Finding qualified talent is increasingly expensive, competitive, and time-consuming. Currently, the burden of educating our workforce falls directly on the education system. Meanwhile, businesses are having difficulty finding employees with the appropriate competencies to fill these skilled positions.
Youth apprenticeships tackle the problem head-on by helping businesses play a part in shaping young talent and providing the education system with an applied learning environment for students. Youth apprenticeships offer robust work-based learning opportunities in modern-day careers like Advanced Manufacturing to Machining; and take an innovative approach to talent acquisition that ultimately leaves businesses with a positive ROI and workforce fit to tackle the modern-day world.
Apprenticeships vs. Higher Education
Manufacturing apprenticeships don’t divert students from higher education, rather it’s an in-depth education option that combines theoretical learning with hands-on learning focused on preparing young students for a viable career in manufacturing. It can be a direct path to high-paying, in-demand jobs, or the first stackable step in their education journey. Any student, regardless of their end goal, can benefit from an apprenticeship.
As we develop youth apprenticeships, we must look to the Swiss apprenticeship system for guidance. In Switzerland, there are over 200 approved apprenticeships, and over 40% of companies participate in the program. 70% of Swiss students choose to start their higher education with an apprenticeship. Many of the world’s largest companies are run by CEOs that started out as an apprentice.
The value added for business can be defined by the following:
- Reduce turnover costs and increase your retention rate
- Recruit and develop a highly trained workforce for hard-to-fill positions
- Create industry-driven and flexible training solutions to meet your specific needs
- Positive ROI based on the value of apprentices’ productivity
Industry Driven
Youth apprenticeships are industry-driven where organizations can develop their own pipeline.
In the current labor market, the talent pool is simply too small. In this hot labor market, where the number of jobs exceed the number of skilled workers, there’s a high probability that other organizations are trying to poach your employees. Not just your stars. Everyone.
If employers create pipelines and paths, this can lead to higher retention and a strong company culture.
Building The Program For Utah
The process of building a youth apprenticeship in Utah has been a long and winding road.
The first step was making sure we had the right group of stakeholders. Early in the process they were able to pull in different companies from across the state to form a unified opinion of the skills list needed. This team along with Rachelle Ackley of Ready Utah, Megan Ware of Utah Manufacturers Association, and Martin Moore formerly of UAMMI met numerous times and came up with a solid vision of what the apprenticeship should look like prior to involving education.
Flipping the Script
Early in the process it became clear we needed to flip the process and come up with the skills list first, then approach our education partners. For the most part, they were receptive and really stepped up to develop or adapt existing curriculum to ensure the program was current, adaptable, scalable, and relevant.
Next we realized that bringing on Melisa Stark and DWS into the project was imperative. With her knowledge base and experience we knew that we could get this apprenticeship to where industry needed. And by registering the program with the DOL it not only gives the apprenticeship statewide credibility, it gives it national credibility. The students are truly leaving with certification that they can use industrywide, but it is stackable and relevant.
Overcoming Obstacles
One issue that continued to come up was the liability industry was taking on by having youth apprentices in their facilities. With some incredible guidance from Granite School District and Sandra Hemmert as well as Vic Hockett and the Talent Ready Utah Team we got the support needed to get HB555 sponsored and passed by the Utah State Legislature.
Without oversimplifying it, this bill takes the liability off the industry partners as long as they are high school students registered and participating in a work/study program. The passage of this bill was a pivotable point in ensuring that this program can scale statewide.
Lift Off
In late January Brad Robeson of Clean Machine, Matt Wardle of JD Machine, Art Santana of Paramount, and TJ Marshall of Parker Aerospace, along with two school districts and tech schools, launched the pilot of the CNC Machining Technician Apprenticeship program.
We are pleased that eight students are currently participating and doing well. A meeting was held in February to garner interest from potential industry partners statewide. We had a massive turnout and will fully launching the apprenticeship in August and continuing to scale up over the next two years with a fully DOL registered apprenticeship.
Stay Tuned
For more information about the CNC Machining Technician Apprenticeship, please reach out the UMA Foundation 501(c)(3) who is pleased to act as the state intermediary for all manufacturing youth apprenticeships for Utah. megan@manufacturingutah.com or martin@manufacturingutah.com