Lindsay Blumer, President and CEO of WRTP | BIG STEP, shares why apprenticeship readiness matters now, highlighting how earn-and-learn models create equitable, industry-led pathways while strengthening talent pipelines for both workers and employers.
Podcast Transcript
What could happen if we take our workforce to new heights? Workforce on the Mic, presented by NAWDP, brings you inspirational stories, innovative solutions, and expert insights that are shaping the future of the workforce. Tune in for dynamic conversations that motivate and transform the workforce development community. And now, on to the episode.
Alexis Franks
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, all you workforce warriors across the country. My name is Alexis Franks, and I am your Director of Membership for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals. In today’s episode, we have a powerful conversation about apprenticeship readiness. a model that is opening doors for individuals, strengthening industries, and creating more equitable pathways into high-demand careers. And as apprenticeships continue to demonstrate their power in transforming careers and communities, ensuring individuals are equipped with the confidence and core skills to succeed has never been more essential. So to help us explore this topic, I am thrilled to be joined today by Lindsay Bloomer, President and CEO of WRTP Big Step. Lindsay, welcome to you.
Lindsey Blumer
Thanks so much for having me.
Alexis Franks
Great. And we are actually going to do what we call passing the mic. So we’ll help or just get started by helping our listeners to get to know you a little bit better. So can you start with just briefly introducing yourself, where you are in the country, and a little bit about your role in the mission of Big Step?
Lindsey Blumer
So yeah, I have been president and CEO of WRTP Big Step for five years. That stands for Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, Building Industry Group Skilled Trades Employment Program, but WRTP Big Step is just fine. We are headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, we are a statewide workforce intermediary across the state of Wisconsin. So as President and CEO, my role is to ensure that we have a strategic direction that’s related to apprenticeship readiness, apprenticeship pathways, and working as an intermediary, convening and collaborating with employers, workers, organizations, public institutions, all across the spectrum to ensure that we are industry-led and worker-centered and that there are equitable apprenticeship pathways.
Alexis Franks
So Lindsay, right now we know that Apprenticeship is a big buzzword with all workforce development professionals and programs. And we’re really seeing a big push into how we prepare individuals for our in-demand careers. So why do you think now is the time in today’s climate that apprenticeship readiness programs are so important?
Lindsey Blumer
That’s a great question, and it’s multidimensional as well. So first of all, when we think about apprenticeship, it is the standard of an earn and learn model. So as folks are thinking about where they’re spending their dollars and how they’re achieving their credentials through education, apprenticeship is one pathway that you earn while you learn from day one. You’re able to earn a wage. It is on a scale wage, so the more that you learn, the more that you earn, typically comes with better benefits as well, health benefits, retirement benefits, and offers a chance to really go in depth in that learning while your employer is also able to help you learn, have a scheduled learning environment that is tailored to that particular sector. So it’s a great opportunity to be able to attain your educational goals while also attaining your career goals. Really helps retention. Employers can retain well qualified employees through apprenticeship. It’s a way to have a quality job. When we think about the markers and indicators of a quality job, one of them is continuing education, good pay, good benefits. access to a multitude of opportunities, and those are already ready built into apprenticeship. And then lastly, apprenticeship is a great way to expose lots of different types of careers to youth and adults who are looking for something new. So that especially in apprenticeship readiness, you can try a variety of occupations, a variety of skills. And through apprenticeship readiness, also get a few of those baseline skills that will help launch your career into whatever sector occupation you choose.
Alexis Franks
Lindsay, I think you’ve mentioned a lot just in talking about why apprenticeship is so important today. And we just had a recent conversation with some colleagues and we’re noticing as the cost of living expenses increase, There’s really a push and a demand for us to rethink about how we prioritize education for many individuals. So I’m glad that you mentioned that learn as you earn allows you to continue to support and sustain your lifestyle, your family, while you are continuing to learn a variety of skills. And that is really something even if we have not pushed in local workforce programs at a higher level, now is the time we want to make sure that our customers are successful. So I’m glad you mentioned that. And then that ability to learn a variety of skills. We know that especially for youth, there’s really a change in heart that can happen very quickly when exploring different career paths. So learning that variety of skill set, you can actually transfer some of those skills across different occupations. So just one more benefit. Of course, I’m preaching to the choir here, but all of the benefits of apprenticeship are definitely there. And we know that it can be a little bit scary. I think some individuals and workforce professionals understand there’s kind of a commitment that happens with apprenticeships. And then if you’re not ready for that long-term commitment, we want to help our customers to get there. So if you could, Lindsay, can you talk about how the apprenticeship readiness programs look for a customer and how it really helps them to succeed from start to finish?
