Brandon Lassiter got out of the Air Force at 24 and started searching for a way to jumpstart a career as an electrician. Deeply interested in the field, he taught himself a lot of the basic skills needed to get a job, but seemed to be at a dead end. Then he saw a television ad for the Newport News Shipbuilding Marine Electrician training program at Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) in Hampton, Va.
"Outside of this program, it would have been much harder to get a job because most of the jobs in this field want previous work experience, but don't provide it," Lassiter said.