(Radio Iowa) – More businesses are turning to apprenticeships as a way to find workers in a very tight job market in the state. Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend says the program at Broadlawns Hospital in Des Moines is a good example of that. “I think registered apprenticeship has been historically, the model of workforce training for centuries and Broadlawns is a great example of an employer who you wouldn’t think traditionally would use registered apprenticeship model, because it’s generally in the construction and trades,” Townsend says. She says it helps people enter the workforce quicker with less expenses. “You have a job while you’re doing your training, so you’re the work that you’re doing is helping you earn a credential and is moving you into that skilled worker area,” she says.

Townsend says the businesses that start the apprenticeship programs find it pays off. “You know, 85 to 90 percent of apprentices generally end up getting hired by the employer that trained them once their apprenticeship is completed. So it’s a really good way to build, you know, not only skilled workforce, but a skilled workforce for you specifically,” Townsend says. That also means those students are staying in the state. Townsend says the teacher para-educator apprenticeship is another example. “And that’s a completely nontraditional occupation. You know, teachers, generally, you don’t associate them with a registered apprenticeship program, but, when you think about it, they’re actually working for the school while they’re going to college and they’re getting their degree, but they’re in the classroom and they’re working with students, not just the one semester of student teaching that you normally see at the end,” she says.

Townsend says the apprenticeship can help students decide their future early on. “People who’ve gone through education get to the student teaching and are like, oh, wait a minute, this is not what I thought it would be, and I don’t want to do this. Well, that’s the beauty of apprenticeship, is you’re trying on these occupations before you get too far down the road, and you can figure out whether you want to stay in the field or not,” Townsend says.