Apprenticeship Programs

Benefits for Apprentices:

• Improved skills and competencies that meet the specific needs of the employee
• Incremental wage increases as their skills improve
• On-the-job training and occupation focused education
• Career advancement
• Industry issued, nationally recognized credentials
• Articulation agreements between certain apprenticeship training programs and 2- and 4-year colleges that create opportunities for college credit and future degrees

Benefits for Employers:

• Customized training that results in highly skilled employees trained to industry/employer specifications
• Increased productivity and knowledge transfer due to on-the-job learning from an assigned mentor combined with related technical instruction
• Enhanced retention: 87 percent of program completers in 2011 were still employed nine months after completing their apprenticeship
• A stable and predictable pipeline for the development of qualified workers
• A systematic approach to training that ensures that employees are trained and certified to produce at the highest skill levels required for that occupation
• Versatile and multi-functional human capital investment in order to respond quickly to market conditions
• Create a culture of continuous learning and improvement to meet the needs of the next generation of industrial workers