Hartford Business Journal

18 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 7, 2022 Graduates from Eversource's line-worker certificate program at Capital Community College pose at their climbing training. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Workforce Development Eversource partners with community colleges to develop line-worker pipeline By Skyler Frazer sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com A s many industries grapple with labor shortages and worker retention efforts, utility giant Eversource has turned to the state's community college network to help recruit, and train, potential employees. Last year, Eversource began a partnership with Hartford-based Cap- ital Community College to launch an 11-week overhead line worker certifi- cate program with a mix of classroom work and hands-on field training. The company said the program gives it a local talent pipeline at a time when it's trying to hire about 40 new line workers annually. The program has become so successful that Eversource is introducing it to Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport for the school's upcoming spring semester. "We've got a workforce for the future that we're building," said Eversource Vice president of Operation Services Steve Driscoll, who oversees the company's work- force programs. "The community college programs, we found, were a very enabling way to tap into the local area and provide opportunities for people to learn about our industry, find out about our company, and to share the same type of opportunities that many of us had back when we started our careers." Filling a need Christian Galain, 22, of Wethers- field, is pursuing an engineering degree at Central Connecticut State University. He takes classes at night, but during the day he is an Ever- source line worker. Galain is one of 15 recent grad- uates from the apprenticeship line worker program at Capital Commu- nity College. He said he's wanted to work for Eversource for years and thought the program was a good fit for what he was looking for. "My friend who did the program came up to me and he told me, 'this is a great way to start to get your foot in the door at Eversource,' " Galain said. "He explained what the program was about to me and the second he told me, I started the application right away." The program teaches everything a potential line worker should know before beginning an apprenticeship, including basic electricity concepts. Students spend Saturdays at Ever- source's Berlin facility for hands-on activities like pole climbing and tools training. Capital Community College CEO G. Duncan Harris said his school has had three cohorts of students, 45 total, graduate from the apprenticeship line worker program. The first class had roughly 185 appli- cants, he said, but only 15 students were chosen due to limited capacity. He called the program "life-chang- ing" as it directly pairs students with a company that wants to hire them. That's the model for most of the training and certificate programs at the college. BY THE NUMBERS $37.23 The starting hourly pay for an Eversource apprentice line worker. $54.87 The starting hourly pay for an Eversource fully qualified line worker. 436 The number of line workers currently employed by Eversource. 40 The number of line workers Eversource needs to hire on an annual basis. 1.27M The number of electrical customers Eversource has in Connecticut. Duncan Harris Steve Driscoll "What's unique about some of these programs is that there's almost a guaranteed job at the end of it," Harris said. Driscoll said the program is like

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