Call us an apprenticeship management system. We wont.

The number of tools available to manage apprenticeships is growing, which is fantastic.

We'll be one of the first to cheer a growth in apprenticeships, growth in apprenticeship tools, growth in competitors, growth in options. It all drives progress for apprenticeships, and it's fundamentally great for the apprenticeship industry

What's great for apprenticeships is simply great for the American workforce system and economy.

There's growth in a certain phrase, however, that we simply will not pile into -- apprenticeship management system.

You can call us that. We wont.

Language matters

So what's the problem with that phrase, anyways? It fits with similar Saas language -- CRM for customer relationship management, LMS for learning management system, etc. It'd only be logical for WorkHands to grab onto that phrase.

If you look at what WorkHands core product does, it hits all of the needs of an apprenticeship management system, too:

• On-the-job (OJT) Training tracking

• Related Instruction (RI) tracking

• Managing employers, apprentices, and partners

• Reporting and paperwork

Here's the problem. Language matters.

An Apprenticeship Management System Would Never

Focusing on being an Apprenticeship Management System is so inherently limiting to WorkHands broader goals.

If WorkHands were simply an Apprenticeship Management System, we would never have gotten involved building the Registered Apprenticeship Standards Library at apprenticeshipstandards.org in partnership with the Urban Institute as part of the Registered Apprenticeship Centers of Excellence on Occupations and Standards, for example.

If WorkHands were simply an Apprenticeship Management System, we would not be preparing to launch a whole bunch of new tools to help drive the industry forward this fall. (Hint: Stay tuned.)

Make Apprenticeship Simpler

So what are we doing if not building an apprenticeship management system?

WorkHands core mission is to Make Apprenticeship Simpler.

That's it. We're singularly focused on anything we can do to make apprenticeship simpler. WorkHands builds products to help make apprenticeship simpler. Sometimes, those are paid products. Sometimes those are free products. Sometimes those are on WorkHands. Sometimes they are off WorkHands.

If you want to call parts of that an apprenticeship management system, go for it. We will not.

We will seek out every opportunity to help states build better systems, to giveaway information to drive best practices, to build tools to make apprenticeships more visible, easier to apply to, and yes, track and manage your existing program.

Just don't ask us to limit our mission to being just another apprenticeship management system.