Lindsey Blumer
You bring up a really good point, Alexis, that if we’re thinking about are folks ready to go into apprenticeship, it can be a big commitment on both the employer and the worker side. And so when we think about apprenticeship readiness, what we’re really thinking about is not just the competencies and skills necessary to do a particular job, but also if there’s barrier remediation that needs to be done, or there’s also that exploration component, and learning also about things outside of that particular occupation or sector that might be useful to you in them. So there are a variety of ways we can do that when working with the customer, the participant. So we have a variety of programming depending on where folks are in their lives and how much they want to dive in and at what pace. So we offer everything from exploration, so orientations, kind of short-term hands-on experiences, maybe a couple Saturdays a month coming to our training facilities and kind of figuring that out, or going through a tour. For youth, we have big step builders, so again, you can come once a week and just try things out, get feel, meet some people in the field and seeing, you know, what do they do on a daily basis? What do they look like? Do they look like me? Do I feel comfortable? And then we also offer a summer trades academy. So it’s a week long kind of intensive view of many different types of occupations and trades that youth particularly might be interested in. all along learning some hands-on skills. Through those, folks can transition into certified pre-apprenticeship programs. At WRITV Big Step, we have a variety of certified pre-apprenticeships available, and they are offered at a variety of times. So whether it’s in the evenings and weekends, if you’re working a first shift job, it could be a full-time experience for anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks. And then you can also kind of plug and play with some of those. We might offer an entry-level construction certified pre-apprenticeship, plus a CDL Class A licensure. Or you might learn about sewer and water in a particular certified pre-apprenticeship. So you can work in water quality, water testing, brownfield remediation, right? A variety of occupations that you can crosswalk those skills to. So we offer a variety of those certified pre-apprenticeships in construction, manufacturing, and you can pair any of those also with a high school equivalency degree. So it’s a great way to earn a credential and a high school diploma in as little as 16 weeks. And so we do all of those things to ensure that they’re accessible, right, and equitable. But also these are all credentialed. So something we have to do is meet the certified pre-apprenticeship credentialing components for the state of Wisconsin, meaning that you have to meet a basic level of 9 competencies. We have to have letters of recommendation to prove that we have relationships with employers who are ready to hire into apprenticeship. And we also have letters of support from our labor friends, from unions, from community-based organizations, right? So that there are guardrails around this to say we are in fact fulfilling that promise of apprenticeable careers in our certified pre apprenticeship programming. We value this because it’s a way for folks to learn all of those skills prior to signing that apprenticeship contract and saying, yes, this is what I want to do. So you get to try a bunch of things. You get to job shadow, you get to try hands on visit training program, other training programs and see what they have to offer. And it also is a great way sometimes to find out maybe it isn’t for you. You know, it’s not a bad thing. We don’t ever see as a failure or something bad if somebody comes into one of our programming options and says, I harnessed and I got into a lift to try construction and realized I was afraid of heights. Better to do it in an apprenticeship readiness program than probably your first day on the job site as an apprentice. And so one of the ways we do that is through all of those different options. But then we add in digital literacy, financial literacy, remediation. Perhaps we need to reclaim a driver’s license or perhaps we need to think about childcare, housing, transportation, all of those things because being apprenticeship ready is also being work ready.
Alexis Franks
So Lindsay, initially when I found out about Big Step, I think that was the unique thing that I saw is it’s not a pre-apprenticeship and someone had to correct me on this and I’m glad they did. But it’s really that pre-step to that pre-apprenticeship to say, am I ready to make any type of investment into a certain occupation? Do I have the skills needed and the confidence needed to move forward and be successful? And I thought that was so unique that before you’d make any first step, let’s make sure you have the confidence to get what you need. So I’m so glad you took the time to kind of help us understand the differences there and the steps that can lead up to actually becoming an apprentice, that’s great. I think it’s something that really will help to support young people and adults, especially with the digital literacy and financial literacy pieces. We’re really setting up individuals for success. And I’m sure that you’ve seen that in Big Step there in Wisconsin as well. You talked a little bit about what those employer relationships look like for apprentices. We know that That’s a big piece of apprenticeship and can also be a little bit scary as an investment for an employer. What does that look like as you’re developing those partnerships in your local states and communities?
