Heartland Community College signed 37 new apprentices to McLean County business partners during a signing ceremony held Wednesday. The program, in its fifth year, began in 2020.
Heartland student apprentices signed certificates reaffirming their commitment to employer sponsors ahead of their upcoming graduations. Among those partners are Bridgestone, Caterpillar Pontiac, OSF St. Joseph, Rivian, 8th Street Welding and Hydraulics and Westminster Village.
Micah Koll is a manager for learning at development at Rivian, the electric automaker based in Normal.
“[The apprentices] are very passionate about the work that they’re doing, they want to be there. They want to grow and learn and better their life,” he said. “We find that they’re showing up to work on time, they’re there every single day doing the work that they’re supposed to be doing.”
Kent Greenwell, senior manufacturing and engineering manager of Caterpillar Pontiac, said apprentices are looking to not only better the employers they sign with, but also themselves.
“Folks are really just motivated to improve themselves, but also improve their work and the quality of their work for us, and then take advantage of the technology, investments we’ve made,” he said.
Rivian was signing apprentices in the maintenance technician program, a skillset Koll said is hard to come by.
“It’s not like maintenance technicians are a dime a dozen and we just pull them off the street. There’s things they have to learn,” said Koll. “From robotics to controls engineering, all kinds of stuff like that that have to be taught.”
Rivian had the most apprentices at the ceremony, totaling 24 between a summer and fall class. Koll said Rivian is still short of the skilled workers the company needs as it readies to launch the R2, its new mid-size SUV.
Bob Messenger is the plant engineer of Bridgestone, the tire manufacturing plant in Normal. He said the availability of qualified job-seeking technicians is not what it used to be.
"We’d tried to find them from other employers and they’re just, they’re not out there," he said. "But we found out if we hire through the apprenticeship program, we can train them. We can train them the Bridgestone way and the Bridgestone global maintenance standard.”
Greenwell said Caterpillar also isn't able to recruit employees the way it once did. However, the partnership with HCC helps students overcome their fears about not being able to find quality work.
“They should not be fearful of automation taking their roles,” he said. “They should look at these opportunities with these apprenticeships on how they can have a great career utilizing the automation to be even more effective and productive.”
Messenger said Bridgestone has had open positions for more than two years, adding the apprenticeship candidates may take a while to train, but they end up being worth the wait.
“It’s like planting a tree. Obviously, it takes years of development, but if you never plant the tree you never get a full-size tree and that’s what we’re doing with our apprenticeship program,” he said. “They can’t do a lot when they first begin, but within a year, two years, you’re starting to see the fruit of your labor.”
To help entice workers, Messenger said Bridgestone relies on its reputation of being an established company with good benefits and a consistent schedule.
