Trade School Program Manager

Cushman & Wakefield; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 89,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Cushman & Wakefield seeks a Trade School Program Manager to foster partnerships with educational institutions across the U.S. This role focuses on ensuring a sustainable talent pipeline aligned with skilled trades workforce needs, engaging with various stakeholders and implementing strategic initiatives. The candidate will be responsible for building relationships, developing curriculum partnerships, and planning recruitment efforts to promote careers in skilled trades. A Bachelor’s degree and relevant experience in workforce development or education partnerships are essential for this role.

Benefits

Health, vision, and dental insurance

Flexible spending accounts

Retirement savings plans

Life and disability insurance

Paid time away from work

Qualifications

• 2+ years in recruitment or workforce development required.
• Experience in campus recruitment or managing educational partnerships preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain partnerships with trade schools and community organizations.
• Collaborate with internal teams to align curriculum with hiring needs.
• Organize recruitment events and promote awareness of skilled trades.

Skills

Communication

Relationship Building

Data Analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Human Resources, or related field

Tools

PowerBI

Applicant Tracking Systems

Job description

Trade School Program Manager page is loaded

Trade School Program Manager

Apply remote type Fully Remote locations Chicago, Illinois, USA time type Full time posted on Posted 6 Days Ago time left to apply End Date: July 31, 2025 (30+ days left to apply) job requisition id R274647

Job Title

Trade School Program Manager

Job Description Summary

The Trade School Partnership Manager plays a key role in shaping the future of our skilled trades workforce at C&W Services. This position is responsible for identifying, developing, and maintaining strategic partnerships with trade and technical schools across the U.S. to ensure a strong and sustainable talent pipeline aligned with our hiring needs—particularly in skilled trades roles such as HVAC technicians, electricians, general maintenance, and automation engineering specialists.

Job Description

Job Overview:

This leader will serve as the central liaison between our recruiting team, apprenticeship programs, learning & development, and trade institutions. They will need to immerse themselves fully in the world of skilled trades—understanding the language, the training curriculums, the day-to-day demands of each trade, and how this maps to real-world roles within our organization. This position is ideal for someone who is energized by talent pipeline strategy, passionate about making an impact, and adept at translating insights into action.

Key Responsibilities:

Trade School & Community Engagement

· Build and maintain strong relationships with trade and technical schools, workforce development boards, and professional organizations across key markets.

· Identify new trade school partnership opportunities that align with organizational hiring needs and create visibility around skilled trades careers at C&W Services.

· Coordinate quarterly and ad-hoc engagement meetings with academic stakeholders, career services teams, and technical instructors.

· Collaborate with schools and community partners on workforce readiness initiatives, scholarship programs, internship pipelines, and ambassador programs.

Apprenticeship & Curriculum Collaboration

· Work closely with the Apprenticeship Department and internal Learning & Development teams to align external curriculum offerings with internal job profiles.

· Partner with schools to enhance or co-develop curriculum based on industry trends, skills gap analysis, and feedback from hiring managers.

· Participate in advisory boards, roundtables, and school curriculum reviews to influence trade education that supports current and future hiring needs.

Talent Pipeline Strategy

· Fully immerse in the skilled trades workforce, developing a deep understanding of the roles we hire for, the tools and certifications required, and the career pathways available.

· Identify hiring gaps at specific sites and regions and proactively deliver solutions by targeting school partnerships and regional training pipelines.

· Develop and maintain a dynamic map of site needs and overlay that with trade school graduate availability to forecast and close workforce gaps.

Recruitment Events & Employer Branding

· Plan, organize, and attend on-campus recruitment events including career fairs, open houses, speaking engagements, and hiring days.

· Represent C&W Services as a top employer in the skilled trades space, ensuring consistent and compelling brand messaging.

· Promote awareness of skilled trades career pathways internally and externally through storytelling, digital campaigns, and candidate testimonials.

Data, Reporting & Insights

· Create and deliver weekly and quarterly reports that track the effectiveness of trade school partnerships, event ROI, and student engagement.

· Present status updates and strategic recommendations to Talent Acquisition leadership and business stakeholders on a recurring basis.

· Use PowerBI dashboards and other data tools to extract insights, spot trends, and tell a clear story that connects data to business outcomes.

· Monitor graduation rates, placement success, and program engagement to ensure our partnerships are producing meaningful talent outcomes.

Proactive Workforce Planning

· Serve as a proactive partner to operational leaders, forecasting talent gaps before they arise and leveraging your school relationships to fill critical roles.

· Help prioritize school engagement strategies based on workforce demand by site, market saturation, skill gaps, and seasonal needs.

· Drive cross-functional alignment across recruiting, operations, L&D, and school partners to ensure strategic workforce readiness.

Qualifications:

Required:

· Bachelor’s degree in Business, Human Resources, Workforce Development, Education, or a related field—or equivalent experience in lieu of a degree.

· Minimum of 2+ years of experience in recruitment, workforce development, education partnerships, or related field.

· Experience in campus recruitment, technical hiring, or managing community/school partnerships.

· Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to engage and influence a wide variety of stakeholders including instructors, students, hiring managers, and executives.

· Proven ability to manage multiple projects, partnerships, and deadlines in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.

· Comfort working with data and dashboards, with the ability to interpret metrics and deliver actionable insights to leadership.

Preferred:

· Familiarity with the skilled trades industry and a passion for trade education and workforce development.

· Experience with apprenticeship programs, trade school curriculum development, or industry advisory councils.

· Hands-on experience with recruiting tools such as Workday, Gem, or other applicant tracking systems (ATS).

· Proficiency in using PowerBI or other business intelligence/reporting tools.

· Understanding of workforce development trends, certification frameworks (e.g., NCCER, OSHA), and skilled trades pipeline challenges.

Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements.
The compensation that will be offered to the successful candidate will depend on factors such as whether the position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the geographic area in which the work will be performed, market pay rates in that area, and the candidate’s experience and qualifications.
The company will not pay less than minimum wage for this role.
The compensation for the position is: $89,250.00 - $105,000.00

C&W Services is an Equal Opportunity employer to all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Discrimination of any type will not be tolerated.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position at Cushman & Wakefield, please call the ADA line at 1-888-365-5406 or email [e-mail] . Please refer to the job title and job location when you contact us.

INCO: “C&W Services”

About Us

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a global leader in real estate services, leveraging our specialized expertise to deliver innovative solutions and exceptional value to owners and occupiers. With 52,000 employees in nearly 400 offices across 60 countries, we are one of the largest firms in the industry, with more than 100 years of history. In 2023, we generated $9.5 billion in revenue from our core services. To learn more, visit www.careers.cushmanwakefield.com .