ROC industry Partners

ROC program's three components prepare high school students to successfully meet the demands of Industry Partners. These three components include:

1. Construction Skills Training. The new world economy wants a young person to master a specific skill….for ROC students, this is detailed training in electrical and HVAC technology, advanced carpentry or construction management. Central Piedmont Community College(CPCC) and privately hired ROC instructors provide this valuable skills training via the Career & College Promise or NCCER Certification pathways.

2. Job Readiness Training. Employers want skilled educated workers with all the soft skills and ability to work as a team, handle conflict, stay off their phone, etc. The ROC provides these critical skills via intensive job readiness training.

3. Summer Apprenticeships / Permanent Job Placements. The ROC is one of the few programs in the country that puts students on a job site at ages 16, 17 and 18. Industry Partners provide a paid, 8 week summer internship to our students with oversight by ROC and CPCC staff. This critical piece, probably our most important competency for the new world economy, is what helps us deliver polished young adults as employees to top industry leaders. This is where you, as industry partners, take ownership with helping us finish the final product for employment. We do a lot of job readiness, but the workplace is where students learn the bulk of their workplace readiness. Employers want skilled educated workers with all the soft skills and ability to work as a team, handle conflict, stay off their phone, etc. and there is no other way to teach this but to put a student on a job site for an extended period of time. This is the secret sauce of our program where real-life situations hit our students head on, where employers mentor them and where they are treated like an adult and expect to act as one. The ROC staff focuses on this competency and works with over 30 area construction companies for these 8 week $15 / hr paid summer interships, serving as the "glue" that brings employers into the lives of the students.

Guidelines for student learners under 18 years old: Our ROC College program qualifies as a student-learner program that exempts our students from the detrimental or hazardous clauses of Federal and North Carolina Labor laws that would otherwise prohibit summer internships in this field for students under the age of 18. The student-learner program exclusion allows our students, with written agreement, to participate in paid apprenticeships. The written agreement must state: (i) That the work of the student-learner in the occupations declared particularly hazardous shall be incidental to his training; (ii) That such work shall be intermittent and for short periods of time, and under the direct and close supervision of a qualified and experienced person; (iii) That safety instructions shall be given by the school and correlated by the employer with on-the-job training; and (iv) That a schedule of organized and progressive work processes to be performed on the job shall have been prepared.

More information about the exclusion that allows students under 18 to participate in a work based learning experience with a construction technology employer can be found: https://www.labor.nc.gov/workplace-rights/youth-employment-rules/hazardous-and-detrimental-occupations-youths