Skills & Careers
The contractor building Rivian’s electric-vehicle plant in Georgia is training local residents for construction jobs through a free, 20-day pre-apprenticeship program, Construction Dive reported Tuesday, Oct. 20. Graduates earn up to eight industry-recognized credentials. Rivian put up $50,000 to start the partnership.
Clayco and its nonprofit affiliate, the Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI), run the effort around Rivian’s Stanton Springs plant site outside Social Circle, Georgia, east of Atlanta. The 20-day training is delivered by Construction Ready, a Georgia-based nonprofit. Construction Dive reported that Rivian’s $50,000 supports pre-apprenticeship training, scholarships, internships and career exposure. Clayco and its subcontracting partners raised another $220,000. The report did not say how that money is being spent or how much the training costs per person.
Who has been trained
According to Construction Dive, the cohort described in its report was one of three and included 24 residents who live near the project. The report did not name the eight credentials, say how many people finished the course, or report how many found work. It did name one hire. Aleem Rashid, 37, spent 10 years managing home remodels in real estate and turned to construction after the Atlanta housing market cooled in 2024. He now works for Concrete Strategies, a concrete contractor wholly owned by Clayco. The report gave no wages for him or for anyone else in the program.
The first cohort trained in a space Rivian hosted at the Georgia BioScience Center. Construction Dive described it as a training facility run by the state. The state-owned Georgia BioScience Training Center, which opened in 2015, is in Social Circle and is operated by Georgia Quick Start, a division of the Technical College System of Georgia, according to the office of then-Gov. Nathan Deal. Rachel Boemer Ashlock, CCDI’s program director, told Construction Dive that Construction Ready “had never really been on the east side of Atlanta.” She said residents were excited that they did not have to drive “an hour and a half across Atlanta” for the training.
Tony Mezines, a Clayco executive vice president and the project executive on the Rivian build, said the next cohort will train at the jobsite for “more integrated training.” He said high school seniors who met the company at career fairs may be eligible to join. Clayco has also given scholarships to two University of Georgia students. The company hopes they will become interns and, later, full-time employees.
The project behind the jobs
Clayco and JE Dunn are building the plant through a joint venture called CJ Adventures. Construction Dive describes it as a 4.5-million-square-foot campus. Rivian held its groundbreaking ceremony in September 2025. In its announcement that month, the company said the plant is expected to create 7,500 jobs by 2030, plus 2,000 construction jobs. It expects to begin producing its midsize R2 SUV and R3 crossover for customers in 2028. Rivian said the project would support suppliers and small businesses in Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties, and the chairman of those four counties’ Joint Development Authority spoke at the ceremony.
Those plant figures are Rivian’s projections, not current employment. They do show why local contractors want a pipeline of trained workers already living nearby as building work increases. Clayco’s outreach page says CCDI is expanding into the Atlanta region with Clayco, Concrete Strategies and Rivian, and is working with local high schools.
What is not yet known
The program is small next to a project expecting 2,000 construction jobs. The reporting so far shows one confirmed hire. It has not shown completion rates, how many graduates were placed, or starting pay. Construction Dive reported that the next cohort is planned but gave no start date.
Sources
- Construction Dive, “Help Wanted: Clayco uses $5B Rivian factory as training opportunity,” October 20, 2026. https://www.constructiondive.com/news/help-wanted-clayco-rivian-factory-training/833364/
- Rivian, “Rivian Holds Kickoff Ceremony for Georgia Plant, Accelerating American Manufacturing Growth,” September 16, 2025. https://rivian.com/newsroom/article/rivian-holds-kickoff-ceremony-for-georgia-plant-accelerating-american-manufacturing-growth
- Office of Gov. Nathan Deal, “Deal opens BioScience Training Center in Newton County,” September 10, 2015. https://nathandeal.georgia.gov/press-releases/2015-09-10/deal-opens-bioscience-training-center-newton-county
- Clayco, “Rivian Outreach,” accessed October 21, 2026. https://claycorp.com/rivian-outreach
Featured photo: Construction workers take part in a two-hour fall-safety training with OSHA at a Barton Malow construction site in Lawrenceville, Georgia, June 4, 2014. Representative image; not the Rivian plant site or the pre-apprenticeship participants. Photo: U.S. Department of Labor, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Cropped from the original.
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