{"id":10931,"date":"2018-11-16T08:41:03","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T13:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/?p=10931"},"modified":"2024-07-08T06:05:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T10:05:41","slug":"hits-partners-with-wcc-to-offer-apprenticeship-for-aspiring-it-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/2018\/11\/16\/hits-partners-with-wcc-to-offer-apprenticeship-for-aspiring-it-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"HITS partners with WCC to offer apprenticeship for aspiring IT professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lousayni

Lousayni Benson is a former apprentice who was recently hired full time within HITS.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Apprenticeships are typically associated with the skilled trades. You might first think of a plumber or electrician apprentice? Or maybe a welder or carpenter?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That convention is changing and a recent apprenticeship program created by\u00a0Washtenaw Community College<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Michigan Medicine<\/a>\u00a0to help attract and train aspiring information technology professionals is advancing the cause.<\/p>\n

Michigan Medicine\u2019s recently launched\u00a0Service Desk Apprenticeship Program<\/a>\u00a0pays entry-level candidates to serve a one-year apprenticeship in frontline technology support, receiving extensive on-the-job training and formal technical coursework at WCC in the process. At the end of the program, apprentices receive a U.S. Department of Labor journeyman\u2019s card, earn a\u00a016-credit Computer Systems Technology certificate<\/a>\u00a0from WCC and will emerge with a deep knowledge of the IT architecture of a world-renowned medical center. The WCC coursework is paid for by the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur apprenticeship programs are still primarily focused on manufacturing, but it\u2019s really spreading out into all different areas,\u201d said Marilyn Donham, WCC\u2019s Dean of Apprenticeships. \u201cIT apprenticeships aren\u2019t brand new, but Michigan Medicine was the first organization that asked my team to help them create one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanding apprenticeships to more occupations has become a popular suggestion for creating career opportunities for individuals and closing the skills gap that hinders employers from finding qualified candidates.\u00a0A Harvard Business School study<\/a>\u00a0suggests expanding the number of occupations that commonly use apprenticeships from 27 to 74 would equate to 3.3 million jobs that could be filled by apprentices.<\/p>\n

Exploring different ways to find job candidates is what led Jarrod Sandel to WCC. Sandel manages the Service Desk for Michigan Medicine\u2019s Health Information Technology & Services (HITS). The Service Desk is responsible for handling more than 250,000 IT-related contacts (calls, online submissions and walk-ins) each year while operating in an industry that averages 40-percent annual turnover.<\/p>\n

In recognition of National Apprenticeship Week, Donham and Sandel were invited to\u00a0appear together on the Lucy Ann Lance Show<\/a>, broadcast by WLBY AM in Ann Arbor, to discuss the new partnership.<\/p>\n

\u201cApprenticeship has been a proven model for hundreds of years,\u201d Sandel said during the November 12 interview, noting the training model dates back to the days of blacksmiths and leather workers. \u201cThis is not a new concept. It\u2019s just a novel, new approach to a more modern job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lousayni Benson is an apprentice who was recently hired fulltime from the program. The 29-year-old Detroit native moved back to Michigan after working at an Amazon distribution center in Ohio, where he was exposed to some IT-related work that interested him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to complete my education, but I also needed a job,\u201d Benson said. \u201cWhen I saw this job placement at U-M, it\u2019s basically like going back to school and having it paid for. It\u2019s going to be pretty amazing when I finish (the apprenticeship). It\u2019s going to be a great accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, considering the impetus for Sandel to create the program in the first place, career advancement opportunities isn\u2019t an issue for the apprentices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to keep people because they become familiar with a broad collection of technology and become super attractive for other people in my IT department or other IT departments across southeast Michigan,\u201d Sandel said. \u201cTo try to keep people in the seats is very difficult and to be able to provide a program that helps to retain them was even more difficult. So, working with WCC was the right choice.<\/p>\n

Those interested in joining the Service Desk Apprenticeship Program at Michigan Medicine can\u00a0apply online.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apprenticeships are typically associated with the skilled trades. You might first think of a plumber or electrician apprentice? Or maybe a welder or carpenter? That convention is changing and a recent apprenticeship program created by\u00a0Washtenaw Community College\u00a0and\u00a0Michigan Medicine\u00a0to help attract and train aspiring information technology professionals is advancing the cause. Michigan Medicine\u2019s recently launched\u00a0Service Desk Apprenticeship Program\u00a0pays entry-level\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":10932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_umich_oidc_access":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[45,176,132,96,26],"class_list":["post-10931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-education","tag-hits","tag-learning","tag-students","tag-training"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-e1542661677857.jpg",600,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-200x134.jpg",200,134,true],"medium":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-768x513.jpg",665,444,true],"large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-700x467.jpg",600,400,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-e1542661677857.jpg",600,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-e1542661677857.jpg",600,400,false],"excerpt-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-200x140.jpg",200,140,true],"themonic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-60x42.jpg",60,42,true],"ioslider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-658x300.jpg",658,300,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-665x444.jpg",665,444,true],"400x250-crop":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DSC_3421-e1542661677857.jpg",375,250,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Heather Kipp, HITS Communications","author_link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/author\/hengeshl\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Apprenticeships are typically associated with the skilled trades. You might first think of a plumber or electrician apprentice? Or maybe a welder or carpenter? That convention is changing and a recent apprenticeship program created by\u00a0Washtenaw Community College\u00a0and\u00a0Michigan Medicine\u00a0to help attract and train aspiring information technology professionals is advancing the cause. Michigan Medicine\u2019s recently launched\u00a0Service Desk…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10931"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10947,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10931\/revisions\/10947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}