Why merely lecture tomorrow’s workforce on the jobs they might dream up someday when you can bring the Cullman area’s many and varied careers to their doorstep — and then invite them to get their hands dirty?

Show, don’t tell is the guiding idea behind Tools of the Trade (TOT), the annual countywide career fair for 8th graders that this year will bring close to 2,000 students out to the campus of Wallace State Community College for a day-long visit with local employers.

There’s no entry cost to either students or to the companies and organizations that roll out all kinds of hands-on demonstrations of the work they have to offer. Coordinated as a partnership between the Cullman Economic Development Agency, the Cullman County Economic Development Office, the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce, and the college — not to mention participating agencies from Blount and Winston Counties — it’s all brought together by the area’s workforce development professional community as an up-close and personal way to get kids thinking about their futures.

“It’s a really great event,” says Chamber President Joey Orr. “So many of our kids, they only know what their parents do or their friends’ parents do. And with events like this, where we can display so many of the different things that they can do, it just offers them a taste of the jobs and careers we have to offer right here in our own community.”

Getting interactive is a key component of Tools of the Trade, and one that sets it apart from more conventional career fairs.

“When I first started getting involved in career fairs and events like this back in the 1990s, they would bring students in, sit them down in an auditorium, and have somebody talk to them about different careers,” says Susan Eller, the retail & workforce development manager for the city’s economic development office.

“The students would have maybe 30 minutes to walk around and talk to a few of our industries with vendor booths stationed around the room, and then they’d leave.

“This,” Eller ads, “is a lot more interactive. We’ve learned over the years that kids get a different sense of the opportunities around them if there’s something they can do or touch or interact with. One year we did a scavenger hunt so that the kids would have a reason to walk around and actually stop and ask questions to vendors. We’ve even had a local funeral home bring out a hearse and let the kids get inside and learn about the funeral business. We really try to make it fun while making it meaningful, and give them something they can start thinking about in terms of jobs and careers as they approach their next four years of high school.”

Whether it’s aviation and next-generation drone technology, high-tech assembly-line manufacturing, hands-on practices in health care, or simply chatting with the community’s current crop of entrepreneurs and administrative professionals, Tools of the Trade places a big emphasis on broadening 8th graders’ horizons — especially when it comes to learning about career paths they might never have otherwise known.

“By including the hands-on approach, it kind of gets them on a track of thinking about going into high school to prepare for interesting jobs that are out there that they may not necessarily have thought about before,” county economic development office director Matt Kinsland explains. “With the interaction you can offer at that age group, it tends to get their attention, and really gives them insight into what so many different careers are like and kind of helps open their eyes to it all.”

This year’s Tools of the Trade career fair will be held Monday, Nov. 14 across the Wallace State campus, welcoming public school students from Cullman, Winston and Blount Counties, as well as from Cullman City Schools and an array of local private schools. If you’d like to take part (in this year’s or next year’s) as a vendor (and perhaps bring along some hands-on opportunities to show local kids just what their future careers might have in store), contact Eller at 256-739-1891 or by email at cullmaneda@cullmaneda.org; or Christina Holmes, the apprenticeship & work-based learning coordinator at Wallace State, at 256-352-8120 or via email at christina.holmes@wallacestate.edu.