After several months of planning, in May 2020 Nashville State launched one of the state’s first IT programming registered apprenticeship program. This program was established in partnership with Asurion for their incumbent workers which will provide a career pathway for call center and warehouse workers. This was the first apprenticeship program at Nashville State. Below are the lessons learned from staff, and tips for launching this particular “white collar” apprenticeship.
- Invest the time to develop the right program for the client.
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- The college’s director of IT partnerships, Robert Tudor, spent more than six months in relationship-building with the employer, listening to their needs and educating the client on apprenticeships. Some advocates recommended to “move on,” but Rob knew it was a critical time for the industry partner to analyze and understand the workforce development requirements, and the final product/solution which would meet the needs of the business. Nashville State highly suggested that you do not accelerate this step in the development process but collaborate with the stakeholders to understand the scope of work, expectations, timeline, and outcomes.
- Give employers options to choose what best meets their needs.
- By analyzing the needs of the industry partner, the college was able to provide three alternatives to the client. Within those options, the apprenticeship program was the recommended solution for the client. The selected apprenticeship includes 12 months of on-the-job training (OJT) and eight months of related training instruction on six courses in software engineering, programming, and coding in languages. The courses include HTML, CSS, Python, C++, JavaScript and TypeScript.
- Embrace flexibility.
- Originally, the program was to be delivered in person at the employer’s office and start with a public launch with the state’s commissioner of labor. However, COVID-19 had its own intentions. The region’s workforce board, department of labor, community college, and employer conducted a virtual signing and transitioned to delivering education virtually.
- In addition, the original instructor was an H1B instructor and his status was going to expire during the first training classes, so we had to replace him. Staff had to work with the employer to find the acceptable virtual platform to utilize for virtual education. Each of these changes could have derailed moving forward and required constant communication with the employer to continue moving forward. But, through innovation and a collaborative partnership, we were able to prevail.
- Invest the time to ensure the program is successful.
- Because this is a new apprenticeship for the college, employer, and the state, the director of IT partnerships attends a portion of each class with the apprentices to ensure the instructor is meeting the students’ needs, and so he can give regular updates to the client. This level of involvement ensures issues are dealt with immediately and adjustments are made to ensure the students and employer are finding value in the apprenticeship. As a result, these apprentices have a career-changing experience and the employer is developing a pipeline of needed IT workers.