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The report presents the findings from the implementation evaluation of the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) Apprenticeship Pilot. The results of this descriptive study are intended to inform future efforts by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Department of Defense to provide effective support to assist transitioning service members (TSMs) as they leave the military and move into civilian-sector jobs. Early insights from the pilot were shared with DOL VETS in January 2021 to inform the design, start up, and early implementation of the Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot, which aims to provide one-on-one career counseling assistance for TSMs to help them secure meaningful and lasting post-separation careers, largely through referrals to outside partners.

Research Questions

• How was the program model operationalized, and what factors affected design and implementation?
• What were the approaches to outreach and recruitment into the pilot, and what were the characteristics of participants?
• What activities, strategies, and resources were used under the pilot to assist participants to learn about, search for, and secure apprenticeships?
• What were the patterns of placement in apprenticeship opportunities?
• What were the lessons learned, and what strategies can be considered moving forward to inform TSMs of available apprenticeship opportunities and assist them in securing apprenticeships?

Key Takeaways

• Remote outreach informed a large number of TSMs and spouses about the pilot. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many TAP workshops took place virtually. Thus, more TSMs and their spouses were informed of the Apprenticeship Pilot than initially anticipated by program staff. In total, 36,979 TSMs were briefed in TAP workshops worldwide. Despite the benefits of remote recruitment, the shift to remote briefings were reported to have increased the onus on TSMs to reach out for additional information given less in-person access to counselors during or immediately after the TAP workshops.
• The recruitment process faced challenges. Despite informing nearly 37,000 TSMs about the pilot, only 1,492 participants were enrolled. A lack of understanding of apprenticeships and the pilot was reported as common among TSMs and their spouses, and staff interviewed indicated that prospective participants were presented with many competing alternatives for post-separation employment. These factors led to a revised workshop approach, which allocated more time to describe the pilot and its goals, and revised messaging about the pilot and apprenticeship.
• Participants were primarily TSMs, male, and early in their careers. Recruitment of spouses was limited (2.3 percent) compared to the 97.7 percent TSMs recruited. Participants were also predominantly male (78.2 percent). They were 30.3 years old on average, 56.8 percent had a high school diploma as their highest level of education, and 39.3 percent were first termers, those at the lowest pay grades who were earlier in their military careers.
• Participant engagement with counselors varied. On average, participants engaged with counselors 4.1 times. About 60 percent of participants had three or fewer engagements.
• The pilot utilized multiple employer recruitment strategies. The pilot initially identified apprenticeship opportunities for participants using Apprenticeship.gov, a DOL website listing apprenticeship openings, plus a single employer outreach coordinator. Later, the pilot added remote job fairs as a strategy and hired two additional outreach coordinators, who were tasked with engaging directly with potential employers to match occupational, locational, and other participant requirements.
• Staff turnover was a challenge. Through October 2020, 35 individuals held 16 counselor positions and 4 individuals held the pilot manager position. The program implemented new training and support for counselors in response to this challenge, but turnover was reported to have created obstacles to maintaining continuity of service delivery.
• Few participants applied for or were placed in an apprenticeship. Of the 1,492 participants, 276 applied for apprenticeships, with 79 placed in an apprenticeship during the one-year pilot period. During the 6-month extension period, placements nearly doubled increasing from 79 to 152 total placements through September 2021.
• Submitting multiple applications may improve prospects for apprenticeship placement. Regression analyses suggest that applications and placements do not vary with individual participant characteristics. However, the number of applications submitted may make a difference; each additional application was associated with a 3.8 percentage point increase in the placement rate. The success rate of applications—the percentage of applications that resulted in a placement—grew over time from fewer than 20 percent from April to June 2020, to 60 percent by December 2020, and then declined in the final four months of the pilot as the number of applications increased.
• Over one-third of accepted offers were for information technology and cybersecurity apprenticeships, and most placements were in Registered Apprenticeship Programs. Information technology and cybersecurity are a relatively new apprenticeship field. However, the next highest area for placements was into apprenticeships for electricians (a traditional field for apprenticeship training). Most apprenticeship offers (90 percent) were for Registered Apprenticeship Programs rather than unregistered programs.

Citation

Spaulding, S., Trutko, J., Briggs, A., Kuehn, D., Hecker, I., Islam, A., Trutko, A. (2020). Urban Institute. Implementation Evaluation of the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) Apprenticeship Pilot (Research Report). Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.