In today’s technological world, you’d probably be surprised if you went to apply for a job and were told that you could only do so by filling out documents by hand and then faxing them over or dropping them off in person. That’s often the reality for workers looking to apply for apprenticeship programs. They
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Mike Harris[/caption]
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Jeff Hart[/caption]
Two local unions, including Iron Workers Local 8, are currently using Appion’s software. So far, 5,000 applications have been started and 750 people have been moved into an active apprenticeship.
“The software allows people to focus on the things that are important, the training time and the relationships,” said Hart.
The lack of a modern application system is exacerbating an ongoing issue. The country’s shortage of skilled workers is only expected to grow and Iron Workers International projects a shortage of 10,000 journeymen in the next few years. This is on top of an aging and retiring workforce.
“(Unions) were losing candidates because their application processes were from 25 years ago,” said Harris. “You can’t do that. There’s so much demand and all it takes is for one person to say, ‘I’m not going to fax my document. Are you kidding me?’”
As the company gains clients, asking what those organizations need from their software will be key to how Appion Solutions continues to grow. For example, after recently gaining a new client in Canada, the Appion Solutions team built out a unique module that will inform a union if a large group of ironworkers is getting ready to finish a project and will become available for work. Hart said typically, this data would be kept on a written list that might not be the most organized.
“You’d think there would be some sort of magical system to put all these pieces together, but there’s not,” he said.
Appion Solutions is in the middle of raising a $1 million seed round. The startup, which currently has seven employees, has raised about 85% of that money so far.
The company’s board includes