A collaboration between academia and government is working to recruit and train a younger generation of workers to fill vacancies of retiring baby boomers.
It's estimated that 30 to 50% of the water/wastewater workforce nationwide could retire in the next decade. Locally these positions are in high demand and that is why a pre-apprenticeship program has been developed. Rhodes State College, Ohio Means Jobs Allen County, the City of Lima and Allen County have partnered up to encourage people age 18 to 24 years old to think about taking this "boot camp" style program.
"So it's pretty intense, they'll be going to school for a good part of the day, two days of the week, and then working three days a week at one of the municipalities to get their on the job training," explained Margo Meyer, Workforce Development at Rhodes State College.
"This occupation is in demand, it's very high demand in our local area. Our local communities, our county, our cities, they're in need of wastewater operators and this is the first program locally that we have that can train these individuals and provide them on the career pathway into this occupation," said Jessie Garrity, Ohio Means Jobs Allen County.
There will be an informational session about the pre-apprenticeship program on Wednesday, April 17th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Allen County Sanitary Engineer's Office on North Cole Street. The actual program will run from June 10th to August 16th. Workforce officials say entry-level operator positions can start at $40,000 per year and reach over $100,000 depending on the level of certification and experience.
