New Agents of Change Report: A Novel Approach to Apprenticeships May Prove to Be the Solution to Tech Hiring and Diversity Woes

Agents of Change Series Showcases Stories of People and Organizations Challenging Traditional Thinking in Education and Workforce Training.

SynED, a national non-profit focused on education,released Agents of Change Volume 4: How a New Apprenticeship Model May Finally Bridge the Tech Hiring Gap, the fourth in a series of reports that provide a roadmap on how individuals, organizations and communities address challenges in our education and workforce training systems and take action.

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“This series is designed to inspire and guide those who want to improve the process of connecting trained individuals to the employers who need them. Each story is presented as a how-to guide clearly identifying the critical components of successful innovation approaches, and provides practitioners and policymakers alike useful insights and tools they can leverage to realize success in their own communities,” said Scott Young, President and Executive Director, SynED. “This volume, highlighting Apprenti, provides an in-depth playbook for how communities can adapt old apprenticeship models to accommodate the demands of new technology careers.”

Volume 4 of Agents of Change is centered on a promising new approach to finding and developing diverse tech talent. Data shows that hundreds of thousands of tech job openings are going unfilled each year in the United States, while frustratingly slow progress is being made on the tech industry’s lack of diversity.

The example of Apprenti, a national nonprofit, shows how the apprenticeship model can be adapted to tech jobs in a way that provides confidence to workers and employers alike, while supplying a pipeline of diverse candidates from underrepresented populations. Partners have called the approach “overwhelmingly positive” and “wildly successful,” and evidence shows that the vast majority of apprentices are retained by their employers.

Despite a challenging policy and funding landscape, Apprenti continues to expand across the United States. With a sustainable business model and evidence that their approach works for companies – much of their growth can be attributed to word of mouth, as executives and hiring managers share their successful experiences with retaining apprentices – the Federal government has begun to recognize the benefit of investing in their expansion. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration recently awarded Apprenti $23.5 million through the Good Jobs Challenge to expand their work.

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“Apprenti is making the apprenticeship model more approachable for companies, because they’re coming in saying ‘this is a proven model, we know it works.’ And they’re making it easier for the apprentices too,” said Christina Misali, Director of Talent Pipeline for the Cincinnati Chamber.

This volume of Agents of Change reveals what makes Apprenti’s approach successful, from its flexibility for employers to its breaking down of barriers for underrepresented populations. The traditional apprenticeship model involves an apprentice shadowing an employee for months before doing any work. This is called “watch and learn.” Classroom instruction is a common feature, and the length of apprenticeships can be up to five years. The technology involved in tech jobs makes this impractical, if not impossible.

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