Archived Content

IBM Corporation

Ginni Rometty

Chairman, President and CEO

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Summary of Initiative

IBM’s New Collar Jobs campaign addresses the high-tech skills gap by emphasizing job roles that prioritize capabilities over credentials. As we work to address this skills gap through a wide range of skills development and education initiatives, we also call on policymakers to expand the number of career-oriented training pathways students and midcareer professionals can access to build New Collar career skills.

The Need

At any given time, IBM has thousands of job openings in the United States, and like others in our industry, we cannot find enough candidates with the right mix of in- demand technology skills to fill them. “New Collar” jobs are roles in some of the technology industry’s fastest growing fields — from cybersecurity to digital design — that require technical training or some postsecondary education but not necessarily a four-year degree.

The Solution

IBM is advocating for New Collar skills through 21st century vocational training, innovative public education programs like P-TECH, coding camps, apprenticeships, professional certification programs and more.

IBM pioneered P-TECH, a new education model that couples academics with hands- on skills training and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) community college degrees to put graduates first in line for job interviews. Students graduate in six years or less armed with a high school diploma and a no-cost, two-year associate degree in a growth industry field.

IBM’s Veterans Employment Initiative provides software training, certification and job placement assistance to veterans pursuing careers as data analysts.

Apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning are another top priority for the company. With funding from the Department of Labor, IBM is working with North Carolina A&T on recruiting women and people of color for an enterprise computing/ mainframe apprenticeship.

IBM has pledged to hire 25,000 people in the United States through 2020, many in New Collar roles. This pledge also includes a commitment to hire 2,000 veterans of America’s armed forces, many into New Collar positions. Over the next four years, IBM is investing $1 billion in training and development programs for its U.S. workforce.

Partnerships and Enabling Public Policies

IBM is advocating for legislation to better match U.S. career and technical training with New Collar career paths, including renewal and expansion of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, financial aid for short-term credentials like coding camps, expansion of federal work study programs, summer Pell programs, and more.

Outcomes/Benefits

With more than 60 schools worldwide, the P-TECH model is being replicated successfully while helping students prepare for New Collar careers. Three members of the original P-TECH class in Brooklyn graduated high school with two-year college degrees and started jobs at IBM with salaries of more than $50,000 per year.

At some of IBM’s U.S. facilities, as many as one-third of our employees have less than a four-year college degree. In fact, New Collar candidates without a four-year degree accounted for around 15 percent of all IBM hiring in the United States last year. 

 

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