Automotive group launches new career training program
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A new program has been launched to meet the retail automotive industry’s need for skilled workers.
Tipton-based Chariot Automotive Group has teamed up with Ivy Tech Community College to launch Chariot Automotive Institute, which will seek to offer high school juniors and seniors hands-on training and college credit.
“Even as employers recognize a more pronounced need for labor, today’s skilled workforce also requires a greater degree of training and educational preparation,” Ethan Heicher, chancellor of Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Service Area, said in a news release. “CAG’s high school-to-college-to-career youth apprenticeship model is a great example of an investment in today’s workforce that will strengthen our communities long into the future.”
Participating students can complete half of the credits needed for an Ivy Tech Associate Degree in Automotive Technology as well as the Chariot Automotive Institute apprenticeship program. Students can receive full tuition from the institute and be offered a full-time automotive technician position after completion.
The first cohort of the Automotive Technician Education Pathway program includes 30 students from Hamilton and Tipton counties. They will meet five days a week for three hours a day at the Tipton CAG Academy dealership.
“By investing in local talent, we’re ensuring the next generation of automotive technicians are prepared to continue our tradition of exceptional service to communities across Indiana,” said James Woolf, Workforce Development Specialist at Chariot Automotive Institute, in the release.
The release estimates an additional 400,000 automotive technicians, 80,000 collision technicians and 170,000 diesel technicians would need to be added in the country between 2020 and 2024.