tech-skills-newoak

New York college grads get free tech skills training


Technology Innovation Program (TIP) to further tech education and employment opportunities for college grads

tech-skills-newoakCreated to address the growing technology skills gap in the job market, a new program is being offered in the New York area to expand the state’s technology talent pool and reduce unemployment.

NewOak, an independent financial services advisory firm, believes its TIP initiative will help address the growing technology skills gap by offering an intensive technology training course tuition free that will elevate participants’ job skills and marketability.

Students accepted to the program will participate in a 16-week immersion course where they will study and apply modern computing languages, tools and concepts. Upon successful completion of the course, students will move on to an eight-week mentoring program where they will work side by side with NewOak technology experts applying the skills they have learned on real-world business projects.

Following the mentoring session, students will be eligible for full-time employment at NewOak in its Financial Technology Solutions group. Those joining NewOak also will have the opportunity to earn stipends toward future studies at area colleges and universities as they achieve various levels and lengths of service with the firm.

Chad Burhance, senior partner and head of NewOak’s Credit Services business, noted the purpose of the TIP program is twofold: “First, NewOak, like so many other U.S. companies, is starving for technology talent to keep pace with its growth and maintain service levels accordingly. Our schools simply do not offer the curriculum and training programs to produce students with the necessary skills for businesses.”

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in just five years there will be one million programming jobs unfilled,” he continued. “We feel the impact of not having access to technical skills every day in our business. The dearth of talent forces you to go offshore to fill the gap and that has its own costs and repercussions. Through TIP, we want to make the investment and train the next generation of technology professionals, not just for our own benefit, but also to invest in our own kids and communities. It’s a win-win.”

NewOak’s first class of recruits is scheduled to kick-off the inaugural program in January 2015. Applications are being accepted immediately.

Cassie Kulzer, NewOak managing director for Human Resources, said the program is also strongly considering recent high school students and those that have not completed their college degrees. “The cost of college has risen so quickly not everyone can afford college immediately,” said Kulzer. “Some kids are not giving college degrees as much weight due to the high cost and the difficulty of paying off student loans at entry-level pay. We feel this program taps an important potential resource pool.”

NewOak plans on running three recruiting classes per annum and will assess the program and curriculum after each. “We will constantly monitor the program in all its aspects to ensure we are in step with the most current technology shifts,” said NewOak Chief Technology Officer Bryan Boyer.

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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