“I honestly believe every IEC chapter should run this program.”
That’s a strong recommendation of the IEC New Worker Program from Jeff Hooper, education director, IEC of Oregon.
IEC started offering the program in 2018, and IEC of Oregon was the first to take advantage of it and has been running the program at least once each year since 2019. Jeff says the program’s flexibility, opportunity to engage chapter contractor members, detailed lesson plans, strong curriculum, and hands-on activities for students to experience basic skills required of electricians are among its strongest features. IEC of Oregon’s target audience is high school students and the chapter team has worked hard to build relationships with career and technical education (CTE) and guidance counselors throughout the state to position itself as a key resource.
“Offering the IEC New Worker Program certainly is important to increasing our partnership with high schools but perhaps the biggest benefit is that this program really helps students find out if this industry is — or is not — for them. With all the hands-on stuff like conduit bending, students may realize, yeah, this probably just isn’t for me.”
Dale Weis, executive director, IEC Southern Colorado, says their chapter offered its first program in 2024, ran it four times in 2025, and was scheduling 2026 classes at press time. IEC Southern Colorado advertises it as a pre-apprenticeship program and they use the IEC New Worker Program modules and materials. He, too, appreciates the ability to adapt the curriculum materials to ‘fit’ a chapter’s priorities.
“I’m a firm believer that hands-on is the best way to reinforce learning,” Dale, who also teaches the program, says. “I start very basic and we don’t move forward until they’ve mastered that concept. On average, our classes are 70% hands-on skill building and 30% classroom time.”
Dale says the flexibility also provides the opportunity for instructors to alter the amount of time they feel is required for each topic. In addition to reaching that target market of high school students, Dale also sees this program as an opportunity for his contractor members.
“Ultimately, it is my goal to have contractors send their new hires to IEC for this pre-apprentice or new worker program,” he says. “Let us take two weeks with them and get them some skills before they go out in the field. That way on their first work day out in the field, they are confident they can do things like put in receptacles, pull some wire, or make some terminations.”
Program Structure
IEC’s New Worker Program consists of 15 modules and is intended to prepare an apprentice for his or her first day on the job site. It is designed as a precursor — but it is not a prerequisite — to IEC’s four-year apprentice program.
Modules are focused on interactive learning. Each module includes a short lecture accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, lesson plans, and group and hands-on activities. Chapters pay for an annual subscription through the IEC Training Advantage Bookstore, and the program is delivered digitally via IEC’s Content Management System (CMS).
This modular set-up is what provides chapters with the flexibility that both Jeff and Dale say is so important.
“For us, the program is 24 hours in length,” Dales says. “IEC Southern Colorado does six, four-hour sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon, for two weeks. I’ll start with the PowerPoint in the classroom and we’ll talk about the safety aspects of that day’s lessons. Then we’ll go and do the hands-on activities in the lab reinforcing what we’ve learned in the classroom.”
At IEC of Oregon, Jeff says they also usually do a 24 hours program — three hours a night, two nights a week (usually Tuesdays and Thursdays), over four consecutive weeks.
“We love the lesson plans that come with the curriculum,” Jeff states. “Sara Navarro, executive director of IEC El Paso, is a former teacher and she understands the importance of lesson plans. She was involved when they created the IEC New Worker Program, so they included amazing lesson plans. That really helps our instructors and it helps us administratively in planning for each night.”
Jeff says, using a term from the education world, they monitor and adjust. Over time, they may see that a topic can be covered in more or less time than recommended and structure their sessions accordingly.
Program Content
In time for the 2025 / 2026 curriculum year, the IEC National A&T Committee, guided by its New Worker Task Force, released updates to the program based on user input, research, and thoughtful consideration of program use. Current modules are:
Module 1: Orientation and Introduction into Your Electrical Career
Module 2: Hand Tool Identification and Usage + Tool Safety
Module 3: Material ID – Boxes and Enclosures Identification and Installation
Module 4: Lift Awareness and Fall Safety + Ladder Safety
Module 5: Devices Identification and Installation
Module 6: Material Identification: Fittings and Conduit ID
Module 7: Material Identification: Fasteners, Supports, and Fitting Identification
Module 8: Power Tools Identification and Usage + Safety (PPE)
Module 9: Wire Prep, Identification, and Installation
Module 10: Measuring Tools
Module 11: Introduction to Conduit Bending
Module 12: Basic Electrical Safety
Module 13: Soft Skills
Module 14: Electrical Math
Module 15: Understanding the NEC®
Modules 14 and 15 are totally new to the IEC New Worker Program. Material was added to Module 13 to teach resume building and interviewing skills. Several other modules received updates, including expanded safety for applicable modules, new images, additional content, information combined with other modules to achieve better topic alignment, and print-on-demand competition certificates for each module. Five chapters purchased the IEC New Worker Program for the 2025 / 2026 curriculum year.
