Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2025)

TRAINING & EDUCATION “What we teach in the ? rst AM course of the year will be understanding the value of balancing soft skills with hard skills; different than the third, because the technology is changing. understanding how to wrap around disciplines and understand-

When students show up, they’re can be assured they’re getting ing the dynamic that happens inside manufacturing. Because the latest and greatest.” teaching skills is one thing,” IALR’s Wells said. “You can teach

Culley said the acceptance rate is high because most of the skills, but character is a whole other thing, and they do a really candidates have work experience and understand the ATDM excellent job in the community of developing character.” value proposition. “We normally accept about 90% of our ap- Wells said ATDM is a ? ve-year pilot program. “Currently, plicants. We are constantly revisiting our admissions process we’re in a prototype phase. Our goal is to reach full opera- to ensure we’re getting the ideal student. About 30% of our tional capacity and produce 800 to 1,000 students a year. And students are veterans. They’re usually open to moving to a new there is a very high likelihood you will see another ATDM on job. Many of them have roots in areas near military bases, and the West Coast, or elsewhere in the U.S.” there are usually defense industry jobs near those bases. We ATDM programs offer a variety of industry-recognized have online information sessions, so after they complete the credentials. But Wells said the extent that students earn those application and the Wonderlic assessment, we go over require- certi? cations is based on student initiative.

ments for the program,” said Terry. “We cover the ? ve program ATDM has an Advisory Council made up of industry mem- areas to make sure candidates choose the right program, and bers that drive a lot of the program’s behaviors we talk about the Danville area, what to expect when you get “We continue to modify the curriculum and grow it to be here to Danville, what you need and don’t need to bring with more and more impactful, but we do very much try to stay away you. After the information session, and they’ve heard every- from being monopolized by one particular end,” Wells said. thing about ATDM, we schedule a virtual interview, and give It would, however, be possible to create a cohort for a single the candidate the opportunity to tell us why they’re best suited customer that focuses on their systems and procedures, Wells said.

for our program.” Students do receive certi? cations which are “We have one particular industry partner that agreed to ? ll recognized everywhere, although achieving certi? cations re- an entire cohort of 12 students,” said Wells. “We will be doing quires initiative on the part of the student. “These are good a modi? ed welding program just for their needs.” jobs with room for advancement and growth,” Culley said, Wells said companies often have to contend with the avail- “But the students are gaining entry-level skills, and should ability of trained workers at traditional graduation times at the expect entry-level salaries at the beginning.” end of the academic year. But ATDM is graduating students every eight weeks. “If an employer needs a couple of welders

Reduce Time to Talent or machinists right now, we have a graduation coming up with

ATDM’s Director of Cross-Functional Initiatives Karen quali? ed people ready to hire.”

Hardy reviews feedback to improve the curriculum. We get transitioning military people who need a skill for the “We reach out to students and employers to evaluate suc- next stage of their lives. Some students are “conditional hires,” cess at the 60-day mark and at one year,” Hardy said. “The where an employer identi? es someone to work for their company, program’s only been in existence since June of 2021, so we’re and sends them to ATDM to acquire basic skills. Others who al- now just starting to get the data we need to make some de? ni- ready have jobs and are doing well, but their employer needs peo- tive conclusions. Our objective is to reduce time to talent.” ple in skilled trades, and they send them to ATDM to “upskill.”

As industry sees the success, the participation is growing. Wells said the program can be life-changing. “Our students

Hardy said her team has a good understanding of the ship- can go from a fast-food job to making $50,000 to $70,000 a building enterprise, including large trade organizations like year with job security after completing our 16-week program.” the Marine Machinery Association (MMA) and the Subma- rine Industrial Base Council. Motivated Students “We try to conduct at least ? ve career fairs a year for our Jarrod Hankins is the instructor for ATDM’s Quality Con- students, and we typically have 25 to 35 companies that par- trol Inspection (Metrology) course. He’s a graduate of the pro- ticipate in them, plus more than 180 companies that are oth- gram, and later was offered a job to teach the course.

erwise engaged with our program. In addition, we have been “I tell each one of my students that, number one, I’m here to in communication with up to at least 450 to 500 companies at try to get people into the workforce,” he said.

this point,” she said. “I’ve got students from 18-year-olds who are right out of

Companies also have the option to come to Danville in per- high school to 72-year-olds who want to learn something new. son to interview or present to students, even outside of the All of them want to be here,” Hankins said. “Some students career fair days. may have had a hard time connecting with the right job oppor- tunity in the past, but the companies know what we teach, and

Balancing Hard and Soft Skills they come here because they need people with these skills. I “I’ve toured training providers around the nation, and they see my students at the job fair handing out their resumes to have great programs, but the one thing that Danville gets right is 30-plus companies that are eager and ready to hire.” 30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • November 2025

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