Volkswagen is running up against a rallying economy and new entries to the Chattanooga area such as Amazon and Wacker as it searches for quality applicants to a high-tech apprenticeship program.
"We're looking for the creme of the crop," said Ralph Gwaltney of Chattanooga State Community College, which operates the Automotive Mechatronic Program along with the German car maker.
Officials said the program is vying with the improving economy and the major new employers to the region as it seeks candidates for the three-year training initiative.
The effort, which officials said is unique in Tennessee, takes the best of German and American apprenticeship models.
"It's truly a hybrid program," said Gary Booth, who manages the Volkswagen Academy at the automaker's new Chattanooga plant.
The program took in its first 20 students last year, officials said. It plans to enroll a similar number in August along with a similar class in 2012, so there will be a total of 60 in the effort at one time.
In addition to instruction related to robotics used in the plant, students learn about electronics, programmable logic controllers, pneumatics and hydraulics and other systems used in the massive factory.
The participants split time in the classroom and in the plant itself. While in the factory, they're paid at a rate starting at $10 an hour, bumping up to $13 an hour, Booth said.
He said participants aren't officially VW employees, and graduates aren't promised jobs when they finish the program.
"We have every hope and expectation at the end of the three-year period that they'll become employees," Booth said.
He said those who are hired will become "multiskilled team members." They could become maintenance technicians who take care of the sophisticated equipment in the assembly plant or rotated into production, Booth said.
"It depends on where the business is and the position that's open," he said.
Gwaltney said participants receive state grant money to help pay the $1,000 per trimester cost. VW also has put in money in the past, and there's a chance more is available in the future, he said.
Even without the VW money, the state grant will pick up two-thirds of the cost, Gwaltney said. Students also have earnings that can help defray the cost, he said.
Booth said someone with less mechanical and electrical experience starting with the basics is more likely to be successful in the program.
Andreas Fricke, a VW training specialist, said students receive a hands-on learning system.
"We make everything visual and not talk for hours and hours," he said.
VW's $1 billion plant is slated to produce 150,000 vehicles annually when fully operational. The company employs about 1,500 workers and is aiming to hire between 2,000 and 2,500 people.