GACCs
Skills Update
April 2019
Hire, hire, hire - Recruiting Season for ICATT Companies!
Spring is hiring season and we are happy to announce that the first offer letter for the 2019 fall cohort has been signed. Our Outreach Team is keeping busy to get the word out about the great opportunities our apprenticeship programs provide, and we would like your help: Contact your GACC/ICATT representative to discuss how we can leverage each other's marketing efforts.
 
Whether you’re joining one of our clusters, or we’re helping you set up and certify your own program, the next few months will be busy! Here’s what you can look forward to:



  • April 2019: Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting
  • May 2019: Window of opportunity closes for reaching high school graduates
  • May 7-10, 2019: Train the Trainer, Michigan
  • May/June 2019: Apprentices begin trial employment period (recommended)
  • June 30, 2019: Deadline for new companies to join ICATT for the fall 2019 cohort
  • July 2019: Apprentice offer letters signed
  • August 2019: ICATT signing days at colleges; semester begins
  • September 5, 2019: Graduation of second ICATT cohort

Kind regards,

Virginia Attaway Rounds
Director, Skills Initiative & ICATT Apprenticeship Program
Top 3 Tips for Your Recruiting
In addition to tax season, spring starts the fall recruiting season. For the first five months of the new year, the ICATT Outreach Team spends nearly 80% of its time talking to classes, at career or in one-on-one consultations with students, educators and parents around the ICATT Network areas. Teaming up with local network companies on those occasions results in an increase in interest among students.


As the season continues and candidate lists are sent out, please remember the following:
 
1)    These candidates are often highly sought-after and have other options on the table outside of the ICATT Program.
 
2)     Once you receive the candidate list from ICATT, please reach out to potential fits ASAP! We tell all candidates they can expect correspondence within two weeks of their name being sent out. We’ve found their interest drops significantly after that time.
 
3)     Keep ICATT in the loop about who you interview and who you sign on. Candidates who fail to reply to three interview requests will be removed from the candidate pool.
 
The ICATT Outreach Team encourages companies to join them on outreach events in their area . Recruiting potential candidates is much more effective when students can interact with the companies that are hiring .
 
For further information please contact Ian Duncan or call (312) 561-9794.
Welcome Our New Network Companies
Borbet , a company from Germany's Sauerland region, is a worldwide leader in the manufacture of light alloy wheels. Today the Borbet Group has more than 4,800 employees at 9 locations on 3 continents and sells more than 19MM wheels per year to the automotive industry. The plant in Auburn, AL, will be the industrial leader of a new apprenticeship program that will train Mechatronic Engineers.
 
BORBET stands for impeccable quality, innovative technologies and pioneering design for the automotive industry and specialty retail. At the same time, the company still considers itself a family , with unbounded passion for its craft, deep affinity to its roots, and the goal of always giving the best for its customers.
LINDE + WIEMANN , based in Dillenburg, Germany, is a leading supplier of lightweight structural and safety components to the global automotive industry. The company will lead the new Mechatronics Technician cluster in Lavonia, Georgia.
 
LINDE + WIEMANN is well-known for quality, famous for lateral thinking and appreciated for values. As an owner-managed company, LINDE + WIEMANN is a partner to the international automotive industry and has supplied global vehicle manufacturers and suppliers with relevant structural components and groups for more than 70 years. With over 2,300 employees, it is represented worldwide in 17 locations in the production of Global Automotive Alliance partners in America and Asia.

For further information, please contact Nicole Heimann or call (404) 586-6829.
Meet ICATT Network Companies and Director Virginia Rounds in Indianapolis and Chicago
On April 11, Virginia will moderate a panel as part of the Indiana-German Business Conference Workforce and Skills Initiatives Panel   on the topic of skilled workforce and apprenticeships. One of the featured panelists will be Robert Head of ICATT Network Company Endress + Hauser. Registrations still open, use discount code Wunderbar2019.
 
On April 26, ICATT Network Companies Richard Wolf Medical Instruments and The Diemasters will be a part of a panel discussion of the World Future Forum in Chicago , discussing the big picture of skills that employers need. Virginia will moderate this panel as well. 

For further information please contact Virginia Rounds or call (312) 494-2163.
New ICATT College: Welcome to Parkland College, IL
Parkland College is a two-year community college in Champaign, Illinois which enrolls approximately 20,000 students annually. The Community College District includes parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, Moultrie, McLean, Piatt, and Vermilion Counties.
 
Parkland's Agriculture/Engineering Science & Technologies Department helps to turn curiosity in automation, automotive engineering, construction and maintenance into careers.

