New School Year in Session

From kindergarten to college, September marked the start of a new school year for students across the country, and Faith Technologies’ apprenticeship program was no exception. Last month, over 700 apprentices started a new school year in Faith’s internal apprenticeship training program. Nearly 30 percent of these apprentices are brand new students starting their first year of classes!

Faith Technologies is poised for substantial growth over the next several years, and with the shortage of skilled labor, continuing to grow our apprenticeship program is critical to our success. That’s why we’ve added more than 300 apprentices to our program just this year! In 2019, our goal is to acquire an additional 350 apprentices. While some of these will include promotions of those currently employed with the company, the majority are new positions that we are and will be actively hiring for.

In a recent blog post, I shared the many benefits of starting a career with Faith’s apprenticeship program, including:

• Earning Potential: Unlike their college peers, from their first day in the classroom, apprentices not only gain hands-on experience in their chosen field, they also earn a paycheck while doing so. Faith apprentices are paid on a progressive wage scale, which means that as they progress through our apprenticeship program, learning more both in the classroom and on the job, their wages progress as well. Graduates from our program spend four years learning the hands-on skills necessary to have a successful career in their field, whereas their college peers might just be getting started in their careers after spending the same four years in the classroom. Upon the completion, graduates are qualified to take a journeyworker exam to become a licensed professional in their chosen trade, further progressing their pay.
• Tuition Scholarship Program: Every apprentice who starts in our program is awarded a full tuition scholarship to attend classes. Apprentices can earn the opportunity to renew their scholarships each year by meeting a variety of performance criteria, including appropriate test scores, positive attitudes and efforts, and dedication to learning their chosen trade. Not only does this program enable debt-free training opportunities to our employees, it promotes high performance and career accountability within our team.
• Career Pathing and Continued Learning: During the apprenticeship program, students have the opportunity to learn about and shadow other career paths within the company and are encouraged to do so. If we do not have an internal training opportunity available for an agreed upon skill, employees can utilize our tuition reimbursement program to attend external training at no cost to them.
• Dedicated Training Resources: In 2017, we opened Faith Technologies University, a 35,000-square-foot campus in Appleton, WI, dedicated to the training and development of apprentices year-round. In addition to this main campus, Faith Technologies University has satellite locations in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Georgia. Our full-time learning and development department consists of nearly 30 team members dedicated to the training and development of our employees.

Apprenticeships aren’t just for recent high school graduates. Our program is comprised of individuals from a variety of age groups and backgrounds; for some this is a second, or even third career. In a recent article in the Green Bay Press Gazette, apprentice Charlie Nelson stated, “An apprenticeship can be for anybody, you just have to have that can-do attitude. There are so many people, even in my class, from so many backgrounds: older people, younger people, people with different experiences, from different parts of the country, and we all come together and have something different to offer.”

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about the apprenticeship training program at Faith Technologies, you can learn more at our apprenticeships webpage and apply for a position with our team on our job board.