Become an Apprentice

Industrial Maintenance Mechanic

Industrial maintenance is a growing field with a high demand. All manufacturing companies require someone to maintain the equipment on the shop floor in order to reduce down time. Industrial maintenance technicians install, repair, and maintain commercial or industrial machinery in buildings, a plant, or a manufacturing setting. These technicians, through troubleshooting and preventative maintenance service, ensure all machines function properly. Maintenance technicians need a wide range of skills from electrical/hydraulic and welding to precision machining and everything in between.

Job Functions
Industrial maintenance mechanics perform essential functions in manufacturing. They build, test, repair, adjust, train, and troubleshoot technical systems including turning and grinding machines, milling, drilling, CNC, lathes, and more. This is a field of high demand, good pay, and excellent growth opportunities.

Salary Outlook: $42,630

Job Titles in Industrial Maintenance:

• Maintenance Supervisor
• Maintenance Technician
• Industrial Engineering Technician
• Mechanical Engineer
• Heavy Equipment Mechanic

• Industrial Maintenance Mechanic Fact Sheet
• Industrial Maintenance Mechanic Curriculum Map

Apply Now

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.
   
   
   

Peer Specialist

Peer support specialists are individuals who are in recovery from substance use or co-occurring mental health disorders. Their life experiences and recovery allow them to provide recovery support in such way that others can benefit from their experiences. The peer support specialist assists and guides clients toward the identification and achievement of specific goals defined by the client and specified in the Individual Treatment Plan (ITP). The work involves a variety of routine, standardized tasks that facilitate work performed by higher level providers.

Job Functions
Assist other social and human service providers in providing client services in a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation, or social work. They may assist clients in identifying and obtaining available benefits and social and community services as well as assist social workers with developing, organizing, and conducting programs to prevent and resolve problems relevant to substance abuse, human relationships, rehabilitation, or dependent care.

Salary Outlook: $36,609 

Job Titles in Peer Specialist

• Peer Recovery Support Specialist
• Recovery Coach
• Recovery Navigator
• Recovery Mentor
• Recovery Support Specialist

Documents

• Peer Recovery Specialist Fact Sheet
• Peer Recovery Specialist Curriculum Map

Apply Now

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.

Agriculture Service Worker

Agricultural workers maintain crops and tend to livestock. They perform physical labor and operate machinery under the supervision of farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers.

Job Functions
Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities.

Salary Outlook: $29,416

Titles in Agriculture Service Worker

• Farmhand
• Farm Worker
• Equipment Operator
• Herdsman
• Agronomy Operator
• Nursery Worker

Documents

• Agriculture Service Worker Fact Sheet
• Agriculture Service Worker Curriculum Map

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.

Truck Driver, Heavy

The Nussbaum Trucking Academy at Heartland Community will open the door to a lifetime of job opportunities. All types of truck driving jobs are widely available for those with a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Heavy truck drivers transport goods including cars, livestock, and other materials in liquid, loose, or packaged form. Many routes cover long distances from city to city across the country.

Our 160-hour truck driver training course prepares you to obtain a commercial driver’s license. The first week prepares you for the CDL learner’s permit. The remaining three weeks are behind the wheel training. At the end of the course, you will take a class “A” license road test, administered by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

The course covers the following topics to prepare you as a professional truck driver:

• Endorsement preparation
• State and federal regulations
• Logbooks
• Map reading and trip planning
• Complete vehicle training

Instruction includes classroom lecture, demonstration and behind-the-wheel experience in a class “A” vehicle.

Salary Outlook: $55,187

Documents

• Truck Driver, Heavy Fact Sheet
• Truck Driver, Heavy Curriculum Map

Apply Now

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.

Driver Manager

The driver manager directly supervises and coordinates the activities of material-moving machine and vehicle operators and helpers. Individuals in this position manage fleets of vehicles, hire drivers, manage assignment of work orders, and monitor the tracking, scheduling and repair of company trucks, cars, and large equipment. This individual supervises the maintenance and repair of company or organizational vehicles to ensure that these vehicles are in safe and working order.

Job Functions

Assist workers in tasks, such as loading vehicles. Compute or estimate cash, payroll, transportation, personnel, or storage requirements. Confer with customers, supervisors, contractors, or other personnel to exchange information or to resolve problems. Direct workers in transportation or related services, such as pumping, moving, storing, chemical application, or loading or unloading of materials. Dispatch personnel and vehicles in response to telephone or radio reports of emergencies.