Program Effectiveness
IEC chapters not currently offering the IEC New Worker Program are encouraged to discover whether this would be beneficial for their areas. For IEC Southern Colorado and IEC of Oregon, it’s been important to helping build the future workforce in their states.
“IEC of Oregon participates in a number of different school fairs and job fairs, and we may have one person apply to our four-year apprenticeship program every other year from this participation,” he notes. “But every time we run the IEC New Worker Program, we get somebody from it who is interested in applying.”
He talks of Jacob who is currently a second-year apprentices with IEC of Oregon. Jeff says that Jacob actually attended the IEC New Worker Program, with parental permission, at 16 as a junior. He came to it again, twice, his senior year.
“He could not wait to enter our full program,” Jeff remembers. “Now, he is doing outstanding work in his second year. We have had many students go from our new worker program into our apprenticeship program.”
For states like Colorado where students are responsible for finding their own employment, being able to show a potential employer you have successfully completed the IEC New Worker Program is a bonus.
“It’s a great way to get them some hands-on experience and see that this field is right for them,” says Dale. “If we have a contractor member who has a choice between a potential employee who’s gone through the pre-apprenticeship or new worker training, he is most likely going to be selected over the one that hasn’t gone through any pre-training. This program helps the contractor as well as the student or potential employee. Also, if a student is interested in becoming an electrician and has not yet connected with an employer, paying to attend the shorter new worker training is priced considerably lower than first year of the IEC Apprenticeship Program.”
Jeff believes that keeping the program pricing low is important to attracting interested parties. Due to the support of IEC of Oregon contractor members and partners who contribute financially as well as physically, their new worker program is just $50 per student.
“We kept tuition really low so that school districts wouldn’t balk at the cost,” Jeff says. “We’ve seen more and more school districts sending 10 to 12 students and just writing a check for their tuition.”
Both Dale and Jeff have seen the difference offering this program makes in moving on to the four-year program and completing it. In fact, IEC Southern Colorado Apprenticeship Coordinator Savannah Smith says that 66% of students who finished the IEC New Worker Program attended or are attending their four-year program.
Students Say it Best
IEC Southern Colorado students responded as follows when asked what the best part of the course was:
- Loved all of it; I am a hands-on learner
- Full on residential wiring; self-driven was amazing practice
- Learning from my mistakes
- Being given instructions to memorize and translate into a hands-on task
- Actually installing things and getting gloves
- Installing devices and wiring switch
- Putting together the light and watching it turn on
- Testing my light fixture and it was working
- Bending conduit
- Finishing my station and seeing my hard work pay off
- All day hands on
- The small classroom size leading to lots of one-on-one tips and discussions
When asked their top five takeaways, responses included:
- Proper tool safety
- Job site etiquette
- How projects run
- Knowledge of most company structures
- Union vs. merit shop
- What the expectations are to be an electrician
- Learning that electrical is pretty much in everything and you can specialize in different things
- I can confidently install a residential outlet
- How to install a GFI
- Wire color coding
- Health care systems get different wires
- Number of conductors per box
- Pigtails are harder than they look
- Types of electrical conduits
- Mentalities in the workplace that will lead to success
- Bending conduit
- PVC and metal conduit
- Rules of installing boxes
- The wires will always conduct heat due to electrons always going through wire
- Use box fill calculation to figure out how many wires you can fit
- Productive struggle
- I like being an electrician
Get Started Today
Contact your chapter today to see how you can assist them with offering the IEC New Worker Program in your area and be part of the solution to building the future workforce. With electrician-led National A&T Committee oversight and partnership with trusted curriculum partner ATP, you can be sure the IEC New Worker Program is built to deliver the quality for which IEC education and training in known. Dale and Jeff believe you’ll be happy you did.
New Worker Task Force
Paula Bahler, IEC Chesapeake
Shon Bergener, IEC Fort Worth
Scott Bloom, ATP
Nicole Burian, ATP
George Hyde, IEC Florida East Coast
Zack Jarmon, IEC Dallas
Jeff Kirstein, IEC Dakotas
BJ Klingensmith, IEC Florida West Coast
Paul Lingo (task force chair), IEC Rocky Mountain
Adam Schuldt, ATP
Dale Weis, IEC Southern Colorado
IEC Foundation Offers Grant Opportunity
The IEC Foundation offers a grant for reimbursement to IEC chapters when they purchase the IEC New Worker Program curriculum through the IEC Training Advantage bookstore. It covers the full amount if the chapter has participated in the National Student Challenge and half if they have not. Contact info@iec-foundation.org to apply.
