We’re an electrical contractor, so a well-trained workforce is essential to protect our team and customers.
As a small employer in a largely rural area, though, we face challenges finding, training and hanging on to great employees.
Certification as a licensed electrician requires a training program that typically takes about five years.
Some employees leave us after finishing the training and some just never finish, limiting the work they can do. Both situations were a problem for us.
Growing our own talent
We realized we needed to build a talent pipeline and improve retention to keep growing as a company.
So we started visiting local high schools and industrial arts teachers to identify promising students for the program.
We’re always talking to boys and girls with an interest in and aptitude for the kind and quality of work we do for all our different customers.
The program has been very successful so far – we expect we’ll hire three of the program graduates when they finish school.
The best part is they’ll come in at a slightly higher level because of their hands-on experience.
While apprenticing with us, students start to earn credits toward eventual certification, too.
(Kathy Weyer, office manager, Weyer Electric, Ferdinand, IN)