For further information please contact Joshua Seeberg or call (312) 494-2170.
Train the Trainer Seminar: May 7-10 Northville, MI
We offer an additional Train the Trainer seminar for MAT² companies and other interested parties May 7-10 in Northville, MI.
 
The seminar will give trainers the tools to communicate effectively with their apprentices and pass on their skills and knowledge. This seminar will result in an international certification based on German standards.

WHEN:
May 7-10, 2019

WHERE:
ZF North America, Inc.
15811 Centennial Dr | Room B-112
Northville, MI 48168

SEMINAR FEE:
$895 per person for MAT² employers with a current apprentice or reservation form for 2019
$1250 for all other participants

Please contact Bernadette Duncan or call (586) 321-4889 if you are interested in participating in seminars in Michigan.
Recap: MAT² Interview Day March 16, Dearborn, MI
Approximately 70 students participated in the MAT² Interview Day held at Henry Ford Community College. Every student was able to meet with any number of employers to try to secure the opportunity for a more in-depth interview. At the end of the day, the employers were impressed with the amount of potential talent that was gathered for this event. 

For further information, please contact Bernadette Duncan.
Recap: Skills Director speaks at German American Business Summit
In February , the College of Charleston’s German Program and GACC South presented the third German-American Business Summit in Charleston, South Carolina. The event focused on statewide and regional workforce needs and innovation in German-American industry.
 
Our skills director in the South, Nicole Heimann, discussed the challenges facing German - American industries. Heimann pointed out that lack of talent is a large issue for more than 89% of companies in the US. She also called attention to the opportunity to fill open positions in the industry 4.0 sector by establishing industry - driven career programs like those offered by the German American Chambers.

The panel “Future of German American Industry” was moderated by Michael Graney, Vice President of Global Business Development at the Charleston Regional Development Alliance

For further information please contact Nicole Heimann or call +1 (404) 586-6829.
Recap: Employability (Made) in Germany
The first of five Employability (Made) In Germany events was launched on January 30 by UAS7 at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) as part of Deutschlandjahr USA. This series aims to showcase Germany as one of the leading countries in the fields of university-industry collaborations, dual-study programs, apprenticeships, and educational concepts of applied teaching and research.
 
The panel, which was moderated by GACC South’s Skills Initiative Director Nicole Heimann, was a great chance for the 50 attendees to learn more about opportunities to study, research and work in Germany and at US-based German companies. The panel was kicked off with an introduction by UAH’s Dean of the Graduate School David Berkowitz, Michael Johnson, Germany’s Honorary Consul General in Alabama, and Patrizia Nobbe, Director of the UAS7 Liaison Office in New York. Panelists joined from Hochschule Bremen City University of Applied Science, as well as from RadioBro Corp., BOCAR US, Rehau Automotive and abatADAH Group.


For further information please contact Nicole Heimann or call (404) 586-6829.
Recap: State Senate of Georgia recognizes GACC South and partners for high school apprenticeship program
In 2016, stakeholders and shareholders in Atlanta launched a high school apprenticeship program. The program starts in 10th grade , and apprentices graduate with their high school diploma, an associate degree, and an internationally-recognized German certificate. Since the program began, more than 25 companies have joined and the program continues to grow each year.

In March, the Georgia State Senate officially recognized not only our Skills Director Nicole Heimann, but also companies such as EGO North America and Grenzebach as well as Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Technical College System of Georgia for their efforts to build talent with this industry - driven program. Josiah Henderson, Levi Cole and Cole Henderson also received special mention - they successfully completed their Final Exam Part 1 last year , and are now working towards the Final Exam Part 2. They are the first high school students in the US to ever take and pass the GACC Exams


For further information please contact Nicole Heimann or call (404) 586-6829.
Open Positions: Join our Skills Initiative Teams across the US
GACC Midwest is looking for two new team members: 

  • Consultant, Michigan Office; located in our Detroit, MI office, the consultant will support a wide range of projects and initiatives that promote bilateral trade and investment between Germany and the US.

  • Company Outreach Manager, MAT² and ICATT Apprenticeship Programs; located in our Detroit, MI office, focusing on recruiting employers to participate in the apprenticeship programs in Michigan managed by GACC Midwest, with additional responsibility for neighboring states such as Indiana & Ohio.

For further information and the complete job descriptions, please click here.

GACC South is looking for two new team members: 

  • Coordinator Skills Initiative (Georgia); located in our Atlanta, GA office, focusing on building new apprenticeship programs modeled after the German system, as well as identifying and involving share and stakeholders in the state of Georgia and other areas.

  • Consultant Skills Initiative (Texas); located in our Atlanta, GA office, focusing on building new apprenticeship programs modeled after the German system, as well as identifying and involving share and stakeholders in the Southeast.

For further information and the complete job descriptions, please click here.