A partnership between Ivey Mechanical and Holmes Community College (HCC) recently prepared 11 applicants to be apprentice plumbers through an “Introduction to Plumbing Trades.”
Ivey advertised positions making potential employees aware that they could be paid to participate in the training program, and that those who were successful 
would potentially be employed by Ivey in entry-level plumbing jobs.
Applicants were vetted by the company through sit-down interviews with recruiting personnel, who determined if they were deemed employable by Ivey’s standards. Those who met that bar were then sent to Holmes for skills assessment testing.
After successful completion of the assessments, applicants were placed in the eight-week course designed to improve each individual’s skills to have them job-ready as a Level 1/Plumber Apprentice upon completion of the course. Each student was paid during their time in the training program.
Introduction to Plumbing Trades, conducted by Holmes at their West Jefferson Street, Kosciusko, facilities, is a curriculum offered through the Department of Labor and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).
The eight-week course, which ran from Oct. 9 through Dec. 8, was taught by Carl Bibbs of Thomastown, who recently retired from the Holmes County School District as their construction instructor.
The course included classroom instruction and hands-on training during each 40-hour week, for a total of 326 hours of classroom and on-the-job-training.
“I think it is one of the best kept secrets in Kosciusko,” said Bibbs when asked about the course and what it was like to instruct the 11 students.
“It gives the students a chance to come to class and learn a skill,” he said. “They are also paid while they are taking the class and once they complete the class they are employed with Ivey as a Level 1 plumber.”
All 11 applicants who were selected for the course completed it, including 52-year old Toya Hunt of Kosciusko.
“I was not in this field before. Actually, I was in inspection with the USDA previously, but what peaked my interest was that we would learn from the ground up in the classroom and with on-the-job training,” she said.
“I did not know anything about plumbing before I started and I have learned so much during the course,” Hunt said. “It’s not just a job, it’s a career and I think you should always be looking for a career instead of just a job to go to every day. With this job, I feel that I have found that.”
Nicholas Dodd, 34, is another graduate who had nothing but positive reviews for the course — and his new career.
“The training that came with the job was what really peaked my interest. I talked to some people about Ivey’s and no one had anything bad to say. It just seemed like a great opportunity,” said Dodd. “We started off with the basics. Some of the stuff I haven’t done in a while - like math and fractions - and just continued to build off of that. I wish I would have done this years earlier.”
