HR Strange But True

Jobs Go from ‘Dirty’ to ‘Unique’ for Skilled Trades Proponent

He took us, usually wearing some wacky looking personal protective equipment (PPE), to see him try over 300 jobs that defied description, but were mostly smelly, dangerous—and dirty!  Now, reports CNN, he will show us jobs that are not only unique but also essential.

Yes, Mike Rowe took us to farms, sewers, ice roads, coal mines, and oil derricks, among other places in all 50 states, on Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, where he was host and executive producer for 7 years.

Now he is back on the job, and his new CNN series, Somebody’s Gotta Do It, will bring viewers face-to-face with “unique individuals and join them in their respective undertakings, paying tribute to innovators, do-gooders, entrepreneurs, collectors, fanatics—people who simply have to do it.”

In 2008, Rowe launched mikeroweWORKS, a campaign designed to reinvigorate the skilled trades. He has since written about the country’s relationship with work, the widening skills gap, offshore manufacturing, infrastructure decline, and currency devaluation.

He also gave a TED Talk on the Changing Face of the Modern-Day Proletariat, and in May 2011, he testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee about the importance of changing perceptions and stereotypes around blue-collar work.

Rowe also runs the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, which awards scholarships to students pursuing a career in the skilled trades. He is closely associated with the Future Farmers of America, Skills USA, and the Boy Scouts of America, who recently honored him as a Distinguished Eagle Scout.

HRSBT wonders if he will find human resources “unique” enough for the show. Well, somebody’s gotta do it!

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