Dive Brief:
- Maryland officials have approved a state apprenticeship program for hospital environmental care supervisors through a partnership with the nonprofit Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (BACH), The Baltimore Sun reports.
- Environmental care workers are primarily responsible for cleaning hospital surgery rooms, according to the report. A local community college system will provide training for participants before pairing them with mentors at Baltimore-area hospitals. Johns Hopkins Hospital announced it would be the first such institution to offer training to the program's apprentices.
- The program is part of a $2 million grant awarded to Maryland by the U.S. Labor Dept. back in October. BACH executive Lauren Spada, who spoke to the Sun, said the program offers career advancement to job seekers without the need of a four-year degree.
Dive Insight:
Recruiters are raving about apprenticeships, and it's easy to see why. They're a particularly cost-effective way for employers to fill skill gaps through direct training and mentorship, especially in fields like medicine.
Such programs have the added benefit of immediately hiring participants once they've completed their apprenticeships. What better way to demonstrate an organizational commitment to career growth than literally providing the means for incoming workers to grow their career within the organization itself? Apprenticeships are also saving on training, and providing a generous ROI for white-collar fields.
As we enter the postgraduate month of June, employers are wary that many freshly minted degree holders are unqualified for the jobs to which they're applying. Apprenticeships, then, help to prepare entry-level candidates beyond what colleges have already done.
Expect more adopters of this model going forward, especially as similar programs gain steam at the federal level. The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted on apprenticeships and other job training programs as a way to offset national unemployment levels, even joining the call to create five million of them in March.
