On this episode of The Welsh Wire podcast, Sheri Welsh talks with Ashley Iovieno, Director of Business Solutions at Michigan Works! Southwest, about a workforce strategy that can help you stop waiting for that perfect employee to come along and begin developing the talent that you need in your organization right now.
“Especially in today’s world, folks still think that apprenticeships are solely for the skilled trades,” Iovieno says. “But in reality there are over 1,200 occupations that are apprenticeable.
“Basically to have an apprenticeship program, there are two main components to it. It’s the combination of on the job training where somebody is learning from a mentor or a subject matter expert. And then the second component is the RTI or the related technical instruction. And that’s the part where they are gaining knowledge through the classroom setting.”
How can a business get an apprenticeship program set up? “Michigan Works! hosts different Apprenticeship 1.0 sessions for employers that really just goes over the basics of what is an apprenticeship and how do I start it,” says Iovieno. “What is my starting point, what occupation should I even be looking at, and then what goes into it for the paperwork side of it and how do I make sure that I can sustain this? So we help take employers from ‘I have no idea about an apprenticeship program’ to ‘I have a well-established apprenticeship program and I’ve already been putting 5, 10, 15 different apprentices through it.’
“Another really good resource, too, that I like to send employers to if they want to do some of that exploration on their own is a website called apprenticeship.gov.”
Michigan Works! Southwest can help businesses register an apprenticeship program with the U.S. Department of Labor. That allows access to state and federal grants. “We have an Apprenticeship Success Coordinator named Jamar Herron, and his whole job is helping employers establish, register, and fund programs,” she says.
Listen today about apprenticeships in Southwest Michigan when Ashley Iovieno talks with Sheri Welsh on The Welsh Wire podcast.
Don’t forget to subscribe to The Welsh Wire for additional informative, entertaining interviews with West Michigan business leaders.
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