Are you looking to hire in 2012 but want to give something
back to the industry as well? CompTIA’s Creating IT Futures Foundation is
looking for a few good VARs to volunteer for its IT-Ready Apprentice Program.
The program, announced
in fall 2011, provides employers with IT-Ready Apprentices who have been
trained by CompTIA and have earned a CompTIA A+ certification which qualifies
them for most entry-level help-desk, call center and technical customer support
roles.
“IT-Ready Apprentices are not college interns. They’ve been
trained to do the real work that earns your company profit,” the organization
said. Participating VARs will be asked to bring the apprentice onto the payroll
for a period of about six months and pay a flat rate of about $15 per hour,
depending on the geographic location. They must also provide an on-site mentor
who is not the employee’s supervisor.
The apprenticeship program will launch in Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Minneapolis and San Antonio, with the first
wave of apprentices starting work as early as June 2012.
“We want to make philanthropy part of the membership benefit of belonging
to CompTIA,” Creating IT Futures spokesman Eric Larson told Channel Insider.