Help Wanted: Hardworking Rock Stars

40 years ago, Metallica was founded when singer James Hetfield answered drummer Lars Ulrich’s classified ad and ended up with a career that changed his life.

This Labor Day, Carhartt and Metallica’s All Within My Hands’ Metallica Scholars Initiative are taking a page out of the band’s playbook to recruit a new generation of people to the skilled trades as the U.S. faces a labor shortage, especially in live events.

Behind every concert there’s a symphony of carpenters, electricians, laborers, welders, mechanics, painters, and more hardworking folks who make it all happen.

To show just how essential these jobs are, Carhartt and All Within My Hands recruited a few lucky job seekers to a workshop to build a mock Metallica stage piece at Upstaging, Inc., a production company who does shows for some of the biggest names in the music and entertainment business. The below video. “Hard Rock is Hard Work”, provides a look at the various trade jobs in live events that are also transferrable to the larger job market – including welding and fabrication, lighting and electrical, construction, transportation and more.

“To build the workforce of the future, we need to connect more people to the training and education that helps fill essential jobs,” said Janet Ries, VP Marketing at Carhartt. “With our partnership, we’re sending the message that whether you’re in high school looking for a first step, or out of work looking for a new start: come join the skilled trades. What better time to recruit job seekers into these exciting, high-demand opportunities than on Labor Day?”

Carhartt is donating all online sales on Labor Day (Monday, September 6th) to the Metallica Scholars Initiative, providing future opportunities to people interested learning the skilled trades to fill essential, and well paying, jobs.