STARTING A STUDENT CO-OP PROGRAM IS A GREAT WAY TO BUILD A PIPELINE OF SKILLED TALENT. HERE’S WHY.
An innovative recruiting strategy is critical for bringing the right skilled talent into your pipeline. And successful companies are always on the lookout for ways to find talented trades workers.
You likely know better than anyone that a large portion of trades workers in the field are fast approaching retirement age. This means that a new generation of skilled labor is needed to fill their roles.
So where is this generation going to come from? How are we going to connect with it? And, perhaps most importantly, how can employers help this generation to advance in their field? Starting or partnering with a student co-op is a promising way to achieve this while building a strong pipeline of talent for the future.
A PIPELINE OF TALENT
One way to prepare students to fill these roles is by partnering with or starting a co-op program. Through a co-op program, students can spend their time half in the workshop learning and half in the field, working. This means that, by the end of the program, you’ve got a young experienced cohort of talent.
The incentive for a student to participate in a co-op is obvious. They get this hands-on experience while completing their education. Not to mention, they can develop a relationship with a great employer: you.
EMPLOYER BENEFITS OF A CO-OP
And the employer benefits of creating or partnering with a co-op program are many:
- A strong pipeline of young, well-trained trades workers.
- Specialized prospects. Co-op programs give employers an opportunity to develop talent strategically to meet their company’s need. Training students to specialize on specific facets of your business’s operations means money and time saved spent training new hires.
- A longer training period. Co-ops typically last much longer than internships. So the student’s progress and development can be overseen for two or three years. This allows you to gauge their character and work ethic and determine if they will are an ideal fit.
- Making a contribution. Knowing that you are helping the next generation of trade workers succeed is just about good enough a reason to start a co-op program as any.
(stay tuned for part 2 of this blog series)
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