Sourcing Fluid Power Talent
A critical pillar of the NFPA’s mission is to develop an educated fluid power workforce and connect students to careers in the industry. Learn more about how your company can recruit emerging talent.
NFPA’s Fast Track to Fluid Power is a workforce development pathway that partners local technical colleges with fluid power industry members and high school teachers. These networks create awareness and interest in fluid power and train students along a path that leads to careers in fluid power at NFPA member companies. A network of industry partners with facilities near the community works hard to help get students on the path to a career in the fluid power industry and forge a direct connection to their future workforce.
NFPA is offering $2,500 scholarships to help students enrolled in high schools, technical colleges and engineering schools pursue their interests in fluid power.
NFPA’s scholarship program relies on volunteer judges from the fluid power industry. By joining the application review committee, NFPA members have the opportunity to identify students with optimistic futures in the fluid power industry.
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The NFPA Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge is a competition that challenges college engineering students to redesign a traditional bicycle using hydraulics as the mode of power transmission. The competition helps to showcase the knowledge and hands-on experience university students gain in preparation for their fluid power careers, making it an excellent resource for talent recruitment.
There are several ways for your company to get involved including mentoring a team, donating components, judging the final competition or midway reviews, and more. To participate in the Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge, your company must participate in the NFPA Pascal Society. Learn more here.
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NFPA can help coordinate speaking opportunities for you and your company at our partner schools, including middle and high schools, as well as 2-year and 4-year engineering programs. This is a great chance to boost your company’s visibility and engage with potential candidates. Contact us to learn more about speaking engagements with any of our 18 Fluid Power Clubs at universities across the country.
Each year, NFPA hosts industry connection events at our Power Partner Universities to provide our member companies the exclusive opportunity to engage with and recruit university students interested in fluid power. Keep an eye in the NFPA weekly news and down below for information on upcoming events.
NFPA gathers student resumes from our partner schools and distributes them to our member companies each month. This program is exclusive to members of our Pascal Society. If your company is a Pascal member and you would like to receive these resumes, please provide the name and email address of the designated contact person at your company to us at workforce@nfpa.com. If you are not yet a Pascal member, you can find information on how to join here.
Upcoming Workforce Events
Workforce Engagement Group sessions serve as a forum to discuss activities and opportunities designed to connect NFPA members with the Fast Track to Fluid Power and Power Partner programs. Both programs create awareness and attention to fluid power education at 2- year and 4- year institutions and gives participating members increased visibility to emerging talent in their region and provides recruitment opportunities to more successfully interact with students interested in careers in our industry.
NFPA invites you to a special recruitment event on February 10th in partnership with Northern Illinois University (NIU), a valued Power Partner University. NIU offers fluid power education through dedicated courses and actively participates in the Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge and the Fluid Power Club program.
The event will begin with a career fair where NFPA member companies can connect with engineering students from NIU. Following the career fair, we will host a luncheon and series of presentations from NIU faculty and NFPA. We will wrap up our event with a roundtable discussion where representatives from each NFPA member company in attendance can collaborate to answer student questions about fluid power and industry trends.
February 10, 2025
NIU Rock Valley College, Rockford, IL | 9:30am - 1:30pm CT
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This year, NFPA is hosting 3 competitions. Join us for one or all three and participate as a judge!
April 9-11, 2025 Hosted by IMI plc in Illinois
April 23-25, 2025 Hosted by Danfoss Power Solutions in Iowa
April 30-May2, 2025 Hosted by IFP Motion Solutions Inc. in Iowa
To participate in the Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge as a judge or team mentor, your company must participate in the NFPA Pascal Society.