Case study

City of San Antonio Workforce Development

Tayler Lang of City of San Antonio Solid Waste Management smiles from the cab of her truck in the “CDL Program” video.

Challenge

How do you get employers to start an apprenticeship program they think is all paperwork and only for the trades?

Deliverables 10 videos: 6 apprenticeship stories, 3 program videos and an event video. From two-minute stories to a seven-minute how-to. 7 in 4K.

Let the people who did it make the case.

City of San Antonio Workforce Development helps employers grow their own talent through registered apprenticeships. Under the city’s Apprenticeship Building America grant, the department needed videos to raise awareness and invite employers to start their own programs.

People in the series name what holds employers back: paperwork, time, an unclear return and the belief that apprenticeships fit only the trades. Joy Jamerson, an HCAP program manager, says a lot of employers are “kind of scared” because they don’t know the return on investment. A list of benefits would not answer that. People who had done it could.

What we made

Across a multi-year series of 10 videos, we put apprentices next to the employers and trainers behind them. Six apprenticeship stories, three program videos and an event video run from two minutes to seven. Seven are in 4K.

We shot on a JCB warehouse floor, in a San Antonio ISD classroom and in the cab of a city solid waste truck. The JCB video opens on one line from maintenance apprentice Darian Farias: “It’s changed the whole trajectory of my life.”

In the CDL video, apprentices start on a simulator. Tayler Lang, now a side loader equipment operator, was hesitant to ask her trainer questions, but he “didn’t make me feel dumb.” Solid Waste Management says more than 100 people have gone through that program and are now full-time employees.

Employers answer employers. David Carver, JCB’s operations director and a former apprentice, says registering through the city “gives credence to the program.” Christian Guerra, president and chief executive officer of Avanzar Interior Technologies, says, “To date, we’ve hired 15 team members through the program.” Charles Woodin, CEO of geekdom, has two words for any employer contemplating a tech apprenticeship: “do it.”

A seven-minute how-to walks employers through the four phases of becoming a registered program: explore, build and partner, register, and implement and launch. “Registration isn’t just paperwork,” it says, and a City of San Antonio apprenticeship representative can guide employers through every phase. Part of the SAISD paraprofessional video is in Spanish.

We delivered the National Apprenticeship Day video the morning after the event. Its keynote speaker, Joy Jamerson, tells employers “there is help.” With the right partners, they can build a program and get help with recruitment and retention.

The result

The series gives the department a working example for every objection. Employers who fear the paperwork hear that the city offers help with it. Employers who think apprenticeships fit only the trades see one in a classroom, one in tech and one in a truck cab.

The City of San Antonio is a repeat client. We’ve produced 14 videos for three of its departments: Workforce Development, Neighborhood & Housing Services, and Parks & Recreation. Joel Morgan is the city’s assistant director of workforce development. In a Google review, he wrote: “Our team could not be happier with the quality of their work and their partnership as a whole.”

Estrella Davila is an NPower alum who became a data analyst at Accenture Federal Services. She closes the Tech Apprenticeship video: “The City of San Antonio’s apprenticeship program and NPower changed my life.”

If your agency runs a grant-funded program and needs employers or residents to act, this is the series we make. Apprentices and employers tell it, a how-to shows the steps, and government clients may use a purchase order in place of a deposit.

How we make workforce and recruitment videos · Packages and pricing · What a video costs in San Antonio.

Most importantly, they did an outstanding job capturing and telling the story of Apprenticeship and its impact on the City of San Antonio workforce in a meaningful, engaging way.

Sonya BFormer Workforce Development Manager, City of San Antonio