Employment Partner

My boss asked me recently if our institute has any employment partner. I believe he is referring to any company that give preference to trainees from our institute when it comes to hiring new workers.

I must admit that I received many letters from companies inquiring about recruiting our trainees but I’m not sure if I can call these companies employment partners. I think when the term “partner” is used, it should indicate close collaboration between two parties.

Just yesterday I received two letters. One letter is from an electrical service company and the other one from a boat making company. The electrical service company is interested in recruiting electrician and the boat maker is looking to hire welders and mechanical technicians.

These are companies that I am familiar with and we have dealt with them in the past. For these type of companies we can probably build a more solid relationship based on existing trust.

Twice a year, in January and July, we send our trainees to attend on-job training for 3 months in various companies. Some of these companies end up hiring the workers after the end of the 3-month period, depending on vacancies, and also if the companies are happy with the performance of the individuals.

Unfortunately, there are also companies that practice behaviors that I find unethical. I have heard many stories about how companies misused on-job trainees as cheap labors. The trainees end up doing jobs that are totally unrelated to their skill training. Some are doing cleaning and unskilled manual labor works. Obviously, it is difficult to create partnership with these companies.

So for employment partnership to work, both parties have to be honest. For the employer, they must have relevant jobs and are willing to add value to the trainees development. For technical training institution such as our institute, we must ensure that only well-trained individuals go to these companies and provide the company with additional training support if required.

There are some companies that take pride in recruiting young talent and grooming them. Several months ago, representatives from a major truck manufacturing company came to our institute to interview our trainees. They recruit some of them into their Mechanic Apprenticeship Program.

Representatives from the company and I keep good relationship and communicate frequently on the progress of our trainees. They have given us useful feedback on how our trainees are doing and what else can we do to improve our training program. The company has also indicated to us that it is giving priority to our trainees for future hiring. Now that is an example of collaboration that can be called partnership.