Ironworkers

From the July issue of the Welding Journal :

Airgas, Inc., Radnor, Pa., has set a goal to hire 100 veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next 12 months. The company will also offer its Welding 101 course to any veteran interested in exploring a welding career.

Additionally, the company has pledged $300,000 to Operation Homefront, a charity that supports America's soldiers by providing emergency assistance and moral support to the families troops leave behind when they are deployed and to wounded service members when they return home. The donation will be paid in increments of $100,000 per year over the next three years, with 70% going toward Operation Homefront's projects to assist wounded soldiers.

You just gotta love that. Also an ad looking for welders at Oshkosh Corporation. So if you want a job welding up army trucks, there you go. Actually they have quite a few jobs listed besides welding and at several different locations. It's a good time to be a welder and it looks like it's only going to get better.

I received a package from Lincoln Electric the other day that contained a couple of DVDs on welding safety, a blueprinting reading book, and a coupon good for one week of welding classes at the Lincoln Welding School in Cleveland. The school offers a variety of welding classes including one for welding instructors and a couple on motorsports welding. I'd like to take one of the motorsports classes. My summer is pretty well booked up but the coupon is good for a year.

Also included was information from the Ironworkers. They have partnered up with Lincoln and are looking to get involved with welding programs. They are offering training materials and assistance to schools as a way to promote themselves and recruit some apprentices. An associate or maybe even a bachelor degree can be part of the training program now. Not a bad deal at all. Journeyman's card and college degree with very little out of pocket expense. So if you're not afraid of hard work or heights, here's another career option. Like I said, it's a good time to be a welder.