Dave Dacquino, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Serco Inc. and 2014 Wash100 Award recipient, and Doug Wagoner, president and CEO of LMI, have announced a challenge for fellow CEOs in the government contracting (GovCon) sector.
Dacquino and Wagoner co-authored a letter on Monday, along with Chris Brady of GDMS and Haywood Talcove of LexisNexis Special Services, who are both 2020 Wash100 Award recipients.
The letter urges notable leaders in the industry to participate in the Department of Labor’s Veteran Apprenticeship Pilot Program. The program aims to hire transitioning service members (TSMs). The two have aimed to have at least 200 veterans hired through the Apprentice Program.
The program will enable TSMs to leverage military technical skills and adapt them to the needs of civilian workplace through paid on-the-job training. DOL’s program builds upon the department’s efforts to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities and secure careers.
As part of the pilot, DOL has an apprenticeship program which has a team of apprenticeship placement counselors to provide one on one assistance to TSMs and spouses with finding and applying to apprenticeship programs.
To support this effort, your company can join the network of apprenticeship employers by providing industry-driven, high-quality career pathways to the TSMs and spouses. If you are interested in this DOL program, please either contact the apprenticeship pilot team at VETSapprenticeship@dol.gov or Michael.H.Anderson@serco-na.com.
The full contents of the outreach letter can be found below:
GovConExec CEOs CHALLENGE – SIGN UP YOUR COMPANY FOR VETERANS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
Having recently honored our veterans during Veterans Day, we are asking for your company’s support for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Apprenticeship Pilot Program that assists transitioning veterans with joining the civilian workforce. As CEOs, we see this as a great program to find talented and mature employees and to support our commitment as employers and fellow Americans to employ our Veterans. We are challenging GovConExec CEOs to commit to hiring transitioning service members through this Apprenticeship Program. It is our goal to have at least 200 veterans hired through the Apprentice Program by GovConExec companies.
The DOL Apprenticeship Program creates pathways into high-quality civilian careers for transitioning service members (TSMs) of the military. The program allows TSMs to take the technical skills they learned while in the military and adapt them to the needs of civilian workplace through paid on-the-job training. This pilot builds upon the DOL efforts to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities to help more Americans secure meaningful careers.
As part of the pilot, DOL has an apprenticeship program which has a team of apprenticeship placement counselors to provide one on one assistance to transitioning service members and spouses with finding and applying to apprenticeship programs. The program is embedded at eight military installations. The apprenticeship placement counselors work in conjunction with employers to identify suitable apprenticeship opportunities across the United States.
Your company can join the network of apprenticeship employers by offering your industry-driven, high-quality career pathway to the transitioning service members and spouses. The transitioning military community boasts a proven strong work ethic, retention rates that out-perform those of their civilian counterparts and can diversify your workforce and enhance your workplace culture.
Already, over 100 companies have signed up to offer apprenticeship programs with great success. We encourage you to participate in this increasingly important program. The process is flexible and can be tailored to your exact hiring needs. For example, Amazon’s Software Development Engineer Apprentice to learn the latest cloud computing technologies, Lockheed Martin’s Engineering apprenticeship, Wells Fargo Business Support Consultant Military Apprentice for introduction into the financial market, DCI Technology Solutions’ apprenticeship for digital marketing, Excel Electric’s electrician apprenticeship, and Calibre Systems’ automotive technician apprenticeship.
For filling your IT career positions, there is a new program from SkillStorm to train and provide IT professionals at all levels. The SkillStorm training program has hundreds of veterans interested in joining the program – you only need to commit to a number of openings you wish to fill and identify the specific IT skills desired.
This program enables transitioning service members, spouses as well as current veterans to start working in Level 1 helpdesk roles after 4 weeks of training, and through the training and mentorship program which runs for 3 years, achieve a technology certification in enterprise level software applications at the end of the year 3 period. For more information on the innovative SkillStorm IT apprenticeship program, please reach out to Rick Dunham at RDunham@skillstorm.com.
GovConExec will publicly acknowledge your support of our veterans and their spouses if, by the end of the year, you commit to hiring veterans through an apprenticeship program.
We want to thank you for your interest and commitment to serving those that have selflessly served our country.
David J. Dacquino Haywood Talcove
Chairman and CEO CEO
Serco, Inc. LexisNexis Special Services Inc.
Chris Brady Doug Wagoner
President President and CEO
General Dynamics Mission Systems LMI
