Some office administrators could increase their wages by 30 percent to 50 percent by moving to an IT position, said Sarah McGinn, who works on Local 1000’s apprenticeship programs.
“It’s a promising occupation,” McGinn said.
The union is coordinating the apprenticeship program along with seven state agencies and departments through a half-million dollar grant from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, she said.
Any state worker in the seven agencies and departments can apply, likely starting this winter, for a 12- to 18-month program that will begin in the spring, McGinn said.
No IT experience is required.
At least 25 applicants will be selected. Those selected will go through a training course developed by IBM that is aimed at qualifying them for IT associate and IT specialist jobs in the state.
IT associates make from about $50,000 per year to about $85,000 per year, while specialists make from $65,000 to around $105,000, McGinn said.
“The reason they’re being recruited is the difficulty finding people with these special skills,” she said.
In 2017, California state government had a 14 percent vacancy rate for IT jobs, according to the latest CalHR figures. The state had 9,150 IT positions and 1,284 were vacant
During the apprenticeship, program participants will work in IT roles under a training and development assignment, retaining their job titles and pay through the training. Participants also will do coursework through American River College, McGinn said.
The seven eligible agencies are the Government Operations Agency, Employment Development Department, Labor and Workforce Development Agency, Department of Technology, Franchise Tax Board, Department of Industrial Relations and Department of Motor Vehicles.
McGinn said Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker had the idea to launch apprenticeship programs in 2016, offering administrative and miscellaneous workers the kind of advancement opportunities that traditionally have been more common at trade unions.
McGinn said more information, including details of the application process, will be posted on seiu1000.org/grow.
©2019 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
