Apprenticeships for Growth

How Skills Investment Can Drive Australia's Economy

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Winning Combination: How Technology And Skills Are Taking Up The Fight Against Cancer #Forbes

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by Nicholas Wyman  |  Forbes  |  Jul 13, 2016

 

We live in the age of technological change. Advances in medical technology give hope each year to millions of people affected by cancer. On a recent trip to Palo Alto California, I went behind the scenes to look at one of the industries most innovative, Varian Medical Systems.

Much of my time was spent with the people at Varian’s proton therapy division. Proton therapy is a type of radiation treatment that precisely targets cancerous tumors, minimizing damage to surrounding tissue. Although the technology has been around for some time, Moataz Karmalawy, Vice President and General Manager of Varian Particle Therapy Division told me there’s been huge growth in the use of proton therapy over the past 5-7 years, largely because of excellent clinical results.

Though only a small percentage of cancer patients are treated with proton therapy, those patients tend to be the most at risk. As I walked through the manufacturing facility, the conversations kept coming back to how this technology can help patients, but I wanted to know more about the people behind it. I wanted to know what it takes to build, maintain and run Varian’s complex machines.

image: Instructor trains radiation therapists on TrueBeam technology at Varian in Palo Alto, California (Credit: image supplied Varian Medial Systems)
Image:
Instructor trains radiation therapists on TrueBeam technology at Varian in Palo Alto, California (Credit: image supplied Varian Medial Systems)

“Typically, people who come to Varian have at least an Associate’s Degree and some mechanical experience, often an electronics background,” Wendy Scott Senior Vice President, Chief HR Officer told me. “Some have a physics background as well. But we don’t necessarily require a four-year degree for positions that are involved in building, installing and maintaining our equipment.”

Scott notes that Varian hires a lot of people out of the military, both to build and service the equipment. “Military people just have the right background – they have experience working with large pieces of equipment. And they have the basics, mechanical and electronics skills – a hands-on skills set.”
away from the mechanical side to the electronics side. The work is more electronics-based, more software-based. There is more interfacing with products outside of Varian, which really makes those skills more important.”

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholaswyman/2016/07/13/winning-combination-how-technology-and-skills-are-taking-up-the-fight-against-cancer/2/#5fc98347568f

Made In America: $75 Million Grant Helps Students Gain Technical Skills Employers Need

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By Nicholas Wyman  |  Forbes  |  May 11, 2016

When you back up a commitment with $75 million, people tend to pay attention. I’m certainly paying attention to New Skills for Youth (NSFY), the $75 million grant initiative sponsored by JPMorgan Chase to change the way we approach career and technical education in the U.S.

NSFY is a partnership among JPMorganChase, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Advance CTE. Working together, these business and education leaders want to help young people get the skills they need to find work in challenging, well-paying fields. What has spurred such a high-powered partnership?
Sarah Steinberg, Vice President of Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase , says one factor is the lack of qualified employees for skilled jobs. “We started hearing this from our clients some years back, as the economy was coming out of the 2008 recession. They can’t fill the skilled positions they have available.  Which makes it very difficult to plan for the future.”
In fact, one-third of U.S. employers have job openings they can’t fill. At the same time, too many young people can’t find work. As of March 2016, the youth unemployment rate was over 15% for 16- to 19-year-olds, and 8% for 20- to 24-year-olds. So there are jobs and there are unemployed workers. Why aren’t they meeting?
The answer is skills. Skills needed for many of today’s technically oriented jobs in healthcare, manufacturing and IT. Skills that young people simply lack. “We see it in the communities where we work,” notes Steinberg, “Too many young people are getting off track before they even leave high school.”

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon meets students at Aviation High, Queens, NY. (Credit: JPMorgan)
JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon meets students at Aviation High, Queens, NY. (Credit: JPMorgan)

CCSSO’s Executive Director, Chris Minnich, says state education officials see the same thing. “Looking at the data, we can see that kids aren’t necessarily going to college right away, but they don’t have the skills they need for jobs either. Even if they’re getting certificates, they aren’t prepared, or they’re prepared for jobs that existed 20 years ago.”
New Skills for Youth will help students get skills that match today’s economy via two grant components.  The first, overseen by CCSSO and Advance CTE, distributes money directly to states, first for planning (NSFY awarded planning grants to 24 states plus the District of Columbia on March 30), then for implementation, (Around 10 states will receive implementation grants in October.)

Read the full story here:

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholaswyman/2016/05/11/made-in-america-75-million-grant-helps-students-gain-technical-skills-employers-need/#6917b24d6fc9

#Education Curing Pilot Shortage #Forbes

America’s Students Take Flight:

How Innovative Education Is

Curing The Pilot Shortage

By Nicholas Wyman  |  Forbes  |  March 18, 2016

Children see glinting planes in the sky and dream of being there, high above the earth, free to travel to distant places.  Most of us discard this dream with childhood, however, as there is no clear pathway from our day-to-day lives to a career in aviation.

