High Demand Jobs with Short Term Education/Training

According to current labor market information, the top 10 industries by employment include:

1.  Manufacturing
2.  Health Care and Social Assistance
3.  Retail Trade
4.  Administrative and Support and Waste Management
5.  Educational Services
6.  Accommodation and Food Services
7.  Wholesale Trade
8.  Construction
9.  Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
10. Finance and Insurance

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Each one of these in-demand areas includes various levels of training opportunities. Short-term training includes certification, apprenticeship training, or Associate of Applied Science degrees (AAS), which is attractive to many people because of the short-term range. Below is a list and description of short-term training options.

Certification

Certification comes in many forms. Basically, it designates that a person has been through some sort of training to be able to do a job well. Certification always means “short-term” training and can last anywhere from a few hours to about a year. People get “certified” in various areas of interest. For example: A massage therapist is certified in about 500 hours, but a welding certification program may take two semesters, or about one year.

Apprenticeship

An apprenticeship is typically learning a job from the ground up. Formal education is not always needed for this type of work because skills are learned on-the-job. As an apprentice masters new skills, he/she moves up levels, is assigned more responsibility and is usually rewarded with more pay. .

Associate of Applied Science degree (AAS)

Applied science degrees are often confused with an associate degree transfer programwhere a student can transfer up to two years of community college credits to a four year college. The difference is the number of general education credits needed to earn the degree and the number of hands-on courses required. Applied science associate degrees typically require 18-20 general education credits with the focus being coursework directly related to a program. An example would be an AAS Informational Technology (IT) degree where the majority of the two-year degree has learning-based computer courses, with minimal amounts of math, English, or social science related coursework. The three types of training listed above are short term in nature, getting the student into the workplace sooner. Many career opportunities exist that require this sort of minimal training. Training beyond high school does not have to mean a four-year bachelor’s degree. A student can enter the workplace in a short amount of time and begin earning a living wage.

OPPORTUNITIES:

1. Students and staff who are interested in learning more about construction, design, project management, and the skilled trades are invited to attend the Kent Career Development Network meeting on April 16th, 8-10:30 a.m. It will be at the Spectrum Health Beltline Integrated Care Center, 3 Mile and East Beltline. RSVP here.

2. What is an engineer?  For 6th-12th grade students, this will be an evening of demonstrations and information about great career opportunities in engineering and science. Attendees will have a chance to speak with current Kettering University engineering students, faculty, and alumni who are currently working in West Michigan. It will be at Aquinas College on April 22. Register here.

3. Share with students who are interested in Information Technology (IT). The course is "Become an iOS Developer" that starts April 22nd. For those that qualify, it's only $100 to attend and they help them get jobs at the end. They are currently at a 70% job placement rate right now for people that go through their programs. More info

4. Construction Workforce Development Alliance West Michigan Offers Jump Start Scholarship- For graduating high school seniors; offers students free tuition for an intensive three-week program, a minimum of two job interviews following completion of the course, and job skills that can be applied immediately in the construction industry.  More info

5. MAT2 which stands for Michigan Advanced Technical Training. This means that students accepted into the program are in a three-year, no-cost education in an in-demand field that leads to an Associates Degree and guaranteed employment for 2 years following the end of the program. This program is currently offered at three community colleges in Southeast Michigan. More info