There is always an excitement surrounding travel. What can be accomplished, driving towards goals in a new location, trying new things. These core pillars ring true for our goals across the country and the reason I am writing this post from Los Angeles, California.
It is no secret that one of BuildWithin’s goals is to grow apprenticeships in the United States, with a heavy focus on several hubs across the country. What I love about California, is the state has set a lofty goal of reaching 500,000 served apprentices by 2029. In tandem, companies and organizations can receive benefits at the local, state, and federal levels to offset the price of making a new hire an apprentice.
Let’s take Los Angeles County for example. Any business with an office in LA County is eligible for close to $10,000 dollars of incentives if you were to hire an apprentice today. I am often skeptical of things that sound “too good to be true”, but this is true! Not only is the business getting financial support to bring on an employee, but studies have shown the apprentice is more likely to return to the company in a post-apprenticeship position after one year than a non-apprentice. Not only are you off-setting the cost of hiring a new employee, but you are growing your talent pipeline with apprentices who plan to stay with over 90% of apprentices still employed after five years.
I often hear the question, why would I go the apprentice route over hiring using my normal avenues? In my opinion and experience, there are many reasons why you would look towards the apprenticeship model to scale your workforce, but the crux of the solution is that apprentices are hungry. Apprentices are competitive, willing to roll up their sleeves to do the work, and want to prove themselves. Maybe no one else gave them a chance and you did or maybe your apprentice has been searching far and wide for an opportunity to break into technology because they are looking for something exciting and new. The point is the same, often an apprentice will outwork your traditional employee to win.
The mission is no different in L.A. than it is in Tennessee or Washington D.C. and that is to educate employers on the power of apprentices and how they can benefit from hiring an apprentice. These next couple weeks we have a few Apprenticeship Building America team members that are flying in and out of L.A. traveling to local job and career centers, employer meetings, chamber events, and more to spread the word about this opportunity.
Word travels fast, what are you waiting for?
