Someone is finally getting the message that the four-year “post-secondary” degree is quickly becoming a thing of the past and that “skills learning”, especially certified skills is the model for the future. Not only do many of the current graduates get their degrees and a massive debt that chains them to years of “servitude” in a job that has nothing to do with their degrees while they struggle to pay off that debt even those jobs might be obsolete unless you gain some certified skills along the way.
A recent article from Big Think outlines the current trends in college enrollment and quotes “New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has found that college enrollment in the U.S. has again decreased for its eighth consecutive year. The report covers up to 97 percent of enrollments within the country at degree-granting postsecondary institutions.”
The article points out that the education of the future and the careers of the future will consist of what the article says, “…is one of a future geared towards skills, not degrees.”
Construction is among the careers where the certified skills will move you into the high rungs on the ladder. Construction also fits the model that the skilled worker of the future will be assigned a number of tasks sometimes in different companies or within the same company on the way to building a portfolio of certified skills that will apply to a variety of viable careers at a time when the construction industry desperately needs skilled craft workers.
The article points to the new “gig economy” and to major companies that do not require college degrees, but rather skills that apply to the new technology. This is all a part of the futurist thinking that our grandchildren will have 5 careers and 4 of them do not exist today. For construction, the model exists and the careers are available for everything from field work to high tech BIM work.
You can read the article to see how it applies to your business or to your career, but it is a harbinger for the future and the changes ahead.
