Community college, universities, or specialized schools – what works for you?

You’re ready to take the next step for finding and learning about your medical career; now, what sort of school should you attend? There are several types of post-secondary institutions that offer different types of education. Before you decide on where to go, ask yourself these questions:

• What sort of career are you aiming for? Different careers require different levels of schooling. For example, you can’t become a doctor by attending a community college, but you can become a nursing assistant or acquire skills in the medical field itself. You can also transfer your credits to a university later on down the road and achieve your dream of becoming a doctor.

• What kind of learner are you? How you learn will determine what kind of education you will need. People who do better in an auditory/visual environment might prefer the academic environment of university. People who are more hands-on may do better in a community college or technical school environment.

• What can you afford? Tradition-al universities are often much more expensive than colleges. However, community colleges are often better for preparing for university, and you can transfer credits if the institution is accredited.

Once you’ve asked yourself these questions, you can start to research institutions. They basically fall into three main categories:

• Universities. These schools are traditional colleges, giving out degrees in disciplines such as English, Humanities, Arts and Sciences. They tend to be generalized degrees, incorporating a large spectrum of careers and education. You can take nursing, medicine, physical therapy or chiropractics.

• Community Colleges. These schools tend to be much more technical, teaching their students exactly what they need to know for specific careers. Mechanics, people in the nursing field, and medical assistants would go to a school like this. Specialized education will prepare you for a career by giving you lots of hands-on experience. They also may provide distance education in a variety of disciplines and even special interest classes.

• Technical or trade schools. These schools are extremely specialized – electricians, plumbers, welders, etc. will receive their education at these schools. There, they will learn their trade, make contacts and apprentice to further their careers.

Whatever you choose, make sure to do your research and make sure that your diploma or degree will serve you well in the working world.

John Ratzenberger, still most famous as postman Cliff Clavin on Cheers, spoke recently at the Log Cabin, a banquet and meeting house in Holyoake Mass., to advocate the value of skilled trades.

Ratzenberger, speaking to a group of local businesses, lamented that skilled trades are getting left behind by society and discounted as a career option by too many young people.  He asked employers at the meeting to take on groups of teenagers for summer camps internships that would teach them skills.

“Everything we are and everything we do, every single day depends on one person’s ability to put a nut and a bolt together. That is the most important job in America and we’re losing it,” Ratzenberger told the crowd. He added that the value placed on “working with your hands is dying” and that this can be a great way to learn some common sense.

You can watch Ratzenberger’s address below:

Cliff Clavin and John Ratzenberger

Cliff Clavin was the pedantic US mail carrier and best buddy of “No-o-o-o-o-orm!” who often interrupted conversations with “little known facts.” Contrary to Ratzenberger’s opinion of skilled trades, Cliff’s clear choice of career was the US Postal Service, believing implicitly that this was man’s highest calling. When he met Frasier’s career-cop dad Martin Crane, Cliff’s response was, “Couldn’t pass the mail carrier’s exam?”

Ratzenberger has actually had a lucrative, very successful post-Cheers career voicing numerous memorable characters in Disney-Pixar animated films, including all three Toy Story movies (including the one coming out this summer), Monsters, Inc. and Bugs Life, among others.

So, if you believe some people we are now on our way out of the recession. The skilled trades job market seems to hum along as well as it ever has. A few recent news stories paint a picture of the present and future of skilled trades jobs.

The Guardian complains about government policy in the UK

A story in the Guardian – albeit, this is the Guardian – claims to uncover an issue that has been hampering policy there for several years: the persistent miscalculation of how employment will change by the year 2020 and what impact societal and other changes should be anticipated and how they should affect present politics. The article, in part, cites Ed Balls, the schools secretary, who says in part, that the future of Britain’s job market holds an “increasing demand for higher skills, with very few jobs available for people with low or no skills”.

The article offers a portrati of some young job seekers who have acquired skills but no strong job prospects. And on the other hand, “sceptics of the government’s policy [say the] predictions are groundless. There is no evidence, they say, that the number of mainly low-paid jobs that recruit young people with few or no skills or qualifications is going to shrink.”

Canada: more training, more demand and even some appreciation

In Canada, trade schools like the one offered at Sir Sanford Fleming College are successfully running students through the program and growing steadily. And a survey of Ottawa Valley businesses found that there is a growing shortage of skilled trades workers. Meanwhile, visiting St. John’s Newfoundland, Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised local construction and promised  that the Government will continue investment in Newfoundland’s employment and training programs.  Among other things, he told the crowd: “If construction professionals adopt new technologies and stay current with their expertise, they should have long, busy and successful careers,” the Prime Minister said.

Your neighbourhood

Leave a note to tell me and others how things are in your neck of the woods. Are there lots of skilled trades jobs? Do they pay well? Is there still a recession affecting you? Drop a comment and unless it’s spam I’ll allow it, to see if we can engage some discussion on the latest about skilled trades jobs.

And where have I been?

I would be remiss if I did not note that I have not blogged in an incredibly long time. The simple fact is that this is one of numerous gigs I have and I have numerous other commitments that (frankly) pay better and more immediately. You can bet that I will still be checking in now and then and blogging when there is proper blogging to do.

The construction trades program at Fort Scott Community College got a little extra help last week.

The program had recently received a selection of Kobalt tools, part of the new Tough Tools for Cool Schools program. The program is a partnership between Lowe’s, Kobalt Tools and the Skills USA organization. The FSCC program is part of the more than 500 Skills USA building trades and renovation programs in post-secondary institutions across the United States. These programs have received a total of $300,000 worth of tools for use in classrooms.

