Aerospace job training to begin in Everett

Published 12:01 am Saturday, January 8, 2011

EVERETT — Another group of students will begin training this week in Everett for one of the few bright spots in the job market: aerospace.

The Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center at Paine Field will kick off another round of classes Jan. 13 for its aerospace manufacturing

certificate. Students who complete the 11-week programs have been fairly successful in finding jobs in the aerospace industry despite the rough economy.

“This is the way in the door,” said Larry Cluphf, center director.

Out of the 39 students who earned certificates between June and November from the center, 31 have found work in the aerospace industry. And five are in the interviewing process.

Cluphf said it generally takes students about two months of job searching and interviewing to land a job after graduation. About 46 people completed the center’s assembly mechanic certificate in mid-December.

The aerospace industry saw an increase in demand in 2010 as airlines put in orders for new aircraft after delaying and canceling jet orders in 2009. Snohomish County’s largest employer, the Boeing Co., earlier announced plans to increase jet production on its Everett-built 777 this year and its Renton-built 737 in 2012. The company also has two new jets, the 747-8 and 787, that will be ramping up once those aircraft have completed flight testing and gained approval for commercial flight from federal authorities.

Boeing’s chief executive, Jim McNerney, told Bloomberg News in December that the company will hire between 4,000 and 5,000 workers in 2011 in the Puget Sound area and in North Charleston, S.C. Locally, Boeing stepped up its hiring of machinists near the end of 2010 as older workers retired.

It’s preparing a second production line for the 787 in North Charleston.

In September, the aerospace training center began offering tuition vouchers to the unemployed for free training. The center has only 40 of the 136 vouchers left, Cluphf said. Veterans who qualify for the GI bill can use those benefits toward completing the center’s aerospace manufacturing and aerospace assembly mechanic certificates, he said.

Started by the Aerospace Futures Alliance and Snohomish County, the training center has obtained state and federal funding as well as industry donations. It offers classroom and online courses.

For more information on classes at the center, go to washingtonaerospace.com.