The Director’s Chair

FOR THOSE OF us who like the heat more than the cold, we Arkansans are living our dream this July, right? Even this summer’s baseball is better watched on TV, in an air-conditioned house, with a very chilled drink near at hand.

All of which calls to mind this edition of the Apprenticely Newsletter, which contains a couple of articles sure to be of interest to the employers among our readership. One shows how skills learned through today’s more high-tech summer jobs prepare young workers for specific career paths down the line. Another draws a parallel between what we call Youth Apprenticeships and the “farm system” that Major League Baseball uses to “grow their own” talent. A whole lot of these Youth Apprentices—young people who’re still in either high school or college—are spending this summer working as apprentices for some of our state’s employers. If you’re one of those employers, good for you. If not, then I especially recommend these articles to you, no matter what sector of the workforce you represent.

At Apprenticely, we have six years of working to help close the IT skills gap under our belt, and more than a couple years in the fields of Advanced Manufacturing, Transportation, and now Healthcare. I think we’ve all come to realize that it takes any number of pathways to meet the aggregate workforce requirements. Consequently, we work closely with universities and colleges, state agencies, and other non-profits. We work to support all the traditional talent pathways, and we’ve provided supplemental strategies that include Registered Apprenticeships.

And now as we prepare to enter the closing stretch of our 2025 work and begin our 2026 planning, we want to strongly plant the thought that Arkansas’ workforce supply pipeline should include a plan for younger applicants. The 18-to-24 age group can provide a wealth of individuals with significant aptitude and the right attitude—meaning they show up and they are trainable. While they may still be in school, today they have the flexibility to start their careers while they finish their schooling. Or they might have graduated from high school but are non-college goers right now, and would appreciate the opportunity to begin a career that has a significant upside.

You employers who have already established such a pipeline, please let us know so we can help send candidates your way. And for you employers who would like to consider adopting such a strategy, Apprenticely would like to be your partner. Please reach out, and we’ll start the conversation that can end with a specific plan for you. And to all of you, thanks for your ongoing support.

–Bill Yoder
Executive Director