In support of International Women’s Day, we want to encourage more women to explore careers in non-traditional professions and industries.
While studies show an increase in the number of females choosing professions in non-traditional industries such as construction, automotive, manufacturing, and IT, the ratio of women to men remains low. Today, we want to take this opportunity to shed light on training programs that are available now.
Apprenticeships
Throughout Wisconsin there hundreds of apprenticeship programs in construction, service, and industrial occupations available through area technical colleges. The 2018 Wisconsin Technical College System 2015-2016 Apprenticeship Completion Report found that the average median salary of apprenticeship programs was $71,624 for successful program participants, which could account for why program participation increased about 64% since 2013.
With the development of new programs each year, apprenticeship opportunities range from IT Service Desk Technician to Operator Engineer to Mechatronics Technician. This wide range provides opportunities for any career seeker to find a career that will allow them to acquire skills on the job while earning a paycheck.
Recently, the Department of Workforce Development has made it easier for career seekers to find apprenticeship sponsors by featuring businesses that are currently sponsoring a program and providing details about the programs they offer and any current openings they have. Throughout Wisconsin there are currently over 560 job openings for apprenticeships. With the ever-growing need for skilled workers, apprenticeships are a great way to fill positions while providing on-the-job training and classroom-related instruction to train high-skilled workers and fill the need.
Learn more at:
TechHire
Currently, there is a record high of 7.3 million job openings across the nation. In information technology alone there are on average 17% more jobs open than there are available workers. On top of this, there are thousands of vacant tech positions that go unfilled every year due to the lack of workers and skill gaps. The IT skills gap alone is expected to grow over the next five years, with as many as 1.8 million IT jobs unfilled by 2022.
That is where programs like TechHire come in. TechHire puts a focus on moving young adults between the ages 17 and 29 into mid to high-skilled IT jobs. The local WorkIT TechHire program looks to train and upskill career seekers into IT occupations that fall within the industries of Manufacturing, Broadband, Information Technology, and Healthcare. Training for this program ranges from classroom instruction to on-the-job training, to help build the skills needed to fill open positions. To date, the average annual salary for program placements is $46,648, with positions ranging from Web Developer/Programmer to Design Engineer to Universal CNC Operator.