“We’ve been working with CareerSource Northeast Florida since 2018 and we’ve leveraged the organization’s work experience program as well as customized training,” said GRACE Aerospace President Pauline Sevigny, who shared her experience working with the organization over the last four years.
Founded in 2001 by her father, Robert Carlo, and Glenn Anderson (who is the company’s current vice president of operations) and headquartered at Cecil Field, Grace Aerospace provides full-service electrical and structural manufacturing, systems integration, and engineering support services for the United States military and commercial clients.
Thanks to support provided through the CareerSource NEFL Customized Training Program, GRACE Quality Manager Eddie Morris was able to become a certified Institute for Printed Circuits (IPC) trainer.
Since Morris renewed his IPC Trainer Certification in June 2022, Grace Aerospace has leveraged his knowledge to train seven Grace employees – who are now Certified IPC Specialists.
“Although Eddie’s now able to train people both in the organization and outside, we’ve only leveraged it to train our internal employees,” Sevigny said. “It’s a challenging certification to obtain – they receive a 300-page workbook, and they take tests throughout the duration of the training program. It’s pretty intensive, but so far, everyone here has passed.”
Sevigny notes that while some of the employees had years of experience, each indicated that they still learned a lot through the IPC training program, and it enhanced their skillset…and it was also very helpful to the newer electrical staff.
While the customized training was obviously beneficial in supporting internal employee growth, this new skillset enabled GRACE Aerospace to enter into new market segments and perform electrical work for the Department of Energy and NASA — which required certified IPC technicians to perform the manufacturing.
CareerSource NEFL Industry Sector Manager for Manufacturing, Aviation, and Aerospace Roben Faircloth has been working with Grace Aerospace since they were a JAXUSA prospect.
“We try to make our programs as business-friendly as possible, and it’s exciting to see companies use our reimbursement programs to help grow the skills of their workforce…which in turn allows for the growth of the whole company,” Faircloth said. “Next, we will be helping GRACE Aerospace complete training that will allow them to fulfill a contract they have with a large defense contractor.”
Through her experience with CareerSource NEFL, Sevigny says the organization’s programs are extremely advantageous to small businesses – allowing them to receive funds to accelerate training that they might normally not be able to afford or would be delayed by budget constraints on their business.
“It’s building on the whole idea of upskilling the local workforce, which is what we’ve been able to do,” she said. “My incentive as a business owner is having my employees well trained, but it’s also a huge win from an employee standpoint…they’re gaining the skills to increase their resume and help with their professional progress.”
In that respect, Sevigny says it’s really a win-win working with CareerSource NEFL.
“It’s easy in that there’s not a lot of paperwork to deal with,” she said. “It’s a streamlined process, and I would recommend any small business that has training needs to investigate leveraging the work experience or customized training programs. It’s like getting free money. If you know, you’re going to make the spend anyway, why not use this wonderful resource that’s available to us.”