Lindsey Blumer
So you’re spot on that when we think about all the employers that have apprenticeable occupations, they can be on a spectrum anywhere from we’re not sure, we don’t know a lot about apprenticeship to we have a few and we’re kind of more curious on expansion and those who are doing apprenticeship but wanna know how to scale it even further or get more candidates into their apprenticeship programs. And so when we talk with employers, we first kind of do a quick assessment on that of where do you fall on that spectrum and what is the customized solution that works for you as an employer. Apprenticeship isn’t a one-size-fits-all either, and that’s okay. And a lot of employers are happy to hear that as well, that there are some customizable components, not all of it. Of course, we want people to get a wide breadth of experience, but we do want them to have in-depth experience in certain areas, and so it can have some customizable options. We also talk about what is the return on investment of apprenticeship. A lot of folks might say it’s too expensive or I’m not sure I’m going to see a return on this or what types of candidates might I get? And so we talk through all of those things, whether it’s the types of candidates. So we always say going through a certified pre-apprenticeship program is a great indicator that somebody is ready to go into an apprenticeship program and that we can partner with employers to ensure that you have that talent development pipeline that is ready. Another thing is that return on investment And that’s where we talk about when you think about the recruitment for a position in your company or in your organization, how much is the cost for the outreach, the recruitment, the hiring, the onboarding, and then the continuing education for that person or the training for that person? You may already be spending much more than an apprenticeship program on some of those things. And if it’s with apprenticeship, since we see better retention outcomes, you may be losing that person after a year, three years, five years. Whereas with apprenticeship, we tend to see people stay much longer with companies because they feel like they’re invested in, and they are, right? You’re investing that money and those resources in an employee that you believe in, and the employee believes in that company. So we hit all of those things with each employer and talk through what their issues they’re facing and learn from them. You know, I think it’s really a mutually beneficial conversation so that we can better understand what are the labor needs for an organization and what are the worker needs in order to be part of that organization.
Alexis Franks
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that does help to support the employer and how they’re able to give back to their communities and how they’re able to expand their operations. And as you mentioned, just build that talent pipeline to continue the work that they’re doing as well. And that is an important part, I think, that for workforce professionals, making that connection for the person to an employer sponsor and what that looks like can be really an intricate piece of that step in the apprenticeship programs. But that means that it’s important for us as professionals to have those employer and industry partners. And that is another critical piece in where we are with all workforce programs right now. Would you mind, Lindsay, if you have successes that you’d like to share, just one maybe if you have something that’s at the forefront of your mind that we can really help to understand for our listeners the impact of what apprenticeship readiness looks like?
Lindsey Blumer
So there’s so many and so many people and so many stories I could share with you. But I think, you know, top of mind, we recently celebrated 50 years as an organization and we are so proud of that milestone. And part of that was bringing together alum, alumni, graduates, and also current students and celebrating the work we do, all of the great success stories. So it’s really top of mind now. And I think, you know, this organization was started by the first black apprentice in the state of Wisconsin 50 years ago, and really thought about how can we ensure that we have a diverse talent pipeline of apprentices in Wisconsin. And as the first state to have apprenticeship, which started in 1911, Wisconsin has a strong tradition of that as well. And so, you know, I always say we’re standing on the shoulders of giants who really had the foresight to think about how do we make these apprenticeship pathways accessible to every Wisconsinite? And so lately, you know, I’ve been able to witness through our entry-level construction sewer water cohorts, which we do in conjunction with a local technical college as well. So participants aren’t only just getting their certified pre-apprenticeship credential, they’re also earning some technical college credits toward their associate’s degree. And then we work with a local employer that is doing wastewater reclamation and water quality testing. And so we’ve had a few graduates now start some positions there starting almost $30 an hour with benefits out of those programs, and feeling so confident, having a few college credits under their belt as well, knowing that they could always go back right and continue to that earn and learn model and contributing toward more educational milestones as well as their career milestones. We recently had just started our she drives the future cohort. So it’s our first all female Cdl cohort. Wisconsin’s gonna need almost 6,000 Cdl drivers in the next 2 years. to backfill retirements. And so this all female cohort just started and they’re getting their class A licensure in order to, you know, work in the trades or, you know, work in CDL occupations across Wisconsin. And some of the stories are just fantastic, hearing how much confidence, how much power they feel, but then also that their potential to earn went from, you know, $15, $20 an hour, now up to 30, 35, 40, $50 an hour because of this particular credential and licensure. I think the excitement I hear saying, I’m supporting my family. I have this independent career. And once you have that licensure, nobody can take that away from you, right? That’s something that’s inherent. So those are the ones top of mind recently that we celebrated, and I’m really excited to share with you too.
