WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
“ I want them to be able to go to any of the big companies out there — Apple , Google , IBM , Microsoft — and be able to say , ‘ Look , I went through this program in California . You don ’ t have to worry about training me on any of the basics ,’” says Ellis , who came to the district from Apple .
Apprentices normally do at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job training and get at least 144 hours of classroom instruction to be certified . Industries tailor the content of the training and the instruction to their needs . Companies pay for wages and the cost of supervising apprentices , and the state can often subsidize the cost of the classroom instruction , delivered by an education partner like a community college .
Employers new to the space are using the system to build a talent pipeline . Starting in 2016 , Dignity Health was having trouble filling jobs for specialized medical coders who deal with complex surgical procedures . So Dignity worked with the Education Fund , which is a partnership between employers , unions and others , to set up an apprenticeship program to train entry-level coders into higher-level positions . To date , Dignity ’ s program has produced at least 10 specialized coders in Sacramento , says Rebecca Hanson , executive director of the Education Fund .
Transportation and logistics companies have scrambled to find talent , especially since the pandemic hit . Surplus Service , a recycling and refurbishing company in Fremont , launched an apprenticeship program about three years ago .
“ There ’ s a huge demand for people to go into jobs like drivers , warehouse managers , supply chain , sorting , receiving , shipping ,” says President Lou Ramondetta . “ They don ’ t get a lot of attention , which is sad because they ’ re typically very good high-paying jobs .” He ’ s hired about 30 people through his apprenticeship program and is looking for apprentices in business development , management and office administration .
After the vacancy rate for IT professionals in state agencies hit almost 19 percent , in December 2019 , a few agencies partnered with Sacramento-based union SEIU Local 1000 , American River College and IBM to pilot an apprenticeship program that ’ s training in-house staff to write code for its mainframes . The pilot
36 comstocksmag . com | August 2021