Articles

College: Not Always the Logical Choice

By Nicholas Wyman | 19/01/2016 | Huffington Post

More Americans are going to college now than ever before. But does this mean that more Americans are on the right road to a well-paying, rewarding career?

Unfortunately, the research shows that a big investment in an expensive education does not necessarily equal a well-paying job. Instead, many college graduates remain unemployed or underemployed — with thousands of dollars in student debt to pay off.

At this point in time it’s hard to deny the fact that we’re facing a major student debt crisis. How much of a crisis? U.S. student loan debt has reached a record $1.2 trillion dollars, most of which is in federal loans. And not only are tens of millions of people currently saddled with mountains of outstanding student debt, default rates are at an all-time high; indeed, according to the most recent numbers, one in 10 borrowers default on their loans within the first two years of repayment. Worse yet, it’s not just the graduating students who are faced with massive debt, but in many cases parents are also taking on loans in a well-meaning effort to support their children’s futures.

Changing needs of employers

So if a college degree, the one credential once thought be a guaranteed ticket to gainful employment, is leaving so many of today’s graduates high and dry, why do so many students of all ages persist in taking on massive debt for a degree that’s often not worth the sheepskin it’s printed on? Well, student loans are largely fueled by the misconception that a college degree will “buy you” a well-paying job — just as when purchasing any product or service. But the reality is that this is no longer the case. Why? The answer, quite simply, is that the needs of employers have changed, while so many aspects of the education system have remained essentially the same. What I mean by this is that sadly, too many colleges and universities are not equipping students with the technical, practical, or soft skills that companies are looking for.

Luckily, if you’re considering going to — or back to — school, whether for a bachelor’s, a master’s, an MBA or some other form of advanced education, there are three things you can do to increase the chances that you’ll emerge highly and immediately employable, and not deep in the hole.

Although a 4-year college education may be the right option for some people at certain points in time, it’s important to let go of the “college for everyone” mentality that pervades our culture and consider if it’s your best option, now. Take a long hard look at the job or career you’re thinking of pursuing. Can the day-to-day skills required to do that position well be taught within the classroom walls?

Next, do the math. If you think college is the ticket to the career you want, it pays to research what your earning potential will be in those first few years at your chosen job. Will that exceed the total amount you’re about to spend on your 4-education? When you buy a car, you know exactly how much debt you’re incurring – the loan terms are defined in the contract. But with college, all kinds of extra costs (including computers, books and supplies) pile up over the years — so make sure to factor those in when calculating the debt you are building. In short, do your homework.

Many college students take unpaid internships to gain practical experience or to bolster their resume, but most complete them in the hopes that making an inroad at a company will help them land a paying job at that organization after college. Not so. In fact, only a tiny percentage of unpaid interns end up getting offered a permanent paid position at the place they interned (and an unpaid internship doesn’t even look all that impressive on a resume anymore now that everyone is doing them).

#There are options

Consider the Earn as you learn method: Apprenticing is one excellent way to avoid a mountain of debt and go to work doing something rewarding, valuable, and profitable, right away. A growing number of informed young people are choosing this debt-free path. In my work, I constantly encounter success stories of people who learned a marketable skill under the supervision of a skilled expert — while earning a steady paycheck.

An apprenticeship can set you on a trajectory to success. It can be the launchpad for a successful, rewarding career, giving young people the opportunity to learn the soft skills that they need to land and, most importantly, keep a job. An apprenticeship teaches young people values and life-lessons that a traditional classroom simply cannot. Not only that, once complete, the majority of apprentices remain gainfully employed with the same company long-term, and end up fast-tracked for promotion because they know the business inside-out. Apprenticeships, and the on-the-job training opportunities that define them, give young people a huge advantage in any job market — without the mountains of student debt.

When it comes down to it, it’s simple: getting a real job in the real world isn’t just about school; it’s about real world skills.

Pragmatic Advice for the Real World

From humble beginnings to a self-made multimillionaire with over $6 billion to date in global product sales and a starring role on ABC’s newest business reality TV show, Shark Tank, Daymond John is the personification of the American Dream. He continues to set standards of excellence while expanding his interests in fashion, branding, marketing, consulting, entertainment, and beyond. This industry leader, best-selling author, and ground breaking entrepreneurial expert has evolved into a highly sought after business and motivational speaker.

