RALEIGH – IBM is teaming with Capital Area Workforce Development to offer job skills training at no cost to candidates through a partnership announced Thursday.
Tech giant IBM, which is seeking to fill scores of jobs in the Triangle and owns Raleigh-based Red Hat, already employs thousands of people across the state. But the top IBM executive in North Carolina, Tim Humphrey, says the company as well as other firms are seeking talent.
“Even before coronavirus, it was clear that jobs are changing due to automation trend,” Humphrey said in a statement. “These disruptions require businesses, not-for-profits and governments to make a fundamental shift in retooling the workforce.”
Capital Area Workforce Development, or CAWD, is a public-private partnership focusing on Wake and Johnston counties. It now offers a program known as SkillsBuild to help people enhance and develop new skills.
“SkillsBuild aims to help focus learners on cultivating practical and professional skills to meet the challenge,” Humprhey said.
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CAWD is one of a “select group” of such programs in the US selected to work with IBM and expand the SkillsBuild program. The program offers training and coaching to develop skills for entery level information technology and other non-tech skills that are in demand by employers, the partners said.
The program also includes workshops, job referrals and employment services through CAWD’s NCWorks Career Centers.
“There are 35,000 unemployed people in our service area. Many lost jobs due to the pandemic and unfortunately some of those jobs are gone for good. New digital and professional skills are an asset for those who need to start on a new career or progress in their existing field,” said Pat Sturdivant, executive director of CAWD. This partnership is helping us provide another level of training that can lead to good technical and non-technical jobs.”
Thousands of IT jobs are available across North Carolina, according to the trade groups NC Technology Association and CompTIA.
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