It's no secret that many manufacturers are scrambling to attract skilled workers to fill openings. A host of training programs are available to provide job seekers with the skills needed to get hired, and one in my hometown of Chicago that caught my attention is the Jane Addams Resource Center.

I spoke with James Yoo, director of business and workforce services for JARC, to get a better idea about the types of programs the center offers and its approach to worker training. JARC started with a CNC machining program in 1985 to help local companies find prescreened, qualified, entry-level workers, he said. "Primarily, they were targeting the low-income adult population."

The center, which serves about 100 trainees annually, also offers training for welders and anticipates restarting its press brake program later in the year, Yoo added.

He emphasized that the focus isn't only on technical skills training. JARC also offers financial coaching, soft skills instruction and help with resume writing, and conducts mock interviews to prepare trainees for what manufacturers will require of them.

"We try to offer a wide range of services to make sure they are as successful as possible," Yoo said.

That effort includes not giving trainees a pass when they behave in a less-than-professional manner. They must clock in, and attendance is mandatory, Yoo said. A trainee is docked a point for each missed day and terminated from the program after three such instances. "The whole point of the training is we want them to feel this is a real-life, work-simulator environment."

Those who successfully complete the program for CNC milling and turning are NIMS-certified, Yoo noted, but their time isn't only spent in a classroom. "It's not just certification on paper, but it's also to get them hands-on experience."

The hands-on experience involves a couple hundred hours of machining, Yoo said, and the center has three Haas CNC machine tools: a lathe and two Mini Mills. The center takes a project-based approach to the machining portion of the program so trainees understand how to complete a task as efficiently and correctly as possible. "Metrology is a part of this, as well as shop math and blueprint reading."

Yoo noted JARC works with foundations and receives public funds, so up to 100 percent of training costs can be covered. However, he added that the application process, which is open to the public, is rigorous. The process requires candidates to take a basic adult education test and achieve at least a ninth-grade level for math and reading. If that requirement isn't met, the center offers a bridge program.

"You are in that bridge program," Yoo said, "to basically skill up in math or reading and make sure you have the basic skills that you need to be an effective learner in either program."