Speakers: Earl Kelly, Owner, EK3 Technologies
Earl Kelly: I'm Earl Kelly Owner and Founder of EK3 Technologies.
Why did you decide to engage in an apprenticeship program?
Earl Kelly: We partnered with ACI And their apprenticeship program because we noticed that candidates that were coming to us off the street did not have a basic set of skills in order to accomplish the positions that we had available. ACI gives us the gives us a path to accept candidates who already have passed certain skill sets, but don't necessarily have experience and were able to give them that experience while building on the skill sets that they learned at ACI.
How has the apprenticeship contributed to your company’s success, productivity, or retention?
Earl Kelly: Working with ACI and the apprenticeship program, it's very easy to get the skill set that we need, but more importantly, the current apprentices talk with the current classes and discuss what it's like to work with us, and so we have a backlog if you will of people that want to work with us now and because they understand what our culture is and because they want that experience that they have,
How has the apprenticeship supported other company initiatives, i.e. diversity, equity and inclusion or other veteran initiatives?
Earl Kelly: The apprenticeship program has also helped us to support some initiatives that are near and dear to my heart. While I'm not a veteran, I understand the needs of veterans and veterans that are coming out of the service, and I'm happy to report that we hire, except for myself, we hire 100% veterans, and using ACI has helped us to reach those initiatives.
Would you recommend an apprenticeship program through ACI Learning?
Earl Kelly: I would highly recommend and have highly recommended to other companies who are looking to get quality candidates for basic job level openings to go through ACI and talk with ACI and see who they have available. Their staff works diligently to be a liaison between you and the students. The students that I've gotten from ACI in our apprenticeship program have been excellent, And we actually haven't rejected any of them. And when I say rejected, you know when you start with an apprentice, there's a or a new employee, there's a there's a 90 day you know, getting to know you phase. I can say that we have we've got a probably 60% chance of a employee off the street staying with us through the 90 days, but 100% chance if going with ACI. And I think that that says a lot about the quality of people that ACI sends you as well as the caliber of people that ACI sent you.
