The Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan (WIN) Wednesday announced a partnership with OneMagnify in Detroit to bring Apprenti, a U.S. Department of Labor-registered IT apprenticeship program, to its operations in Detroit.
Amazon, Microsoft, and Accenture are also Apprenti partners. OneMagnify is the first company in Michigan to use the IT program.
Apprenti was founded in 2016 in Seattle by the Washington Technology Industry Association. It now operates in 18 states across the U.S., has received nearly 6,000 applications nationally, and placed more than 200 apprentices into IT occupations.
Apprenti programs support future software and web developers, network security administrators, cloud support specialists, IT business analysts, data center technicians, and IT support professionals.
“Those of us in the IT field have to examine all avenues in finding and cultivating the brightest and best personnel to serve our clients and our interests,” says Andy Frey, chief technology officer at OneMagnify. “Apprenti, one such avenue, is an ideal resource for training that serves as a win-win for everyone involved. We are building well-paying careers and keeping top talent here in our region.”
In the first quarter of 2018, there were more than 26,000 job postings for IT positions in southeast Michigan with 75 percent going unfilled because of a lack of talent. Apprenti combines foundational skills education with classroom and on-the-job training aimed at bridging the skills gap. OneMagnify is a global marketing and communications firm and will instruct their apprentices in Java programming and systems administration.
“The Apprenti model presents a rare opportunity to shift the supply curve of talent in our region by recruiting candidates with interest and aptitude in IT and then collaborating with organizations like OneMagnify to rapidly upskill apprentices,” says David Palmer, senior director of strategies and partnerships at WIN. “This method has been shown to be more efficient and bring greater diversity of talent to employers than other short-term training investments.”
WIN will be able to offset most of the classroom training costs for partner employers, up to $15,000 per apprentice, through a partnership with the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. WIN and its partners are working with other southeast Michigan employers to recruit and train IT apprentices.
More information about Apprenti in southeast Michigan is available here.
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