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Planting Workforce Seeds: School officials encourage more companies to consider apprenticeships, internships

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While Missouri has made a strong push for apprenticeships in recent years – leading to a top 5 national ranking of completed programs in fiscal 2021 – some Springfield-area school officials note them as just one of many pieces to the workforce development puzzle.

At Ozarks Technical Community College, Sherry Coker has gotten more familiar with apprenticeship programs the past couple of years. The executive director of the college’s Center for Workforce Development worked with CoxHealth to help develop an Emergency Medical Technician Apprenticeship Program, which launched in May. Additionally, the Concrete Worker Apprenticeship Program, a partnership OTC has with Advanced Concrete Technology Inc. and Donco 3 Construction LLC, began in August.

She says OTC hasn’t tracked the total apprenticeship programs it has partnered on with companies over the years. However, the Missouri Department of Labor has on a statewide level, noting 3,235 apprenticeships were completed in fiscal 2021, ranking third nationally behind California and South Carolina.

“I guarantee there are hundreds of employers that have worked with us to send people to training classes,” Coker says, adding the DOL data series only accounts for registered programs. “It’s not in an official apprenticeship capacity, but it’s still training.”

She says apprenticeship programs are really “earn-as-you-learn” opportunities as apprentices are full-time employees earning a standard wage while being trained in the company and through college courses. According to the DOL, the national average starting wage for an apprenticeship is $15 with an average starting salary of $77,000 at the end of the program, typically three or four years.

Coker says the college’s Robert W. Plaster Center for Advanced Manufacturing was built in part to help employers find and skill up employees. The 120,000-square-foot building, which offers educational and training opportunities in areas such as robotics, fabrication and mechatronics, allows companies to send their employees to train on the types of new technology equipment in which they’re investing, she says.

The need to find workers to fill manufacturing jobs is a vital concern, according to a March 2022 study published by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. In the survey of manufacturing executives, 83% reported attracting and retaining a quality workforce is a top priority this year. Additionally, nearly 45% said they have turned down business opportunities due to lack of workers.

Several local agencies, including OTC, the Missouri Association of Manufacturers and the Springfield Department of Workforce Development, teamed for the inaugural I-Create Manufacturing Career Day & Industry Showcase on Oct. 28. Roughly 1,000 high school students came to OTC’s campus to learn about the manufacturing industry, as organizers hope to plant seeds of interest in them for future career options.

Mutual beneficiaries
High schoolers have long received employment opportunities through Scott Regional Technology Center. One of the offerings at the Monett school is career services, which helps students from 14 high schools it serves obtain employment skills.

Anessa Garner, career services coordinator, says 25 students currently are participating in work-based learning experiences. Most of those comprise internships for high school seniors, she says, noting participating companies include A-1 Automotive Machine LLC, Cox South Hospital, Ernie Williamson Music, First State Bank of Purdy and Sarcoxie Nursing Center LLC.

“Some of these students, their skills are in such high demand that employers are happy to pay them,” Garner says, noting roughly 80% of the current internships are paid.

The value of the jobs to the students – some of whom she says are thrust into the workforce due to a need to help provide for their family – is significant.

“These kids get to work alongside adults in their career fields. They gain confidence and grow in maturity,” she says, adding the students also are strengthening their resume.

Garner is a connection between the students and employers for the work experiences, which include job shadowing for juniors. She says the companies are mutual beneficiaries, as they help young workers build professional relationships that can lead to long-term career opportunities.

“They are getting to test drive that talent,” she says. “They’re also giving back to the community. A lot of these kids need a job. They’re helping to facilitate a positive future.”

Scott Tech, which started in 1966, has over 500 students and 16 career and technical education programs, including construction technology, early childhood education, graphic design and precision machining.

“That’s why we’re here, is to build a skilled workforce for our community,” Garner says, adding she wants more companies to offer apprenticeship and internship opportunities.

Apprenticeship commitments
CoxHealth is a relative newcomer to apprenticeship programs. The health system began its first in 2018 for medical assistants. That was followed by a nurse assistant apprenticeship before the addition of an EMT program earlier this year, says Ryan Morris, the health care system’s Center for Professional Development manager.

“The spirit of on-the-job training is not unique to health care, but is certainly part of what we do,” Morris says.

According to CoxHealth officials, the medical assistant program has 70 apprentices while another 50 are in the nurse assistant apprenticeship. The EMT program has 26 participants. All are paid CoxHealth employees as soon as they start the apprenticeships, Morris says, adding they also are eligible for benefits.

“We partner with OTC on our medical assistant apprenticeship and our EMT apprenticeship program,” Morris says. “Having them as an educational partner has been critical in the success of those programs. For the nurse assistant apprenticeship program, that is offered in-house through our nursing administration education team.”

Sean Thouvenot, vice president at Branco Enterprises Inc., says the construction company had to pause partnership of its commercial carpentry apprenticeship with OTC this year due to the inability to find an instructor. He hopes to resume it with them next year.

However, the educational component of the apprenticeship is still offered virtually and at Crowder College, a partnership that has lasted about 20 years, he says. The apprenticeship program started in 1993 and roughly 300 have completed it, he adds.

“Our goal is to increase the size of the apprenticeship program every year, but we need to keep it manageable as well,” he says, noting it currently has 15 apprentices. “Six of our current superintendents are a product of our apprenticeship program through the years.”

The four-year program teaches employees commercial carpentry, like form setting for concrete, hanging commercial doors and hardware, as well as safe operation of equipment, such as scissor lifts, telehandlers and skid steer loaders. 

“The value for us is that it helps us grow our own staff and train them in the things that are kind of Branco specific,” he says. “With that, they learn the culture of the company and everything else when they hang around that long.”

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