The U.S. education and career training system is at a crossroads. Current degree programs can be expensive and time-consuming, and may fail to provide the practical, job-ready skills employers seek. This disconnect contributes to the growing skills and experience gap, affecting both employers and workers. Therefore, collaboration among schools, employers, professional associations, and government agencies is essential to develop new solutions.
A New Approach is Necessary in Education and Training
Ryan Craig, Managing Director at Achieve Partners and author of Apprentice Nation, highlights the growing gap between academic training and employer needs. “Colleges and Universities have been doing a good job equipping young people with cognitive or durable skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication skills and the like. But that’s no longer sufficient. Employers are increasingly looking for discrete combinations of digital skills and business knowledge. But even if you close that ‘last mile’ gap, employers are explicitly or implicitly demanding 6, 12, 24 months of work experience. That’s a huge problem for college grads.”
Craig emphasizes that integrating relevant work experience into education is crucial as AI threatens entry-level jobs traditionally used for on-the-job learning. “The bargain with entry-level workers has always been, we hire, we pay you, and you don’t know what you’re doing. While you learn the ropes, you’re going to be doing all the grunt work. Now that grunt work is going to be done by AI.” He warns, “…this experience gap is going to become a chasm.” He envisions a future where relevant in-field work experience is mandatory for graduation to ensure employability.
Community Colleges and Employers are Addressing the Skills Gap
Community colleges have strong ties to local employers and must adapt to economic changes effectively. Joey Wheatley, Executive Director of Ivy+ Career Link at Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend, Indiana, stresses the need for academic flexibility. “In the past 10 years, unemployment has ranged from 20% coming out of COVID, all the way down to below 1%. As a community college, we really have to adapt quickly to either take on an influx of students when there’s high unemployment, or like currently, with low unemployment, really engage with employer partners to find creative ways to keep their workforce upskilled in this changing industry environment. It’s been a two-way conversation on what employers need, as opposed to just doing what we’ve done for the past thirty years.”
Lippert, a manufacturing company with more than 15,000 employees, faced a skills gap as it rapidly expanded post-COVID. Matt Jerlecki, Lippert’s Director of Learning, explains. “Coming out of COVID, after the harsh downturn, we expanded exponentially, and business was booming for a couple straight years. We were forced to move people into positions out of necessity; people without prior experience or the right skill sets from colleges or trade schools. Now, we have these people in positions such as HR, Quality, LEAN, and Safety, but there’s a skills gap. They need very specific skill sets to perform better in their jobs.”
Lippert worked with Ivy Tech to create a flexible training program. Traditional education models were impractical for their workforce, so they developed “Lippert Wednesdays,” where employees attend 4-hour classes once a week for 8 weeks without losing pay.
Timing wasn’t the only issue. Lippert’s staff had to buy into the end goal. They needed incentives to make it worth the effort. “First, we knew we had to cover the cost of school. Second, we wanted them to end up with something tangible; a certification or skill they could take with them to their next job, next career, next city. And we didn’t want them to lose 1 minute of pay to be able to do this.” This program quickly gained popularity, expanding from a single class to multiple sessions offering various courses from HR, to CAD, to Supply Chain.
Lippert was also able to get funding for their training program through the Department of Labor (DOL) apprenticeship program. “When we started running these courses, we looked at different funding options and the apprenticeship program presented itself. The DOL has a catalog of over 5,000 registered apprentices and federal, state and regional funding is tied to those programs. A large number of those are 1-year apprentices requiring 140 hours of outside training, 2,000 hours of work, and a specific list of competencies. Ivy Tech was able to modify the curriculum enough so the related certification was included. Now we’ve gone from 1 or 2 registered apprentices every couple of years to 52 registered in one calendar year. “
Expanding Apprenticeship Programs into White-Collar Professions
Apprenticeships are not limited to trades; they are valuable in teaching digital and white-collar skills as well. The U.S. lags behind countries like the U.K., Australia, and Germany in apprenticeship participation. Ryan Craig attributes this to a lack of employer investment and the absence of government-funded intermediaries that manage and support apprenticeship programs. These intermediaries play a crucial role in recruiting, developing curricula, mentoring, and securing funding.
Two of the biggest impediments to apprenticeship growth in the U.S., according to Craig, are that “…there aren’t enough incentives to create apprenticeship programs and hire apprentices, and the process of registration is designed for the building trades and not relevant for the new white-collar apprenticeships. Funding is now distributed through local workforce boards, making it very difficult for a national or even multi-state company to create an apprenticeship program in more than one city or region.”
Jerlecki, who has been establishing apprenticeship programs for Lippert in multiple states, confirms the pain point. “We’re doing it out of necessity. We need team members in these states. We need that skill set. It’s not easy, but we’re doing it 100% because we need to.”
The Role of Professional Associations
Ryan is confident that associations will play a big part of the growth of apprenticeships in the U.S. “I don’t think the bureaucrats at the Department of Labor are going to be writing occupational skills frameworks for every apprentice occupation. So, I think professional associations and other groups that are much closer to the ground need to take the lead.” He sees the DOL as providers of approval and funding, while the skills frameworks are developed outside of government.
Most associations have already created these frameworks through their certification programs, and those certifications are integrated into apprenticeship and college and university training programs. For example, the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Certified Professional (SHRM-CP®) and Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP®) programs are built into Ivy Tech and Lippert’s program. Wheatly explains, “A third-party governing body like SHRM takes the validation of knowledge and experience out of our hands.”
Success Is on the Horizon
The development of apprenticeships in the U.S. offers a clear path to bridging the skills and experience gap. Apprenticeships provide new workers with the time and space to develop their skills while helping employers meet their workforce needs. Craig is optimistic about the direction of this effort. “It’s going to take a lot of us a lot of work, but the good news is that we’re heading in the right direction.”
Lippert’s success is evident in its impressive retention rates. According to Jerlecki, “Of any team member that has taken at least one of our courses through Ivy Tech, the retention rate is 95%. I challenge you to find a retention plan that’s as effective as that.” This model of cooperation and lifelong career training serves as a promising solution to the current challenges in education and workforce development.
To learn more about the apprenticeship program featured in this article, watch an on-demand recording of HC’s Leader’s Edge Webinar: A Cooperative Approach to Lifelong Career Training.