Aviation executives also have dreams.  They dream of a large pool of skilled, talented workers from which to fill the increasing number of jobs in the aviation industry.Unknown

Can we build a bridge between these two, complimentary sets of dreams?  Two new programs anchored in the public schools think we can.

Chicago’s AeroStar Aviation Exploration Apprenticeship, founded by AeroStar CEO Tammera Holmes, gives up to 75 interested students each year a solid background in everything pertaining to aviation, including history, airplane parts, flight theory, airport basics, avionics systems, aerospace technology, space travel and the future of aviation. The AeroStars Program, as its known, has a particular commitment to helping minority and female students get solid skills in aviation.

AeroStar students are highly motivated. They have a strong interest in aviation and STEM subjects and are always up on the latest aviation news. “When the Malaysian Airline plane disappeared in March 2014,” says Holmes, “they wanted to know how to track it. So we did a ‘find that plane’ module.” Eventually the students presented their findings to highly impressed executives at United Airlines.

Though she is a pilot herself, Holmes stresses that their program explores numerous aviation and aeronautics-related careers, focusing on technology and systems. She notes that both pilots and mechanics are in demand. In fact, Boeing predicts a need for 1.1 million pilots and mechanics over the next 20 years. “And jobs in the aviation industry are well-paying jobs,” observes Holmes.

On the west coast, in Orange County, California, pilot and math teacher Stephen Smith had a similar idea. In 2014, he created the Canyon High Aviation Program, which started with 37 students – “mostly boys,” Smith notes, “but we are trying to attract more girls to the program.” Canyon High offers two electives: Aviation I and Aviation II, and Smith is adding a freshmen-level Careers in Aviation class this fall.

Canyon High’s program focuses on pilot training. “The pilot shortage is already here and it is just a matter of time before the crisis reaches the majors,” says Smith, noting that the airlines are already worried about it. “United Airlines came and spoke to our students about how they have created a department to figure out how to deal with their future needs. They said they are looking at reaching out to students even younger than high school.”

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One Canyon High student graduated with his pilot’s license last year, another finished over the summer, and all students who complete the program have the knowledge and skills needed to complete the written portion of the pilot’s license exam. “Those results are good for two years,” Smith observes, giving students time to acquire the necessary flying hours.

Smith encourages the students to get involved in their local pilots’ associations and attend community events. “In the aviation world, people who have been pilots for 20-30 years, really want to help kids realize their dreams.” One student who attended a recent event got the offer of free flying lessons from a local pilot.

 

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholaswyman/2016/03/18/americas-students-take-flight-how-innovative-education-is-curing-the-pilot-shortage/#2a484665fe08

 

Fulbright recipient to shine spotlight on apprenticeships

Nicholas Wyman, a Swinburne University of Technology MBA graduate, has won the prestigious 2016 Fulbright Professional Scholarship in Vocational Education and Training.

The scholarship will allow Mr Wyman to research new and emerging opportunities for the expansion of apprenticeships in both Australia and the United States.

Fulbright recipient to shine spotlight on apprenticeships - Swinburne
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Mr Wyman, who began his career by learning a trade, is now a workforce development and skills expert and CEO of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation.

He is a leader in developing skills-building, mentorship and apprenticeship programs that close the gap between education and careers.

He will undertake collaborative field research at The Urban Institute in Washington DC.

“My research will be around how to attract large numbers of employers to skills programs and in parallel, cover a wide range of occupations,” says Mr Wyman.

“I look forward to sharing and using the knowledge I will gain through this scholarship to strengthen Australia’s vocational education and training sector.”

Mr Wyman is also a regular contributor to Forbes and Huffington Post, writing about job skills and training in the 21st century workplace. He has an MBA and studied at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2012. His book Job U – Find the path to a successful career in a top job market, was published by Allen and Unwin this month.

The Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind and was created by US Senator J William Fulbright and the US government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it currently operates between the US and 160 other nations.

Mr Wyman joins the ranks of 30 talented Australians to become a Fulbright Scholar in 2016.

http://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/latest-news/2016/02/fulbright-recipient-to-shine-spotlight-on-apprenticeships.php

How Vocational Training Can Help to Shrink the Growing Skills Gap

by Nicholas Wyman. A jobs revolution is upon us. Globalization and the fast pace of technological change will continue to sculpt the jobs of today and tomorrow – and skills training is shaping up to be the way of the future.

Now more than ever, we need to recognize that there is no single pathway for launching and building a successful future. Instead, we need to open our eyes to the countless opportunities for job seekers, at any stage of life, to gain the specialized skills to land rewarding and lucrative careers.

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