Apprenticeship Programs: The Key to Recruiting & Hiring Diverse Talent
How can HR professionals help recruit and hire diverse talent? When designed to be inclusive, an apprenticeship program can build a pipeline of skilled talent and support companies in achieving their diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility goals. Designing apprenticeship programs that are inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities can expand opportunities to recruit and hire diverse candidates, more broadly, including people of all races, veterans, women, returning citizens, and more. HR professionals can play a vital role in building apprenticeship programs that help achieve these outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how inclusive apprenticeship programs can support companies’ recruitment and hiring efforts, particularly of individuals from underrepresented and underserved communities, and how they can help address talent needs and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility goals.
- Learn how inclusive apprenticeship programs can benefit their companies ROI and how to advocate for the development of inclusive apprenticeship programs in their companies.
- Get the resources they need to begin the process of establishing inclusive apprenticeship programs and building partnerships to ensure success.
Josh Christianson
Josh Christianson is Project Director for the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship (PIA) where he leads efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce through apprenticeship. Josh has extensive experience in supporting the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts of non-profit organizations, private companies, and government agencies.
He is the former director of the Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT), where he built cross-sector partnerships to shape the policies and practices contributing to the development of accessible emerging technologies in the workplace.
Before coming to PEAT Josh was a Senior Consultant at Deloitte where he provided talent strategies, change management, and leadership development support to federal agencies.
Prior to Deloitte he spent several years with The Posse Foundation as the Career Program Manager where he cultivated relationships with companies and organizations to provide career development opportunities for Posse Scholars and Alumni.
Mary Wright
Mary V. L. Wright leads one of the SHRM Foundation’s four pillars of work: Skill Building - Preparing People for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Workplaces. A critical part of that effort is leading the implementation of the US DOL funded HR Registered Apprenticeship Program, the first national HR apprenticeship program. As such, she is responsible for all parts of the program – development, marketing, sales, budget and evaluation. In addition, she leads the Foundation’s work on the role of credentials in achieving an organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals and is an integral part of the team in promoting the inclusion of untapped talent in the workforce.
Ms. Wright has many years of experience connecting the public and private sectors in municipal finance, government affairs, and workforce development as a project leader, facilitator and subject matter expert.
Previously, Ms. Wright was a director at Jobs for the Future (JFF) where she designed and supervised the completion of foundation, government and employer-funded projects on topics including: expanding employability skills, developing apprenticeship and work-based learning strategies, utilizing labor market information to determine educational focus, better hiring and training practices for people with disabilities, improving entry level jobs for the retail sector, determining the correct educational focus for specific geographic areas including the state of Florida and Columbus Ohio, and an in-depth analysis of green infrastructure jobs.
Prior to joining JFF, she served as director at The Conference Board in New York City, driving its work in workforce readiness, business, and education partnerships. She also focused on improving the employment outcomes for people with disabilities through research and convenings. Ms. Wright co-authored or acted as project director on several key Conference Board reports regarding workforce readiness skills, including Are They Really Ready to Work? and The Ill-Prepared Workforce.
She serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Work & the Economy and the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation.
Ms. Wright received a Master of Business Administration in public/nonprofit management from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Affairs from Connecticut College.