Four Easy Steps for Setting Up an Apprenticeship at Your Company

As the new fiscal year kicks off, there’s a lot on the minds of hiring managers. Maybe you’re spearheading an initiative to diversify your staff, or trying to get ahead of the retirement cliff by investing in long-term, local talent. Maybe you’ve read the news about the boom in apprenticeship programs in DC, and you’re wondering, “how can I get my company involved?” 

The good news is, it’s pretty easy! In just four steps, you can partner with CareerWise DC to carefully plan out the year to come and bring in a highly-skilled apprentice to help meet your staffing needs and develop your workforce in a cost effective way, now and for years to come.    

Step 1: Assess your needs.

First, brainstorm your company’s most pressing needs and concerns. Do you need to address hiring or retention?  Which business units could use the perspectives and skill sets of digital natives? Is there existing capacity on your management team for mentorship? Asking these questions can help you to envision the best way to build a welcoming environment for the incoming apprentice, onboard your new team member, and boost your company’s goals. 

Step 2: Commit to a plan. 

The easiest path to a productive apprenticeship is investing in a clear, committed hiring plan. Our CareerWise DC team is ready to prepare and establish a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that identifies the goals of the apprenticeship and its duration. Next, work to fine-tune the job description for the position and identify a point of contact to run the hiring process. Ideally, your point of contact should be a strong communicator with a knack for welcoming potential new hires and introducing your company's culture.

Step 3: Hit the pool. 

You’ll work with your team at CareerWise DC to send your job description out to our pool of career-ready apprentices from across DC public and public charter high schools. These students are prepared and motivated to be trained to complete meaningful work in critical business functions like human resources, IT, and finance, while they continue their education. From there, we’ll track applications through our system and work closely with your business to source the best candidate pool for the position. 

Step 4: Welcome your apprentice to the team. 

Once you’ve identified candidates for the apprenticeship position, we’ll work together to schedule and host virtual interviews. When it comes time to hire, you can select the 2-year model for rising senior apprentices, or the 3-year model, which includes juniors as well. Both models offer CareerWise DC support on apprentice training, onboarding tools, supervisor guidance, and much more. 

Ready to grow your business with apprentices? Contact CityWorks DC’s Director of Business Partnerships, Terence West at twest@cityworksdc.org to get started.