
St. Vincent de Paul Des Moines will develop a four-step curriculum to prepare and align people seeking employment in the trades with entry-level employment to employers who can provide access to pre-apprentice, apprentice and journey career pathways.
Holly Dommer, Back2Work Coordinator, can be contacted at Back2Work@svdpdsm.com | (515) 282-8327
Step 1: Candidate Recruitment (aligned with employer expectations and needs) and Employment Pre-Screen
Step 2: Introduction – Employment Training (2 weeks)
- Understanding employment requirements and expectations
- Job Shadow/Career Pathway Research
- Completion of employment applications/Formal hiring processes completed
Step 3: Employment, On-the-job Training (OJT), SVDPDM Classroom Training, Mentoring (6 months)
- With the employers as they would for any new hire
- On-the-job training mode for a minimum of six months
- During the OJT, there will be scheduled workshops with SVDPDM to provide on-going learning of relevant soft-skills, overcoming workplace challenges and addressing retention issues
Step 4: On-going Support from SVdPDSM (Up to an additional 18 months)
- Candidates will work with SVdPDSM to be connected to and enroll in additional trainings to build
skills to progress on their career pathways. These courses may include: HiSET, Basic Math, ESL, etc. (Classes that are needed to progress on a higher-level career pathway but have a longer trajectory for learning.)


Photos taken by Brittany Freeman