IBM Looks to Solve Their Worker Shortage With Apprenticeships

As the U.S. faces a skilled worker shortage corporations have turned to apprenticeship programs to train their own talent pools. Companies like IBM have attempted to weather the shortage by using a earn-and-learn model that has seen significant upside throughout the company.

“Workers find more rewarding careers while employers enjoy a deeper talent pool, said Amy Kardel of CompTIA, an information technology trade association. People hired through the programs also tend to stay on the job longer; such programs can also broaden a company’s culture by attracting employees, including workers of color, whose life experiences are outside the high school-to-college career arc common in white-collar workplaces.“Earn-and-learn strategies can open a door for someone into a career quickly,” said Kardel, CompTIA’s vice president for strategic workforce relationships.”

IBM continues to lobby for the National Apprentice Act which would allocate around $3.5 billion in government funding for registered apprentice programs like theirs. The company looks to hire over 400 new apprentices every year which then puts them on 1 of their 25 different training tracks that includes programs like software development, human resources and data science.

Read full article here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/facing-skilled-worker-shortage-u-s-companies-try-to-train-their-own-new-labor-pools