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Apprenticeships Blend College, Job Training ; A State Program Allows Employers to Sponsor Apprentices, Who Also Get College Credit.

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

Victoria Giuffre liked her job at the Bridgton Veterinary Hospital and Dental Care Center, but she also wanted to take the college courses she needed to become a registered veterinary technician.

Thanks to a state program, the two aren't mutually exclusive.

Giuffre entered the state's apprenticeship program, which merges on-the-job training with college education to produce trained and rounded employees in industries that include child care, marine trades, construction and other areas.

There are 612 Maine residents enrolled in apprenticeships and 112 high school juniors and seniors in pre-apprenticeships, according to Gene Ellis, head of the state program. Ellis said that 241 employers sponsor almost 700 different apprenticeship programs. The program is funded by the state, with $600,000 in the budget for fiscal year 2005, Ellis said.

Maine is experiencing only slight growth in its labor force, and programs like this are important to support established industries and help build new ones. Some of the apprenticeship tracks now under way range from service-industry occupations like early child care and Giuffre's vet tech program to some of the more traditional jobs like electrician and plumber. In fact, one of Maine's oldest industries, ship building, recently has launched an apprenticeship initiative.

Anecdotally, said Ellis, there is more interest in apprenticeships these days as employers try to train and retain employees. Employers say the program helps develop the work force and is particularly beneficial to small businesses.

"The reason we looked into it is there's a real difficulty in getting licensed veterinary technicians into most practices, there's not enough people coming out of the programs," said Dr. Gary Wheeler, owner of the Bridgton vet hospital. "It's been a godsend for us."

His apprentice, Giuffre, is learning about animal radiology and anatomy through a Web-based vet-tech program run by a Texas college system. She's also working full time at the animal hospital. It's an alternative path to postsecondary education. Instead of taking a few years out of her life to go to school and then enter the work force, she's combined the two options.

"For me personally, I am learning so much more on the job. If I have a task or an assignment and I do it today, tomorrow I can come in and apply what I learned, and I have two doctors here who can help me," said Giuffre. "Instead of looking at books and models, I have live animals, patients."

Giuffre took some college courses in the past toward a music degree which will apply to the vet degree she's pursuing, so she'll have a bachelor's degree in veterinary technology. Most students in the apprenticeship would end up with an associate's degree in vet tech.

"This has just been such a blessing," Giuffre said. "It's just enriched my career."

The state pays $100 per class, roughly a third of the costs, and the hospital picks up a share based on a sliding scale. The hospital reimburses 100 percent for an "A," with less for other grades. There's also a mechanism whereby apprentices who leave the business would have to repay a portion of the tuition to the hospital, depending on how long they stayed after the class was done.

The hospital designed the apprenticeship program with the help of Nancy Bell, director of business services at the Training Resource Center of the Portland CareerCenter. The state Department of Labor runs the apprenticeship program through the CareerCenters around Maine.

There are programs throughout the state for heating/ventilation/ air condition (HVAC) technicians, oil burner installers, electricians, plumbers and other trades, said Bell, and the apprenticeships provide a way to draw young people into a career. According to Ellis, 10 percent of the apprenticeships are in manufacturing trades, 60 percent in building and construction and about 30 percent in the service sector.

"There is a crying need in the trades in Maine," said Bell. "High school kids aren't going into trades, no parents want their kids to go into trades."

But, said Bell, the jobs generally offer good pay, steady employment and benefits, too.

To become an apprentice in a trade, a person must already have a job at an appropriate business, said Bell. The program doesn't cost the employer anything, said Bell, but the business agrees to sponsor the apprentice and expose them to all parts of the occupation. And some businesses, like the Bridgton vet hospital, agree to pay for the rest of the tuition, allowing the apprentices to be educated for free if they get good grades and stay with the company.

In general, said Bell, the apprenticeships last between two and four years, and when a person is finished, he or she is usually within range of getting an associate's degree and has the knowledge and skills needed to get licensed in a trade.

Most of the class work is offered through Maine's community colleges or universities, said Bell. The required classes mostly are targeted toward the occupations but also include subjects such a English, math and other basics.

In some cases, the apprenticeship program is being used to target work force needs for entire industries.

The Maine Marine Trade Association did an industry survey with the Maine DOL a few summers ago and found that a limited work force and training needs were among the top issues facing businesses.

"They all are screaming for help, for skilled, qualified help," said Swanton.

In fact, said Swanton, she knows of some businesses that want to expand but can't because of a lack of qualified help. Some businesses have turned away work because of manpower issues, she said.

"That's a really awful feeling for a company, to have to turn something away when somebody's willing to pay you to do something," said Swanton.

The apprenticeship program seemed like a good fit for the industry, she said, as "so many of us have really learned our trade on the job."

So a small committee of industry folks met for about a year to determine what trades within the sector should be targeted by an apprenticeship program, and then developed the criteria for six occupations: wooden boat building, certified composites technician, marine engine service technician, marine joiner, marine electrician and marine trades person (an overall position for people on a management track).

There's about a half-dozen people in the program now, said Swanton, and state officials are working with businesses up and down the coast to get more people enrolled.

"The benefit to the employer is definitely that they have the opportunity to shape the person that wants to be part of the program, to really have their skills developed in a way that makes sense for that company," said Swanton. "The employer really has employees that they can be sure of, they'll know this person is competent, well-trained - that's hugely important as companies want to start to grow."

Companies are intrigued, said Swanton, but it will take a while for the program to really take off. Some of the smaller companies are concerned they may not have the depth in their own work force to provide mentors for apprentices, she said. Others are geographically distant from any educational program, she said, and that can be a problem, too.

But overall, companies need to look at something like the apprenticeship program to draw fresh blood into a still-strong industry, Swanton suggested.

"Maine has such a high reputation for the kind of work that we do here that we can't afford not to train our people," said Swanton. "We can't do shoddy work and expect customers to pay for it and come back. We can't afford to lessen that reputation that we've worked so hard to get to over the centuries that we've been doing this work.

"If you lose it, how do you get it back?"

Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:

mwickenheiser@pressherald.com

Source: Portland Press Herald

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