Bright Days

Steve Panagiotakis definitely saw the need for the Construction Rodeo the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange held this past May.

Like many other GCBX members — and contractors in general across the region — the vice president of operations for Bright Future Electric in Sarasota has found it a constant challenge to hire the employees he needs. So he was happy to be one of more than 50 member participants at the recent GCBX event aimed to teach local students about opportunities in construction and the trades. Another goal of the event is to introduce students to local companies with jobs to fill.

Bright Future Electric did more than inform the 350-plus students who attended the rodeo. It actually ended up hiring 18 as paid interns — a one-day hiring boon. “We had a handful of students we knew we wanted to make offers to,” says Panagiotakis, “but we didn't realize it would be so many.”