Pipeline
Development
Elevate your business with a skilled and diverse workforce, propelling growth and bolstering the economy.
Ready to Invest in Your Future Workforce Pipeline
Iredell County is preparing our future generations for success by committing to and investing in our workforce pipeline. Working with industry to develop and promote career awareness, career pathways, industry-recognized credentials, and work-based learning opportunities is our community’s priority. We understand that building a strong workforce pipeline starts in early childhood and continues beyond high school or college graduation.
Support Our Public Schools Through Corporate Participation
Career Technical Education Advisory Committee
Our public schools have Career and Technical Advisory Councils to create a vibrant school-community partnership guiding students toward career preparation by connecting business and industry with education. The Council does this by helping students and staff:
- Obtain valuable exposure, exploration, and experiences within business and industry to make informed decisions about their career pathways.
- Create better alignment of student to business/industry partnerships resulting in relevant work experiences to build a stronger pipeline.
- Expand opportunities for students to obtain job shadowing, internship, pre-apprenticeships, and apprenticeship experience.
Career Awareness Initiatives
Enrich student understanding of various industries by participating in career awareness activities. We invite you to host facility tours, join career fairs, and engage in classroom presentations to provide first-hand insights to our students.
Want to connect with students to promote your job opportunities at your company? Check out our Career Fair and Calendar pages
Work-Based Learning Opportunities
Enable students to gain practical experience in their fields of interest by offering job shadowing, externships, mentorships, internships, or apprenticeships. These real-world experiences complement their academic learning and prepare them for their future careers. Likewise, work-based learning helps employers gain access to job candidates who have the hands-on experience they’re seeking.
Industry Career Videos
Help us inspire and inform students about the local industry and job opportunities in Iredell’s industries. Your participation in creating career videos will provide them an overview of what it’s like to work in your industry. Don’t have a budget or the expertise to capture a video? No problem, we have a teacher-student led team through our Career and Technical Education programs that will come out and capture your company.
Contact us to capture your company video.
Comprehensive Workforce Development Partners & Programs
The Iredell Ready Business Services Team helps our existing industries understand and connect with workforce resources and partners. Led by Iredell County Economic Development Corporation, we provide a one-stop-shop service to connect you with the right workforce partners and programs to help you achieve your hiring goals. We accelerate your access to local, regional, and statewide programs and resources to support your recruit & hire, retain and train, and pipeline development goals.
Centralina Workforce Development Board and NCWorks Career Centers are committed to partnerships that help our region’s businesses and workers become a competitive force in our global economy. NCWorks works with a wide variety of residents and job seekers to assess their skills and get them job ready. They also work with businesses to support their hiring and training needs through a variety of programs including Apprenticeships, On-the-Job Training, UpSkills Grants, Incumbent Worker Training, as well as recruitment and retention development. Businesses can post their jobs for free on NCWorks Online. These are wonderful resources that provides businesses with a central location to post open jobs or to search for candidates to fill openings based on their skills, work experience, and resumes.
The Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce is a membership organization representing the interests of business across Iredell County. The Chamber has an active Education and Workforce Committee that plays a significant role in workforce development. Some of their most successful programs include Leadership Statesville, Youth Leadership Iredell, SVL Kids Expo, and a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of the Piedmont.
Mooresville Graded School District, Iredell-Statesville Schools, Mitchell Community College and NCWorks work closely with businesses, students, and residents to encourage participation in internships and apprenticeships to advance technical competencies and career development.
An Internship provides the student the opportunity to observe and participate in daily operations, develop direct contact with job personnel, ask questions about careers, and perform certain job tasks.
Apprenticeships provide a student and employer with the opportunity to train while on the job for a long-term career with the company. Iredell County has several different types of apprenticeship programs.
Not sure where to start? Check out these toolkits or contact us to learn more.
U.S. Department of Labor Apprenticeship Toolkit
Apprenticeship NC Toolkit
Are you starting or growing a business? Mitchell Community College offers free business seminars, interactive workshops, and classes to boost your success. Free and confidential professional business counseling can help you sort out your unique challenges and point you in the right direction.
Iredell County is a certified Work Ready Community. 156 employers in Iredell County recognize or recommend the ACT WorkKeys NCRC. WorkKeys is an ACT assessment administered to all North Carolina 12th-grade Career Technical Education (CTE) completers. A CTE completer is a student who has taken at least four courses in a Career-Focused Area. WorkKeys test measures “real world” skills that are critical to job success. These skills are essential to any occupation, skilled or professional, at any level of education and industry. CTE Completers take the following three WorkKeys tests.
- Workplace Documents
- Applied Mathematics
- Graphic Literacy
By taking the WorkKeys tests, students can earn a State Career Readiness Certificate (CRC), as well as a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). CRCs and NCRCs are awarded at four levels: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Businesses interested in learning more about the benefits of the ACT WorkKeys Program and how they can participate can visit Activate Your WorkKeys Account or contact NCWorks in Statesville 704-878-4241 or NCWorks Mooresville 704-360-8067.
The training programs at Universal Technical Institute’s NASCAR Tech teach the fundamental, in-demand skills students take with them into the workforce. Whether it’s automotive, diesel, motorcycle, motorsports, marine, welding, collision repair, CNC machining, aviation maintenance, energy, wind energy, robotics and automation, non-destructive testing, or HVACR, UTI’s programs teach their students the skills employers look for when hiring the next generation. NASCAR Technical Institute partners with the industries they serve to develop relevant curricula and certificates needed for those industries. The Mooresville campus is 146,000 square feet and has 1,200 graduates annually.
The North Carolina Manufacturing Institute (NCMI) is specially designed to link and leverage the existing assets of Rowan, Cabarrus, and Iredell counties to solve a growing gap between regional job seekers and available positions. Its innovative funding and operational structure allow the Institute to deliver results responding to a rapidly-growing need for manufacturing employees with certified skills and verified work readiness. Manufacturing firms will benefit from a partnership with NCMI through access to pipeline, trained, certified production technicians who can help them achieve their business goals. Become a NC Manufacturing Institute Partner.
Empowering a Ready Community
Explore our Workforce Services Directory to begin establishing connections with valuable talent pipeline development partners.