Salary Outlook: $60,000

Titles in Driver Manager

• Driver Manager
• Location Manager
• Fleet Manager
• Street Supervisor
• Trainmaster
• Transportation Supervisor
• Warehouse Supervisor

Documents

• Driver Manager Fact Sheet
• Driver Manager Curriculum Map

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.

Cybersecurity / Networking

Cybersecurity/networking is a high growth field requiring cutting-edge IT skills. With the vast amount of sensitive data now stored in the digital universe - social security numbers, proprietary information, financial records, and matters of national security – it's important to keep them protected.

Cybersecurity/networking professionals are in demand to monitor, mitigate, and prevent threats that compromise data and network security. A cybersecurity support technician works to protect an organization's information by keeping data private and safe. They work with computer security programs to detect, prevent, and address potential security threats.

Employment for cybersecurity and networking experts is expected to increase much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The core of the cyber security/networking curriculum is built on a broad foundation of industry-relevant concepts related to computer forensics, vulnerability assessment, security compliance, and software assurance. The interactive coursework covers the analytical and technical skills necessary to monitor networks and respond to cyber attacks. Our curriculum aligns with industry-standard certification exam content, to prepare you to pass exams from industry leader, CompTIA.

Heartland’s cybersecurity/networking apprenticeship is a one and a half to two year program. Most classes are held in the evening, and you’ll be released from work to attend any classes scheduled during work hours.

After completing this program, you will be eligible to test for six CompTIA credentials and be awarded a certification from the Department of Labor documenting you are fully qualified for the occupation. In addition, you’ll graduate with one and a half to two years of experience working as a cybersecurity/networking professional.

Job Functions
Professionals in the field of cybersecurity/networking implement and monitor security measures in order to protect private data and financial records. They respond to possible security breaches and seek out and eliminate viruses and network attacks.

Salary Outlook: $85,000

Job Titles in Cyber Security:

• Computer Security Specialist
• Security Management Specialist
• Data Security Administrator
• Computer Systems Analyst
• Information Security Analyst
• Networking Engineer
• Cyber Security Technician

Documents

• Cybersecurity Fact Sheet
• Cybersecurity Curriculum Map

Apply Now

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.

IT Generalist

IT generalist is a high growth field requiring cutting-edge IT skills. An information technology generalist performs overall information systems planning, implementation and administrative procedures in a variety of IT functional areas. They provide operational infrastructure support, maintenance, troubleshooting to ensure optimum utilization of IT resources.

Employment for IT generalist experts is expected to increase 10% in the next 10 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

IT generalist occupations are used in nearly every industry. Companies look to employ IT generalists who possess the necessary skills to succeed and help the business grow and be successful. Positions are diverse, from insurance, automobiles, and machines to those in an online industry. Heartland’s IT generalist apprenticeship provides students with the necessary skill set to succeed in the field of IT in any industry.

The IT generalist apprenticeship is a 2 year program. 

Participants who complete the IT generalist apprenticeship earn an AAS degree in information technology. In addition, you’ll earn a certification from the Department of Labor indicating you are fully qualified for the occupation.

Job Functions:

An IT generalist is responsible for data control, applications training, data coordination and scheduling, data security administration, IT help desk, and more.

Salary Outlook: $57,561

The apprentice might begin their career as an IT Generalist before progressing to:

• IT Architect
• IT Product/Project Manager
• IT Software/Network Engineer
• IT Administrator
• IT System Engineer

Documents

• IT Generalist Fact Sheet
• IT Generalist Curriculum Map

Apply Now

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.

Central Sterile Processing Technician

Job Functions:
The central sterile processing technician coordinates and collaborates the overall cleaning, decontamination, assembly and dispensing of surgical instruments, equipment and supplies needed for daily surgical procedures in surgery and related departments.

Salary Outlook: $33,041

Job Titles in Central Sterile Processing Technician

• Sterilization Technician
• Medical Supply Technician
• Sterile Preparation Technician
• Instrument Technician
• Central Sterile Technician
• Sterile Processing Technician
• Sterile Processing and Distribution Technician
• Laboratory Aide
• Medical Equipment Preparer

Documents

• Central Sterile Processing Technician Fact Sheet
• Central Sterile Processing Technician Curriculum Map

Apply Now

1. Submit an interest form.
2. Apply to Heartland Community College.
3. Take the placement test. Make an appointment by visiting your myHeartland portal, selecting Appointments and choosing Testing Center.
4. Interview with companies interested in hiring an apprentice.