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The basics:

• 4,000+ professionals support NJ vocational school programs
• Employers provide tools, mentorship and internships
• Programs help students gain real-world skills and job access

Every employer has a wish list of the skills new hires should possess. Rather than hope the right candidates come along, why not help train them?

That’s what PSEG Nuclear did nearly 30 years ago when the company partnered with Salem County Vocational Technical Schools to develop the Academy for Energy Applications. Launched in 2007, the highly specialized career program has been invaluable in terms of the number of students trained to fill in-demand roles across PSEG Nuclear.

Representatives from PSEG Nuclear are among the nearly 4,000 professionals partnering with New Jersey county vocational-technical schools to help prepare the next generation to enter their respective industries. They are sharing their “wish lists” with the schools and offering their insight on how to help students hone the technical and professional skills on the lists.

Most employers initially get involved by serving on an advisory committee. New Jersey’s 21 county vocational-technical schools form advisory committees to guide every career program offered, meaning they seek expertise in just about every industry from automotive to computer science and health care — and everything in between. Members of advisory committees may review curriculum, or the technology incorporated into a career classroom to ensure students’ training remains relevant, especially as industry standards change.

Business and professional partners can expand their levels of involvement to offer hands-on learning experiences for students both in the classroom and the workplace. Some partnerships lead to more structured workplace learning opportunities, during which students spend extended periods of time learning directly from the employer partner.

Streamlined process

County vocational-technical schools recruit partners through local connections, but the schools always have a need for additional businesses and industry experts to contribute to career programs. The New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools makes it easy to connect interested partners with their local schools and career programs.

Visit careertechnj.org, and click on “Employers” and then “Become an Employer Partner” to complete a form indicating industry sector, workforce concerns, partnership interests and more. The Council then helps direct interested partners to the designated school and career program contact to discuss available opportunities.

Opportunities for employer partnerships vary and include:

• Advisory Committee participation
• Donation of equipment or supplies for hands-on learning
• Mentorship for projects or skills-based competitions
• Guest speaker
• Host for internships or other work-based learning experiences
• Teacher training
• Apprenticeship
• Interview preparation for students
• Hiring students and/or graduates for part- and full-time employment

Business Partner of the Year

At the end of every year, the 21 county vocational-technical school districts each select a “Business Partner of the Year” to highlight the impact made by one employer partner. The annual campaign showcases the range of opportunities and levels of involvement sought, with the overall goal of growing participation and bolstering the workforce pipeline in New Jersey.

The list of Business Partners of the Year spans small, family-owned businesses to large global corporations. Past winners successfully customized their partnerships based on both their needs as employers and the needs of the vocational-technical school programs.

A recent example of a partnership that developed out of a very specific employer need is one between Cooper University Health Care, based in Camden, and Camden County Technical Schools. Cooper welcomes students from the CCTS Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning program for work-based learning. The program is unique in that students gain important knowledge and training in a highly specific setting, where HVAC systems are critical to maintaining a desirable environment for employees, patients and equipment. Cooper hopes that the interactions – especially during the work-based learning – lead CCTS students to seek full-time employment with the hospital system.

Filling a need

“We see each partnership as a win for the employers, the schools and, most importantly, the students who are gaining necessary skills and making connections that will help them achieve future success,” said James Pedersen, superintendent of Essex County Schools of Technology and past president of NJCCVTS.

An example of a partnership that is a win for even the community at large involves Pedersen’s district, which acquired a life-sized ambulance simulator to train Essex County Newark Tech students as emergency medical technicians. The school works closely with RWJBarnabas Health and University Hospital to give students access to emergency rooms, where they can fulfill clinical requirements needed to become EMTs. It also has a partnership with Hackensack Meridian Health, where students obtain EMT training for certification.

Students gain an introduction to health care careers, connect with mentors in the field, and receive training necessary to obtain certification and work as an EMT. The community gains additional first responders prepared to help in an emergency.

“It is our ultimate mission that the EMT program not only fulfills a current demand in health care but helps cultivate a pipeline of professionals entering health-related fields in Essex County and the state of New Jersey,” added Cathleen DelaPaz, director of Career and Technical Education and Academies for ECST.

Companies like PSEG Nuclear are among the partners who took the ultimate initiative to get involved. They helped develop the career programs they now continue to support.

“We are so appreciative of the partnership with PSEG Nuclear that we have cultivated and grown over the years,” said Jason Helder, principal of SCVTS. “The company’s commitment to career and technical education and the assistance provided through curriculum guidance, donated tools and more have enabled us to offer the Academy for Energy Applications to our students, which is unique to Salem County.”

In the fall of 2020, Ocean County Vocational Technical School launched a Heavy Equipment Operator Program to address a regional workforce development need. The support from local employers Michael Earle, president of Earle Residential-Commercial, and Thomas Eosso, president and project manager of Eosso Brothers Paving, was invaluable throughout the program development and has continued.

Earle was an initial supporter of HEOP at OCVTS, providing a match for grants that helped get the program off the ground with the purchase of simulators for early training. Eosso Brothers donated a skid steer and roller to support the practical, hands-on component of the program.

“These kids have an edge, so we want to invest in them,” said Eosso. “Our mindset is that we give them a good, valuable experience and they will stay with us.”

Jackie Burke is executive director of the New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools.