Apprenticeship Program Builds A Skilled Workforce

The Texas A&M University Physical Plant Department has openings in its technical trades apprenticeship program. Applications are being accepted through June 30.

Officials with the program, which is registered with the Department of Labor, say the apprenticeship program has become one of the primary means of training individuals to work for the Physical Plant Department as skilled technicians in the building and utilities trades.

Jim Thomas, training manager for the department, says for the past 30 years the apprenticeship program has been a training ground for individuals who want to pursue a technical career in one of the 16 trades offered through the program.

Those who qualify spend three to four years working with master- and journey- level instructors, he explains. The program allows them to earn a salary while combining on-the-job training with academic study to become journey-level plumbers, electricians and utilities-line technicians.

Because the apprentices are also full-time employees of the university, Thomas says they have all the same benefits as other university employees. These include paid sick leave, paid vacation and medical benefits.