Heartland Community College is celebrating National Apprenticeship Week with a signing ceremony for new career training enrollees.
As the baby boom generation retires, there are job openings. Lots of them. And businesses are having trouble finding people to fill those roles at a time when young people are having trouble affording post high school education.
Apprenticeships offer combined classroom and on-the-job training paid for by businesses and grants. Of Illinois' community colleges, 80% have apprentice offerings, but state and federal officials came to Normal to kick off the state's National Apprenticeship Week.
Veronica Inselmann, HCC associate director of apprenticeships and work-based programs, said the fall 2023 cohort in the signing ceremony recognized 27 apprentices in industrial maintenance, tool and die making, early childhood education, and the latest offering, certified program in nursing.
“Once an employer has made the decision to upskill their current employees, we work with them to determine the occupation they want to prepare their workers for. We then determine the competencies needed for this occupation and work with the employer and Heartland faculty and staff to align the appropriate coursework to get them to that outcome,” said Inselmann.
Curt Rendall, HCC's executive director of program development and innovation, said apprenticeships tend to promote long-term tenure of workers with companies, allow transfer of institutional knowledge in that particular business, and communicate the company's values and culture. Grants and the business pay for the education of the apprentices. Yet Rendall said that does not limit graduates in the future.
“The whole idea behind an apprenticeship is you want to certify someone for an occupation, not necessarily for an employer so you can take those skills your whole life. We’re looking at building them in water production and water treatment. You are portable and can get a job anywhere in the country,” he said.
The labor department classifies about 1,300 occupations, and Rendall said nearly any one of them could have an internship. HCC has 11 apprentice programs registered with the labor department and 40 active students. Rendall said HCC will remain open to growing those offerings.
“We’re really excited to look forward to building programs in insurance and finance. That would be a new frontier for us,” he said.
Daniel Serota is on the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board and on the apprenticeship committee.
"The return on investment really helps employers over the long term. It helps keep the employee that they will eventually get and create great opportunities," said Serota.
Angelica Acevedes, 20, of Bloomington, will be one of those apprentices for Carle Health. Acevedes is a new signee to the Heartland Community College building maintenance and facilities maintenance apprenticeship.
"I've always loved doing this. It's something I am very passionate about. I've always loved building and creating and fixing and repairing and just figuring out how things work," said Acevedes.
Heartland has signed more than 20 people to apprentice programs, including 31-year-old Brad Michaels of Marquette Heights. He already was working at Rivian, but will now be part of the company's Industrial Maintenance Technician apprentice program. Michaels said he got interested because he knows a couple of people who went through it who said it's the best decision they ever made.
"It's one of those types of jobs that will hire anywhere. You can find a job, a good-paying job. I have two kids. My girlfriend has two kids. I have a lot of bills. It pays them," he said.
But it's not just something to do for the money.
"Every day, there is something new to learn. I've been working with my hands every day. I've had desk jobs. I've had supervisor roles. It outweighs all of them," said Michaels.
Heartland president Keith Cornille said the college has added 40 certificate programs since 2019 for such firms as Bridgestone, Rivian, Carle, OSF HealthCare, and Ferrero. He said the college wants to keep adding to the workforce eco-system as some parts of the labor force "gray out."