As a dynamic business speaker with over twenty years of hands-on proven business experience, Daymond shares the strategies that continue to bring him financial success. As Founder and CEO, Daymond steered FUBU from a mere concept to a global fashion powerhouse with annual retail sales exceeding $350 million at its peak. Utilizing many of the same tactics commonly used today, Daymond John pioneered the art of integrating fashion, culture, and music nearly twenty years ago. From his then unprecedented guerrilla marketing and branding techniques to the continuously innovative ways in which he uses social media, brand integration, and his expertise on pop culture, Daymond remains a cutting edge business strategist.

Daymond teaches audience members how to apply his successful methods to a wide range of businesses today. He shares winning tips for negotiating and negotiating for women, boosting sales, improving employee morale, increasing productivity, and optimizing staff talents. Daymond’s pragmatic advice resonates with everyone from students and entry-level employees to small business owners and corporate CEOs.

As a motivational speaker, Daymond’s quintessential rags-to-riches success story of sacrifice, hard work, and perseverance as well as the unique and charismatic way he communicates it, will inspire any audience.

Specialties:

• Business Strategy
• International Business Branding
• Branding Expert
• Celebrity Alignment
• Brand Development
• Brand Management
• National & International C-Suite Consulting
• Designer
• Marketing
• Motivational Speaker
• Author

(Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daymondjohn)

Think Outside the Cubicle: How to Nab Your Dream Job at Any Age

By Nicholas Wyman | Linked In | Nov 21, 2015

Anyone who thinks they’re too far along on their career path, or that it’s too late in life for them to seize the opportunities of a skills-based career, should be inspired by others; including many retirees or late-career professionals who have decided to take their lives in new, more satisfying directions. Ken Gilbert is one of them. By the time I met him, Ken was three decades into his career in high-tech sales and marketing and management consulting. At age fifty-eight, however, after many years of business travel, meetings, and chasing corporate goals, he was ready for a change.

“I thought about getting a master’s degree and staying in the industry, but if I was going to invest in something, I wanted it to be in something I would enjoy and be able to do for the rest of my life.”

Like many baby boomers, Ken didn’t feel ready to retire, and didn’t see why he couldn’t extend his working career well beyond the traditional retirement age. And like many boomers, he also knew that if he wanted to live comfortably, he’d need to find a way to supplement his pensions and savings with a steady paycheck.

Time to strike out a new path.

Ken looked into a learning institution located just a few miles away from his New England home. Founded in 1881 as a social service organization primarily serving immigrants, the North Bennet Street School has a rich history of providing vocational and prevocational training. NBSS follows a philosophy that hands-on skills are a necessary complement to academic conceptual skills. Today you find students from all over the country in its educational programs in “bench skills” that few other institutions offer: cabinet and furniture making, preservation carpentry, locksmithing, jewelry making and repair, bookbinding, even piano technician.

Many graduates open craft-based businesses; others land prestigious and highly coveted positions in specialized fields. One preservation carpentry graduate, for example, launched his own custom home design company, while another, a bookbinding alumna, today is the rare book conservator for the Library of Congress. Yet another has become a luthier, getting very well paid to repair high-end violins and other stringed instruments. Visiting the school, you see the current students are not just young people starting their careers; many students are late-career professionals, like Ken. It makes sense; after all, people in their forties and fifties and later are often in a great position to use their world and life experience to head off in a new direction. In many cases their kids have left the nest, they’ve saved some money, their mortgages are paid down.

A Perfect Fit.

After seeing the school, Ken knew instantly it was a perfect fit. He had the resources, the time, and the ability to go back to school and retrain as an artisan. Plus, working with his hands had always been one of his favorite pastimes–particularly woodworking and renovating an eighteenth-century house he owned. Ken has always liked making things, and he was good at it. So after talking with the school and considering his options, Ken decided to enroll in a two-year bookbinding program.

During those two years, Ken developed what he described to me as the three artisan essentials: “head, heart, and hands.” And so it was that upon graduating from the program in 2010, Ken found himself working full-time as a self-employed book conservator: making books from scratch, restoring old and rare books, repairing timeworn or damaged family heirloom volumes, and building leather-bound boxes in the shop he opened, Willow Bindery, in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Most of his customers today are book dealers and serious book collectors located all over the United States.

