Attracting Employees Through Apprenticeships with Miranda Martz

Connect with Miranda Martz Phone: 717-843-3891 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miranda-m-1b742a198/ Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. I'm here today with Miranda Martz. Miranda is a Pre-apprenticeship Coordinator for the Manufacturers Association. She started as a journeyperson machinist and is committed to the manufacturing industry. Miranda, welcome to the show. Miranda Martz: Thanks, Lisa. Thank you so much for inviting me. Lisa Ryan: Absolutely. Please share with us about your background and what led you ultimately to commit to your manufacturing career. Miranda Martz: It's been an interesting journey and not one that many people have had. Many people like listening to my journey because it's very odd. I grew up in Hannover, Pennsylvania, the snack capital of the world. When I was younger, I wanted to work on cars for a living. I worked with my dad on the weekends. I went underneath the car with him. He showed me how a car works. I grew up with a bunch of mechanics, so that's where I got into loving working on machines and with machinery, even at an age I didn't know what it was. I started there in high school. I never did good in high school, so that four-year college degree wasn't for me either. I never even thought I would graduate from school. I went to a place called Mannheim central, so it was a very Ag-centric school. I was either pushing towards going to ag or going to a four-year college and getting my college degree. I met my counselor maybe once or twice. That was odd to me to pick a career for the rest of my life.   I thought I had talked to them, but they didn't know me well. They knew I wanted to work on cars, so I went to the art Institute of Pittsburgh for industrial design technology, and I did the auto track. It's no surprise, probably, but I was the only female to do that, so that has its challenges. But unfortunately, I was there for a year, and it got too expensive because I ended up paying for it myself. So I