New Focus on Apprenticeships – New Jersey Business Magazine

Ideally, a business could hire someone right out of school or off the street to fill a job opening and get a new employee who has been properly trained for the position. Anyone who has tried to hire someone recently knows this is not the world in which we live. The need for skilled workers continues to grow, both in New Jersey and nationally, and that need has brought new life to an old idea – apprenticeships. New Jersey’s skilled labor shortage is one of the biggest. We have more job openings per-capita than any other state in the nation except one. It’s not just a lack of college graduates; many businesses have jobs that require specific technical skills that still require post-secondary education, just not a full bachelor’s degree. An apprenticeship could help fill this void. It’s an on-the-job training program that allows an employee to learn a craft or trade while being employed and paid by the company or organization sponsoring the training. Most trade unions have apprenticeships, but now the idea is expanding to other types of businesses that need employees in the middle skill level. An employer does not need government permission to start an apprenticeship program, but any job that requires certification or a license will likely need to be a registered apprenticeship.