Ken Gilbert is engaged in a fulfilling occupation that he expects to continue for many more years. And he takes great satisfaction in what he does every day. “Restoring a cherished book, and then seeing the happy expression on the owner’s face, is extremely gratifying.

That’s Ken’s story. What about yours?

Are you at a place in life where you’d like to make a career shift? Perhaps your current line of work is being undermined by technological change. Or you’re simply tired of selling insurance, churning out accounting statements, or dispensing legal advice. Maybe you’ve had enough of PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, conference calls, and windowless cubicles.

Whatever the reason, for many it’s a sign that now is the time to seize the opportunity to renew your working life by becoming good at something that gives you immense satisfaction while creating tangible value for others.

Nicholas Wyman is the CEO of the Institute of Workplace Skills and Innovation. He is the author of “Job U: How to Find Wealth and Success by Developing the Skills Companies Actually Need.” This week, Job U won ‘Best Business: Careers Book 2015’ USA Book News Awards. Check it out at www.jobubook.com

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/think-outside-cubicle-how-nab-your-dream-job-any-age-nicholas-wyman

How Apprenticeship Will Save the American Economy

by Nicholas Wyman | Forbes | November 4, 2015

President Barack Obama has proclaimed this week – November 1 though November 7 – as National Apprenticeship Week. States the President, “during National Apprenticeship Week, we recognize the ways apprenticeships foster innovation and prosperity, and we recommit to encouraging and supporting those who offer and partake in them.”

Apprenticeship is the western world’s oldest form of occupational training, and for good reason. By learning first-hand from an experienced tradesperson, an apprentice acquires mastery of a trade, inside and out. It is a hands-on method that equips participants with exactly the right skills and experience to transition directly into a particular job. Modern apprenticeships have countless advantages for employers and the economy as a whole, as well as for anyone at any stage of life, looking to launch a successful, well-paid, and fulfilling career.

This year, the Obama Administration committed $175 million to encourage and expand apprenticeship across the U.S., and in his FY 2016 budget the President asked Congress for another $2 billion to establish an Apprenticeship Training Fund.

The timing is not accidental. The recent recession has made it difficult for many low-skilled workers to get jobs that pay enough to keep themselves and their families above the poverty line. Even many college graduates do not have the skills for jobs in the modern economy. At the same time, many jobs stay vacant because employers can’t find qualified people to fill them.

Apprenticeship training offers a lifeline to both workers and employers. As the President notes in his proclamation, “apprenticeships help people upgrade their skills and keep pace with the demands of the 21st century.”

We all know that work has changed – the type of work we do, the skills required to do it, and the people doing the work. Apprenticeships have changed as well. Traditionally, apprenticeships were focused in the construction trades (and occupied mostly by men), whereas modern apprenticeships encompass a broad range of career areas – including IT, healthcare and finance.

Even older fields, such as manufacturing, are undergoing modern makeovers. No longer is factory work a low-skilled assembly line job. Instead, highly skilled technicians work to install, adjust and maintain complicated machinery and computer systems that run the modern plant. And all of these fields are equally open to both men and women.

To work in any of these fields requires skills. But not necessarily a four-year degree. Imagine coming out of high school – or undergoing a job transition, voluntary or involuntary – and being able to land a well-paying job in computer programming or health care systems after only two years of paid, on-the-job training and classroom instruction. Imagine assisting in the operating room or installing and maintaining complicated factory machinery. You might also get a college credential – a Certificate or an Associate’s Degree – with no student debt.

States have already committed to apprenticeship programs. South Carolina has been running Apprenticeship Carolina for several years, bringing together employers, community colleges and the state Department of Labor to design high-quality apprenticeships that meet employer needs and give workers in-demand skills and training. Over the last seven years, apprenticeships in South Carolina have grown from less than 100 to over 10,000.

And in Minnesota, the state legislature recently passed MN PIPELINE, an initiative that brings employers, local colleges and state officials together to develop occupational skill standards in four areas where job growth is expected to be high: advanced manufacturing, healthcare services, IT and agriculture. The state also allocated money for education grants for the classroom training part of their apprenticeship.

These are high-quality programs, with carefully thought out standards that lead to well-paid jobs. Many people who gain skills via apprenticeship continue to learn and advance throughout their careers; and with recognized, transferable skills, can easily change careers. Others go back to college and get four-year degrees, or even advanced degrees.

