BEDFORD, Va. (AP) — Josh Weeks, owner of Wicked Diesel, a diesel and automotive repair facility at 1051 Orange St., recently became the first Bedford County business owner to register with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s Youth Registered Apprenticeship Program.
He currently has two apprentices in the program, ages 17 to 21.
Weeks works closely with automotive technology instructors at Bedford County Public Schools’ Susie G. Gibson Science and Technology Center to provide job-shadowing opportunities, internships and part-time paid employment opportunities at his shop, which opened in 2014.
A 2005 graduate of the center’s automotive technology program himself, he currently employs four other graduates from the same program. He is excited to further his involvement with local students through the apprenticeship program.
“We’re able to grow our business and our intention is to keep these employees forever for them to make a career out of it,” he said. “So when we go into it with someone that’s starting out that’s maybe 16 or 17 years old and they show initiative and are good workers, we want to keep those employees forever. We want them to have a career here and build their retirement and see them grow.”
Sherie Fulcher, a registered apprenticeship consultant with DOLI, said the youth registered apprenticeship is for anyone who is at least 16 years old, but younger than 18.
She said in general, registered apprenticeship is a proven training model that’s been in effect for more than 85 years.
It’s a voluntary, employer-driven training program and is a combination of on-the-job training as well as related technical instruction.
“So you’re taking what someone is learning on the job and basically adding some classes to it,” she said. “So they can put those skills that they’re learning in class to use on the job.”
The program gives the apprentice a mentor who is dedicated to teaching them the skills with the occupation they’re learning.
Weeks already was hiring these kids, Fulcher said, but joining with DOLI gave them something more to work toward, because once they complete their apprenticeship, they receive a Journeyworker’s card, which verifies they are skilled workers in that particular occupation.
He said the card helps down the line if they want to go into a different career or change jobs.
Fulcher said an apprenticeship can be used as an option for kids that maybe don’t want to go to college.
“I personally don’t like to always push it as an option to college because it can be used in addition to college. It’s basically just learning another occupational skill. So you’ve always got something to fall back on,” she said. “But especially during COVID, I think we all learned that there’s been a real lack of focus on trades. So a lot of people got out of the trades and a lot of people got hyper-focused on college. Well, now we’re in a predicament where we don’t have people to fix our air conditioners or to fix our cars or to repair the plumbing in our houses.”
Fulcher said there’s been a decline of those working in trades, and DOLI is trying to replenish that pipeline.
“Basically, we’re just trying to fill the skills gap,” she said.
Weeks said it’s hard to get your foot in the door when starting in a trade, so his goal is to show the kids that they don’t necessarily have to go to a four-year college to make a good career.
“You don’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars going to a four-year college to make a good living,” he said.
The apprenticeship allows these kids to graduate high school and not have to compete with adults for the same job, she said. They’ve already got the job and they’ve already established that relationship.
The program is 6,000 hours, which equates to three years. For every year they’re there, the students also have to complete 144 hours of related technical instruction, which they’re getting at Susie Gibson, Fulcher said.
“If they’re working now, the goal is to have long-term employees. The whole idea behind registered apprenticeship is to provide these kids with a pathway to a career,” she said.
Holley Scheffel, business programs coordinator for the Bedford Office of Economic Development, helps businesses like Weeks’ connect with DOLI and become youth registered apprenticeships.
“I knew that the governor’s office is supportive of this, and I didn’t want us to be left behind,” she said. “We need to push forward and join this movement, and we want to make sure our businesses are supported in the best capacity that they can be.”
Programs such as these are not an immediate or short-term fix to staffing problems, she said; they’re long-term investments in employees’ futures with the company.
“It’s also an investment from the employee’s standpoint as well,” she said. “They’ve got to complete a certain number of hours, and it’s not for the faint of heart. You’re either in it to go the distance, or you’re in it for short-term employment and then you move on.”
Since February, Fulcher has signed up three additional businesses in Moneta for similar youth registered apprenticeships.
“And it’s been far reaching,” she said. “I’ve gone to multiple other counties and they’re talking about Wicked Diesel, and people are wondering how to set up a program themselves.”
Weeks encourages business owners of all trades to get involved in the program.
“If you want to grow your business and show an investment in kids — because it is concerning that the average age of a trade worker in Virginia is 57 years old — so if we don’t correct it now, we’re going to have major problems in 10 and 15 years.”
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