Alexis Franks
Congratulations. That is huge. And talk about legacy of impact. I didn’t realize the history of WRTP and all of the work that has gone into really building a network and a state support of apprenticeship. So that is huge. And I’m looking forward to hearing more success about She Drives the Future. That is huge as well. And we’re hoping for the best success for you all in Wisconsin. And Lindsay, I just have one more question for you today. I didn’t want to take up too much of your time, but we always try to leave all of our listeners with something that they can take back to their local programs. So if you can, what is one thing that you wish more people understood about apprenticeship readiness?
Lindsey Blumer
The level of collaboration that it takes to ensure that apprenticeship readiness happens in a way that leads to a career is intense. It’s far reaching. but it is well worth the investment. So we have a sectoral partnership model that we follow, and this is anywhere from community-based organizations, municipalities, elected officials, technical and community colleges, our WIOA system, our workforce boards, our labor partners, right? And when we put it in a diagram, we realized that, you know, when we think about all of these partners as spokes, that tent, the wheel, whatever metaphor you want to use, is large and it needs to be. We’re not in competition with any other program, with any workforce board, with any other workforce development professionals. In fact, the more folks we can have as part of this model, the more power we have to be able to serve folks where they’re at and get them to the career of their choice. And it’s going to take probably all of us to do that. And I’m most excited to share the piece of advice that sometimes we become siloed or we think, oh, we’ll do this part and somebody else will do this part, and then they’ll do this part. When in reality, as a worker, as all of us have faced, what is my work life going to be? We don’t always know what happens on the backend. And sometimes we don’t really need to know what happened, all of that on the backend, because we need to get from point A to point B, and we’re probably going to take all kinds of routes. I know I did. I know most people take all kinds of routes to get there, but to have that large of a group behind somebody saying, whatever path that is, and no matter how windy it is, we’re going to get to that career with you and be with you every step of the way.
Alexis Franks
Wow. I think that is definitely something that everyone can take away from our conversation today. And here on Workforce on the Mic, we do typically have mic drop moments. So you’ve given us a couple for our episode today, but intense collaboration. If we thought we were collaborating at any kind of level in our programs, it’s definitely time to take it to the next level, especially when talking about apprenticeships. and expanding and bringing everyone as many as possible to the table without competition. That is huge. Hopefully everyone can take that away from today’s episode. And Lindsay, thank you so much for the time that you’ve taken today to share about the impact of apprenticeship readiness and what that looks like. We appreciate the work that you are doing locally in Wisconsin and hope to be able to explore and get to interact and connect further with you all. For any of our listeners that are joining with us today, what would be the best way for them to learn a little bit more about Big Step? How would they be able to professionally connect with you?
Lindsey Blumer
The best way is to go to our website, wrtp.org. On there, you’ll find access to all of our socials. We’re very active on social media. So you can see all of our success stories in real time as well and find out more about some of our niche kind of initiatives that we’re starting or that we have in progress. You can also learn more about our students, our alumni, and even our 50th anniversary event that we had, see some of our employer partners who said some very kind things about us as well. We’re also an apprenticeship ambassador with the Department of Labor, so you can see some of our work around being that ambassador role here in Wisconsin as well. And from there, you can connect with any of our staff members as well. We’re all on there. So depending on your interests, you can always connect with them directly.
Alexis Franks
Great, great. Well, thank you again so much for joining us today, and we look forward to connecting again in the future.
Lindsey Blumer
Likewise, thanks for having me.
Alexis Franks
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Conclusion
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