What has already begun in some states is now backed by the President, senior policy makers and industry. The major Democratic candidates for President back apprenticeship and skills training as well – although this is not a partisan issue. South Carolina has a solidly Republican state legislature and Minnesota has a split legislature – Republican House and Democratic Senate. Both parties can see the value of creating opportunities for people who need and want skills training, while helping employers fill the technical jobs that power their businesses.

I believe we are on the cusp of a skills-based revolution. For low-skilled workers who need training; college graduates who find they lack the skills for today’s technical jobs; or anyone who is sick of the cubicle life and wants hands-on, concrete work that rewards both the soul and the bank account, an apprenticeship can launch you into a rewarding and well-paid career.

Individual workers, employers and the U.S. economy can only benefit.

Read on Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholaswyman/2015/11/04/how-apprenticeship-will-save-the-american-economy/

3 Reasons to Skill Up this National Apprenticeship Week

By Nicholas Wyman | 6 November 2015 |

President Obama has used the launch of the first National Apprenticeship week to shine the spotlight on the value and opportunity that exists with the expansion of modern Apprenticeship.

The week, he proclaimed, recognizes the ways “Apprenticeships foster innovation and prosperity”. Without encouragement and support for Apprenticeships, the President said the American worker risks falling behind. He said Apprenticeships help people upgrade their skills, to keep pace with the demands of the modern workforce.

For decades, countries like Switzerland and Germany have reaped the rewards of Apprenticeship and there is no question of its impact on keeping unemployment rates low and economies humming in those countries.

Here is three reasons why Apprenticeship Work.

Reason #1: Apprenticeship makes good dollars, and cents.

Let’s start with what drives most businesses: the bottom line. Apprentices give employers a return on their investment. A recent study shows that for every $1 invested in apprenticeship, employers get back $1.47 in benefits. It’s also good news for the broader economy. Each $1 that government invest in apprenticeships, there is a flow on through $27 in economic growth.

And it’s not just industry and economy who see a good business case. With the rising cost of traditional education pathways, Apprenticeships offer a viable alternate. Since apprentices do not carry tuition debt, it’s a start toward chipping away at the more than $1.2 trillion owed to the United States government in student loan debt. Rather than borrowing money, apprentices earn while they learn, so that instead of inflating the debt bubble, they are putting that income to work and contributing in a number of ways to a buoyant economy.

Reason #2: Apprentices are trained with the exact skills your company needs.

The middle skills gap is leaving many jobs unfilled due to lack of a technically trained workforce. Many employers report that in addition to having trouble finding technically skilled candidates, they can’t find candidates with the soft skills they need – like the ability to problem-solve, communicate effectively with clients, or work well in. Hiring apprentices solves this problem. Apprentices are specifically trained in the very skills their employers need, both the soft and the more technical varieties. Apprentices have been mentored, challenged, taught, performed and paid in a real workplace, over the course of several years. As a result, they are completely job-ready and posses not just the practical skills but the work ethic, communication abilities, and the experience in problem-solving that hiring managers are finding lacking in so many candidates coming straight from 4 year college.

Reason #3: Types of Apprenticeships are Expanding

Apprenticeships work in a wide variety of professions – and not just the ones you’d expect. Although apprenticeships may be traditionally associated with skilled trades like construction, they work just as well in other industries.

In fact, in the U.K., where apprenticeships have boomed in recent years, the majority of new apprenticeships are in fields such as business administration, retail, management, and hospitality. There is also evidence that the apprenticeship model translates well to IT, health care, the arts, and even the hard sciences. More and more, smart employers are realizing they can reap the benefits of apprenticeship in just about any profession or field of study.

Despite all its proven benefits the Apprenticeship hasn’t been as fully embraced everywhere, and that needs to change. As echoed by President Obama, on-the-job training provided through an Apprenticeship is an easy way to help ‘skill up’ the next generation that is so vital to our social and economic future. “Our country thrives when all our citizens play a role in driving it forward,” Obama said, “Let us support and encourage apprenticeship programs that will help rebuild our middle class…educating more of our people, retraining our workforce, and renewing our Nation’s promise to put the American dream within the reach of the determined.”

Read online:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-wyman/3-reasons-to-skill-up-thi_b_8469378.html?ir=Australia

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