Vermont IT Apprenticeship Readiness (ITAR) Program
Highly-skilled dislocated or underemployed workers in Vermont are often faced with leaving the state to find a new career opportunity because of limited options in his/her field. This program is designed to retain those dislocated or underemployed workers in Vermont by providing them with the opportunity to be educated and mentored for available software analysts and engineering careers. The program is based, in part, on the Vermont Department of Employment & Training’s existing apprenticeship program, generally used for careers in the trades such as plumbing and electrical. This program has been successfully piloted six times in Vermont and can be used as a model for creating other IT apprenticeship opportunities throughout the state of Vermont.
The purpose of the program is to information technology (IT) opportunities to Vermont dislocated or underemployed workers who have a desire to enter the IT profession but do not have the means or a way of doing so. The jobs in this program should earn up to $50,000 a year annually after one-year.
The program is held in two phases. The first phase (eight weeks in total duration) is an IT Apprenticeship “readiness phase” or initial classroom phase. This is an education program involving applicant recruitment, assessment, selection, and IT education. The second phase is the actual “apprenticeship” phase, which partners an IT employer with a successful graduate in a paid IT apprenticeship program. This phase involves further intensive education and mentorship over a one-year period. The apprenticeship begins at the completion of the initial classroom phase when successful graduates are hired by an employer.
The program sponsors a specific number of IT apprenticeship opportunities. Interested applicants are invited to an information career session. Anyone interested will fill out an application and submit resume. Interested applicants are invited back the next day to take two IT aptitude tests administered by Vermont HITEC. Applicants are assessed based on their application, resume and test scores. A selection of applicants are invited back for final interviews. From this pool of applicants, students are selected to enter the education program.
This is an eight-week non-paid education program in which students receive intensive IT education and mentoring at no cost to the participant (valued at approximately $16,000 per student) coordinated by Vermont HITEC in cooperation with an employer. Successful graduates of the education program are offered an IT paid apprenticeship position and may include full benefits. The salary will be a step-up salary common in all apprenticeship programs, earning up to $50,000 a year after one-year.
The IT apprentices will begin a one-year apprenticeship. It involves advance-level IT education and mentoring in the first three to six months with further mentoring by a team mentors for the remaining first year. Mentoring may be transitioned to the team leader in the department sponsoring the apprentices.
This is a joint effort between the Vermont Department of Employment & Training, US Department of Labor, Vermont Department of Economic Development, the Vermont State Apprenticeship Program, and Vermont HITEC, Inc.
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