The Modern Apprenticeship: Confidently Hire, Train, and Retain High School Talent

CHRISTIAN GRAY, Founder and CEO, AxisU [christian@axis-u.com]

Talent shortages are a challenging task for any business, but it’s made even more difficult when you’re trying to find the right talent with the right skills to help your organization grow. With Forbes reporting that 3 out of 4 employers are having difficulty filling vacancies with needed workers, and the number of available jobs in the construction and ag industry at an alltime high, new and effective strategies are needed now more than ever. There are currently over 4,000 open positions across Iowa and Nebraska. So, the big question—where do we find talent today?

Let’s unpack how apprenticeships are becoming the new college degree for many people and how an apprenticeship program can benefit your organization when facing talent shortages. This includes new strategies on connecting with talent sooner and understanding where your company is at in the talent acquisition pipeline. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported that only 49 percent of Americans have completed an Associate’s degree or higher, meaning that every employer looking for skilled labor is recruiting from 50 percent of the overall labor pool. The Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association (INEDA) is partnering with AxisU because they take a modern approach to apprenticeship programs that can be the solution needed to train more skilled workers where there is heavy demand but not enough supply.

Traditional Apprenticeships

Traditional apprenticeships allow prospective employees to gain skills your business needs without the high cost of tuition. Apprentices typically work part-time while going through school, and they’re supported by an employer who foots the bill for community college classes. However, there are some downsides: this model doesn’t produce enough technicians, which means market demand must be met with additional training programs, internal upskilling, or hires from other companies in your local area. Other cons of the traditional approach include:

• College is expensive, no matter who is paying for it.

• Most people can’t afford to live working part-time.

• Businesses lose the tuition money if a student drops out, quits, or gets fired.

• Colleges are incentivized to keep butts in seats vs. on the job where your business needs them.

Modern Apprenticeships

Now, let’s rethink the apprenticeship structure and make it fit the demands of today. The current model works, and you shouldn’t stop recruiting from community colleges, but to supplement your skilled labor shortage it’s going to require internally training employees with your own apprenticeship program. This is where AxisU provides a scalable apprenticeship platform to help solve the cost and logistical downsides of traditional apprenticeships. After combining these two strategies, your total available labor pool to recruit increases from 50 percent to 100 percent.

Implementing a modern apprenticeship with AxisU is a great way to attract and train individuals of all ages and educational backgrounds, but when we first started conversations with INEDA, figuring out how to navigate Child Labor Laws was the most urgent. Here are the four steps we recommend for success:

1. Start by Partnering with Your Local High School

Let’s take a look at the research from EducationData.org: 35 percent of all high school graduates do not pursue any post-secondary education. What would you say to an immediate 35 percent increase in your business’s candidate pool just by starting or enhancing your partnership with your local high school? Partnering is a great first step, but understanding and navigating Child Labor Laws as an employer can be difficult or intimidating. AxisU and its leadership have worked with networks of thousands of high schools that partnered with businesses across 46 states and helped the employers set up a program that is compliant with their state’s needs. It’s safe to say it works, and if thousands of employers each year can (legally) navigate Child Labor Laws, so can you.

2. Develop an Internal Apprenticeship Program

Creating a process to set up an apprenticeship program at your dealership was a key consideration in our partnership with INEDA. Together, we will identify one of your team members to lead this initiative, give them the proper training to deploy and monitor and connect your organization with a talent pool of interested candidates. The introductory apprenticeship program available to all INEDA members is the Service Technician Apprenticeship Program. This program has both a pre-apprentice (intern) path as well as a registered apprenticeship path, making the transition from intern to full-time team member much easier.

We know that schools love working with businesses that have apprenticeship programs and helping provide structure for students that the schools

may not have the resources for. Additionally, this program allows your dealership to safely employ high school students and provide them with high quality online training.

3. Announce Your Apprenticeship Program

Now that you have a quality, accredited, and scalable apprenticeship program, it’s time to get the word out to all of the potential partners in your area. This includes your current organization and team members, local leadership, school leadership, parents, and friends. Building excitement through email, press releases, and conversations will lead to opportunities to get in front of students and teachers and connect them with your new program.

4. Hire your First High School Apprentice

Hiring a high school apprentice is very similar to hiring an adult apprentice, with the only differences being that a high school apprentice needs parental permission, and they legally can’t perform the same tasks as an adult, which is where Child Labor Laws come into play. Fortunately, INEDA members are in a unique situation to safely hire high school students and provide them the knowledge and skills to become a successful service technician by hiring them in the parts department and providing them training through the INEDA Service Technician Apprenticeship Program.

The program allows you to balance the student’s job requirements as a parts associate with training that leads them on the ultimate end goal of becoming a trained service technician. Here is the framework we partner with you to implement in order to minimize Child Labor Law Liability and maximize the student’s learning opportunities:

On-The Job

1. Receive parts orders; assign bin numbers and parts

2. Pull and adjust inventory; process monthly part returns

3. Pull and process parts transfers as needed

4. Stock and organize showroom shelves as requested

5. Unload trucks as needed (boxes under 25lbs)

6. Assist technicians servicing equipment up to 2 hours per week (incidental)

Online Instruction

1. Basic industrial skills

2. Drive systems

3. Small engine repair technology

4. Introduction to Diesel Mechanics

Let’s start!

AxisU is ready to help you set up your own internal apprenticeship program, build relationships with local schools, and begin resolving the talent shortage with a modern solution. Reach out to us at christian@axis-u.com or 319.269.7109, and we can walk through a demo and answer other questions you may have. We’ve got this! 

Sources: Department of Labor Compliance SelfAssessment Tool; Code of Federal Regulations Child Labor Law and Hazardous Occupations with Definitions