“Lowe’s is proud to work with Kobalt Tools and Skills USA to continue to prepare America’s future skilled work force and help students excel in their chosen career paths,” said Lowe’s President and Chairman of Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation, Larry Stone. “With Kobalt tools in their toolbox, and the education and knowledge from Skills USA and their schools, we believe students will be ready to succeed when they enter the work force.”

Lowes donated the tools. Along with Kobalt Tools and Skills USA, Lowes is helping the next generation of skilled trade professionals across the nation.

“We’re honored,” said Chris Sterrett, the director of the construction trades program at FSCC. “It felt good to have the recognition. We’re having an impact on students’ lives. Lowe’s is one of many corporate partners to step up and participate in what we’re doing,” he added. “We’ve had a good response from business and industry.”

Skills USA Executive Director Timothy Lawrence said the tool donations will help many young people who plan to enter the construction industry in the future.

“The donation of Kobalt tools to Skills USA’s building trades labs nationwide will help prepare the next generation of workers and leaders for the challenging and competitive construction workforce of the 21st century,” he said. “The youth who will benefit from this generous donation will build and maintain our homes, schools and commercial structures in the future. Through the Tough Tools for Cool Schools program, Skills USA, Lowe’s and our technical training schools are building something together that will truly make a lasting impact.”

The national Tough Tools for Cool Schools program began in March.

The Penta Career Center is an excellent example of proper planning and execution that will hopefully inspire some of its students as they pursue careers in vocations and skilled trades.

Read more

At a special day for Rhode Island high school guidance counselors, representatives of various careers were allowed to school the counselors in how to get kids excited about various career tracks including skilled trades and trade school.

Marine trades in particular relished the opportunity. Karl Nordstrom, representing New England Boatworks, and Wendy Mackie, serving as executive director of My Turn Rhode Island, told counselors that there are over 6,000 jobs in the marine trades sector, and another 2,400 people needed over the next decade. While marine trades have talked to students in the past, “what we haven’t been able to do [until now] is target you,” said Nordstrom.

“All kids say they want to go to college,” said Donna Tobin, president-elect of the Rhode Island School Counselors Association. “But I ask what they’re planning to do with it, what they want to get out of it . . . You don’t want to send a kid to college if it’s not going to help. Sometimes they need to find a career first, and then see how college is going to help them.”

Rhode Island is projecting an increase of 54,000 jobs by 2016, and half of those jobs will require some form of higher education, including trades training available at trade schools such as New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) or the Baran Institute of Technology.

There’s an excellent report on a summer camp in Canada that is giving kids hands-on training and technical skills. The Trades and Tech Camp at Uxbridge High School in a suburb of Toronto. The hands-on camp engages students in skills related to numeracy and technology, introducing and building skills in things such as AutoCad. On the whole, the goal of the camp was to allow kids to explore a wide range of skilled trades.

These skilled trades will be in high demand, if all prognostications about the employment future hold true. The interest that kids gained will help them find the right fit for themselves and their careers. Encourage your local high school or industry to do the same!

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According to findings of a recent survey by the Career College Association, nearly 50 percent of those surveyed called career and technical colleges the best alternative to four-year universities, well ahead of community colleges. Only 17 percent of those surveyed favored community college.

Although community colleges (typically averaging 3200 a year in student loans required are usually much less expensive than career colleges. Both community college and career college numbers have risen in the last few years, with more than two million students currently enrolled in trade schools and career colleges. According to the survey, “Trade schools are also graduating students at a higher rate than community colleges: 64 percent of students enrolled in career colleges graduate within three years, compared to only 38 percent of community college students, who have a dropout rate of 45 percent.”

In addition, nearly 90 percent of students at for-profit institutions graduate with debt from student loans. Of these graduates, 10 percent finish school with student loan balances of $45,000 or more.

President of the CCA, Harris Miller, notes that trade schools have increased their edge by facilitating and also marketing workforce readiness over traditional academic higher education. Of 15 occupations projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow the fastest over the next decade, only six require a university degree.

There will be more than 250,000 job openings for skilled workers by 2016, uin the country of Canada alone. Construction Looking Forward, the fourth annual forecast of labour market trends, by the Construction Sector Council was unveiled at a press conference in Mississauga Ontario.

The report identifies over 30 occupations and trades with positions in demand, including boilermakers, construction supervisors, millwrights and crane operators.

In releasing the report, Tim Smith, executive vice president at  EllisDon construction said,  “It’s a tough job… but you’re in an outside environment, your anxieties are probably less. You can see accomplishments and wages are good.”

The number of buyouts, retirements and reduction of other costs will result in the Big Three carmakers recommencing hiring as early as this September says a report from the Center for Automotive Research, an Ann Arbor company. “The bleeding will stop,” says the report’s co-author, Kristin Dziczek.

Overall employment will drop but companies have been getting brisk response to buyout offers, opening up entry level positions for skilled and unskilled workers.

Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman fro Gov. Jennifer Granholm, says, “Our automakers are clearly making the tough decisions that will make them stronger in the days to come. That strength could result in thousands of area hires [although] it doesn’t detract from the need to diversify the state’s economy.”

Among the projected 46,000 hires, over 8,000 new employees will be skilled workers trained in engineering and technical trades and an additional 1200 skilled trades people. In fact, says the report, the auto companies are concerned “about the future pipeline of skilled workers” in Michigan.

The projected hiring is as follows:

· Total new hires through 2011 — 36,250;
through 2016 — 45,955

· Hourly production workers
through 2016 — 24,154

· Skilled trades
through 2016 — 1,205

· Salaried employees
through 2011 — 12,095;
through 2016 — 21,800

· Engineering/technical
through 2011 — 4,927;
through 2016 — 8,846
Source: Center for Automotive Research