Apprenticeships are Critical to Future Workforce Needs

A critical piece of ensuring a fertile and skilled workforce is to create a readily available talent pool and apprenticeships should be a significant aspect of that commitment. A great example of a company investing in apprenticeships, is chamber investor, TDIndustries. They just began a new skilled trades training program, in a partnership with North Texas’ Construction Education Foundation (CEF).

TD provides this twenty-week training program for HVAC and plumbing employees as their first step of their apprenticeship. Participants can learn the basics of pipefitting, plumbing, and sheet metal work in the first course, and receive advanced training in subsequent semesters. The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) has certified this program. Ten certified field leadership partners teach these courses.

The first class began Thursday, January 23 and runs through June 11. Currently, seventeen partners are enrolled in the first semester, and numbers are expected to grow as the program continues. All credits transfer to any region accepting NCCER certification.

“Before we created this program, Central Texas skilled tradespeople had to travel to San Antonio, Dallas, or Houston every week to receive this level of training,” said Scott Staton, TD’s Round Rock operations manager. “That’s cost- and time-prohibitive for many people seeking to improve their career. We are committed to improving our employees’ futures, and this is one great way we can do that.”

For more information on this critical training program in Austin-Round Rock, please contact Scott Staton at 512.310.5050.