If you’ve been following GoSprout since our launch, you already know that we started work on our apprenticeship management platform to streamline the process of launching and managing RAPs (registered apprenticeships). And we’re super excited to share what problems we’ve been able to solve already for some of our early-adopters like Atlanta’s Radiance Solar, who also has locations in 10 other states so future apprentices should be on the lookout for programs in their home states shortly.
What Were Radiance Solar’s Apprenticeship-Related Goals and Why Weren’t They Able to Achieve Them Before Implementing GoSprout?
Like many new members of the GoSprout community, Radiance Solar agreed with our founding thesis that the benefits of registered apprenticeships are amazing.
They knew about government funding opportunities, wanted to contribute to upskilling the local workforce in Marietta, Georgia, and overtime, wanted to have a steady stream of vetted, junior talent with the right skills to hire full-time into their rapidly expanding woman-owned solar construction business.
They also were aware that the cost to set up and compliantly administer a registered apprenticeships would be quite high if handled via spreadsheets and emails. They also knew assigning that work to existing team members would be received with mixed feelings, to say the least.
In other words, they were like firms across the United States: Radiance Solar believed in the goals of registered apprenticeships but wanted to eliminate the cost-prohibitive nature of “the old way” of running them.
Serena Strickland, an HR Generalist tasked in January with setting up Radiance Solar as a sponsor and launching a compliant registered apprenticeship by May, had some major concerns, especially about staying compliant, before she joined the GoSprout community.
She commented:
GoSprout was my knight in shining armor.
Not only was it very user friendly, but it also tracks all of our on-the-job training and has a place for our related instruction, which are the two main components for an apprenticeship program.
And Roger, who works with GoSprout, made our setup experience awesome. He made it very user-friendly. He took a lot of things out of our hands as far as getting the program set up…
So I love GoSprout!
How Did Radiance Solar Get Started with GoSprout?
At GoSprout, we want all of the companies that use our SaaS products to feel like they are part of a community that exists to promote the proliferation of registered apprenticeships as a means to support our nation’s youth and help the US maintain its status as the global leader in innovation.
And our welcome to the community for businesses needing software solutions starts with a guided tour. Like many firms who use GoSprout, Radiance Solar booked a call via our live guided tour scheduler and prepared a list of questions.
Our process for guided tours is to first collect community member’s questions and comments on current pain points, and then talk through solutions within our apprenticeship tracking software.
During the call, we were excited to hear that Radiance Solar wanted to have their own registered apprenticeship program just as much as we wanted to help them do it. The pain points they expressed were what we hear all the time: “How can we handle all this paperwork to be compliant without negatively impacting our core business?”
And that’s exactly what we showed them.
Radiance Solar’s First Registered Apprenticeship Programs
Serena was tasked with getting up to speed as an apprenticeship sponsor quickly because Radiance Solar had big plans and already knew the benefits of apprenticeships.
They already have 3 registered apprenticeship programs running in our apprenticeship tracking system:
- Electrical Apprenticeship
- Construction Worker Apprenticeship (Solar Installation)
- Occupational Healthy & Safety Specialist Apprenticeship
Shared courses include the basics of electricity such as direct current and alternating current and then specific coursework for for solar racking systems, safety rules and how to inspect, etc.
Their apprenticeship launch already has 19 apprentices, 18 journey workers, 3 educators, 4 admins and a program manager. And their just getting started!
Fast Forward: How Did GoSprout Help with Radiance Solar’s Compliance Check-In with the Department of Labor?
As with anything where government regulation is involved, there is thinking your compliant and then what they tell you when someone actually checks.
Radiance Solar had their first Department of Labor apprenticeship regulation check and they passed with flying colors. You may want to read our update on the DoL’s Youth Employment Works initiative if you haven’t already.
For those not familiar, the DoL is looking for a sufficient journey worker to apprentice ratio in the field.
They look at apprentice records to see if they are completing their RTI.
They may also look into OJT records.
What’s Next for Radiance Solar?
Apart from geographic expansion, Radiance Solar is as excited about youth apprenticeship as we are (and how we can help them with launching them).
Radiance has historically expanded very quickly but has also opened up the possibilities for being competitive on future contracts with the DoL’s increasing emphasis on having active registered apprenticeships if you want to be eligible for government contracts.
They have also provided us feedback on more new features including a module for tracking journey worker training. We’re calling it our Incumbent Worker Upskilling module which is pretty handy for being sure the teachers know what they are supposed to be teaching and are staying current (pun intended) on new developments in the electrical industry.
