This week at #CES2020 we were lucky to join a panel on the #futureofwork panel on #newcollar #apprenticeships in #tech to address #diversity and the #skillsgap. Great insights shared from Charlie Ackerman, Jennifer Oddo, Jeb Ory, Jennifer Taylor and a few words from myself.
Charlie from Bosch spoke about how a major global manufacturer like Bosch approached getting their Apprenticeship program live in the face of an urgent need for 300 software developers. Performing miracles such as gaining organizational alignment and completing a thorough design thinking process inside of a week, Charlie and his team managed to go from a standing start to a fully live program at scale in around seven months! Quite a feat, and not easy to repeat, but nonetheless a great blueprint we can all learn from! In closing the panel, we were asked to share a one sentence piece of advice - his was "Start".
He's right, with brilliant best practices we can share with you, inspired by IBM & the CTA apprenticeship coalition, there is no reason to avoid taking the first steps.
Bosch's experience rings true to what many of the large US employers we have spoken with are telling us. When you can't buy talent, you have to build it. The skills gap in IT, Tech, & Data is driving up wage inflation, causing high turnover, and stopping businesses from getting going on vital projects where they simply can't hire the required talent.
Our new survey - 2020 US Executive Workforce Study - tells us that over 96% of businesses find Talent availability an issue, meaning they experience projects slowing down (82%), or not starting (53%), and almost all are experiencing Wage Inflation already or expect to do so in next year (93%). Yet barely half have an apprenticeship program, and only 40% consider apprenticeships as a solution for tech skills gaps.
There is much work to be done in helping US business leaders understand the opportunity to build a sustainable custom talent pipeline.
Jennifer Oddo from IBM spoke on the panel about how IBM started in 2017 with just a handful of what they now call "New Collar Apprentices" and now they have almost 400 on program. It's a truly phenomenal story, and has helped IBM address serious skills gaps, enrich their diversity and control wage inflation.
Jeb Ory - founder & CEO of mobile startup Phone2Action showed us how you don't have to be an IBM or a BOSCH to make this work. He shared their experience of building on internships that they call summer fellowships, and evolving an Apprenticeship program that is now really adding to his talent pipeline, and delivering results right from the first few months. He shared real human stories of one of his apprentices' experience of switching careers and how the promise of career acceleration offered by the program was something he never thought possible.
The key insights shared by all can be distilled as "there is a real skills gap, it's getting worse fast, apprenticeships are a very good solution, they are accessible to you, the CTA can help, and so can we.
More to follow on my own remarks...
You can watch the live recording here: