Apprenticeship is a highly effective workforce development strategy. The Hill reported that the current number of apprentices registered in the U.S. apprenticeship system is approximately 505,000: 410,000 in civilian sectors and 95,000 in the military. The Trump Administration’s recent executive order, Expanding Apprenticeship in America, "nearly doubles the funding for apprenticeships to $200 million."
All innovations in apprenticeship models start with a highly effective approach to engaging employers, those in both traditional and non-traditional apprenticeship industries. Simply stated, if employers are not engaged in ways that brings value to solve their workforce challenge or help build their talent pipeline, there is little opportunity to expand apprenticeship.
In working with staff and organizations involved in apprenticeship, Business U has identified three key success factors to engaging employers effectively: 1) position and promote collective statewide apprenticeship innovations; 2) coordinate employer engagement across multiple agencies; and 3) expand employer reach to develop apprenticeship in non-traditional industries.
Position & Promote Statewide Apprenticeship Innovations
Trump’s executive order has brought criticism to some public organizations for their inability to deliver timely workforce solutions to employers. This creates the need for public sector organizations’ focus on registered apprenticeship to proactively demonstrate their capacity to serve employers efficiently with quality talent matches and measurable outcomes. Business U is in the process of launching statewide workforce development campaigns that can be modeled by those organizations focused on apprenticeship to showcase their collective innovations across a single state, and to attract prospective apprentices and employers. See this example of a recently launched national campaign in adult education that contains many of the elements needed to position and promote any type of workforce development strategy, like apprenticeship, through the use of data and qualitative success stories.
Grow Capacity across Multiple Agencies
The second success factor is to grow the capacity of multiple agency partners that engage employers in apprenticeship models, at the state and local level. Coordination of efforts in workforce development is an inherent challenge as pointed out in the preliminary findings of Business U’s national study, Current State of Business Engagement under WIOA. The study revealed that while there are best practices emerging in public sector employer engagement, up to 72% of workforce and education employer-facing professionals surveyed indicated that businesses are not giving them the buy-in needed to move their missions forward. Clearly, there is a need for professional development to help organizations not only understand the psyche of business to improve these engagement percentages, but address coordination issues across multiple agencies—one of the top three issues noted in the study. Business U has developed a Business Engagement Boot Camp® for Apprenticeship recently delivered to the State of California, Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Apprenticeship Standards to maximize employer engagement that includes cross-agency partners.
Align Efforts for Non-Traditional Apprenticeship Industries
The third success factor in apprenticeship is to proactively expand employer reach in non-traditional industries by system alignment through a Regional Business Engagement Plan. Building a regional plan across multiple agencies supports the braiding of funding streams, alignment with operational structures and coordination of outreach efforts to avoid duplication of effort. Business U has designed a free template to create a Business Engagement Plan for Apprenticeship. Click here to request the template.
For more information about Business U’s dynamic service offerings in employer engagement with apprenticeship, contact us for a complimentary consultation.
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