The NewForce Model
NewForce is proudly building a tech economy that works for everyone — and connecting you with a talented pool of developers who bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to your team.
Technical Knowledge and Extensibility
Skills, Experience, and Readiness
Reach out to learn more.
Ready to get connected to NewForce grads, or simply learn more about the program? Tell us about your hiring needs, and we can connect you with job-seekers who would be the perfect fit!
How can NewForce grads help your business grow?
Companies that rely on technology to do business face a major challenge that can make or break their success: the ability to consistently access a well-trained and dedicated workforce.
Here are just a few reasons why companies love hiring our grads as junior developers:
- They’re ready to learn: Hiring junior talent means you can on-board them to your company culture and train them to build software the way you want them to. They’re eager to learn and get their hands in the code. Tasks that might feel tedious to a more senior developer would become an invaluable learning experience for a junior!
- They’re great on a team: We can train people to code, but people skills are harder to teach. We know that software engineers don’t work in a vacuum, so we recruit and screen for people who are great communicators and teammates as part of our competitive interview process. All NewForce graduates have excellent professional skills, as well as hard programming skills.
- They bring valuable professional experience to the table: We train people from all different backgrounds, from veterans to teachers to medical professionals. No matter what industry your company works in, we’ve probably trained someone with a relevant background and a high amount of domain expertise they can bring to the table along with their coding skills.
Hiring Incentive Through “Learn and Earn”
Through a grant-funded program under the West Virginia Community and Technical College System, Learn and Earn allows employers who hire recent NewForce graduates to receive up to 50% salary reimbursement for the first 6-12 months on the job. This program provides a hiring incentive for employers and enables students to transfer skills they learned at NewForce and put them to practice in your workplace.
While Learn and Earn is a grant-funded program, other than initial paperwork outlining the company’s needs and estimated number of hires, companies are not responsible for any grant management. After signing up and being approved, the company simply invoices Mountwest Community and Technical College (MCTC) with pay stubs as backup documentation for this reimbursement. This can be done as frequently as the company sees fit. Some vendors invoice every pay period, some vendors invoice once a month to every other month.
Benefits are not eligible for reimbursement through Learn and Earn, though companies may—and Generation West Virginia encourages them to—offer benefits to employees hired through NewForce.
Companies are eligible for the 50% salary reimbursement for the first six months of the NewForce graduate’s employment. Some employers structure this as a six month internship, while others apply it to the first six months of full employment.
Learn and Earn is referred to as an internship in the paperwork since the goal of the program is to offer continued on-the-job training beyond the classroom. There are no hiring obligations with Learn and Earn. For example, if you structure your employment as a six month internship or contract, once the six month eligibility period is complete, you may hire the NewForce graduate full-time, but are not obligated to do so.
There are options to extend eligibility beyond the six month reimbursement period depending on if the NewForce graduate is interested in taking any remaining classes needed to apply their training toward an Associates Degree in Technical Studies. This is determined on an individual basis following the conclusion of the first six months based on interest from the employer and student.
Reach out to NewForce to get connected with Mountwest Community and Technical College (MCTC) to start the initial paperwork. MCTC will walk companies through every step. They will work with the company to:
- Collect information needed to submit a grant proposal to the state for the anticipated reimbursement amount (MCTC takes care of the grant writing process completely after getting basic info from the company).
- Get the company set up as a vendor with the state of WV (who actually writes the checks!).
- Sign a simple MOU. The MOU lays out the number of NewForce graduates the company plans to hire (companies are not committed to this number, but it serves as an up-to amount for budgeting an estimated total reimbursement amount), the rate of pay (can be an average if multiple hires), and how many hours they will work.
Who Hires NewForce Grads?
NewForce graduates have landed in both local and national companies. These are a few of the employers that have hired our graduates.
Invest in the Future of West Virginia
NewForce Employer Partners benefit from statewide and regional promotion and gain recognition as an innovative companies committed to building opportunity for the next generation of West Virginia.
Unlike traditional staffing fees, donations for each NewForce graduate hired support scholarships for future students to attend tuition-free.