Arizona’s skills economy: Careers without college

Katherine Cecala

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One of the advantages of a traditional college education is that there was a clear end goal: a degree. Today, however, pathways to acquiring the necessary skills for fulfilling and rewarding careers aren’t as clearly defined as they once were. This is why coaching, mentoring, networking and informed insights are so important for today’s young people as they begin to navigate education and future employability.”

Point & Counterpoint

Is attending college worth it?

For generations, a high school diploma or college degree was sufficient in preparing young adults for the transition into building a career. But in recent decades, the emergence of the “skills economy” has created a fundamental shift in how employers evaluate credentials and redefined what career readiness means.

According to job search site, Indeed, career readiness is defined as “the process of preparing yourself to enter the workforce.” Traditionally, this process of learning new skills and creating goals in preparation for a career happening inside the walls of educational institutions, but there has been a growing disconnect between the alignment of education and employment going back to the 1990s, fueled by leaps in technological advancement and the expansion of the global economy.

The Harvard Business Review cited the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis as the element that brought the skills economy to the forefront of business and career readiness. During the Great Recession, it became apparent that many college graduates were taking on more student loan debt than they could pay off given their chosen professions. Employers began looking for other metrics to evaluate candidates, especially since not every career requires a college degree.

This emergence of the skills economy in the professional world is defined by the World Economic Forum as “a transformational shift in how businesses and individuals think about professional value and success, placing individual skills — the skills we have and need, and our ability to acquire new ones — at the forefront of decision-making, while challenging the significance of traditional credentials and job titles.”

Under the skills economy, employers began seeking out skills that don’t necessarily require a college education, such as strategic thinking, creative problem solving, teamwork, digital literacy, digital analysis, programming and more.

These skills can often be built up through experience via apprenticeships, internships and on-the-job training, as well as through alternative pathways, like certifications and technical training programs.

That doesn’t mean that education has completely fallen to the wayside in the age of the skill economy. A large portion of high-paying occupations still require a college degree. However, not all degrees are created equal, and college isn’t right for everyone. For instance, research by The Burning Glass Institute and Strada Education Foundation finds that 52% of college graduates in the U.S. are “underemployed,” meaning they are working at jobs not associated with their college majors and earning less than they could be.

One of the advantages of a traditional college education is that there was a clear end goal: a degree. Today, however, pathways to acquiring the necessary skills for fulfilling and rewarding careers aren’t as clearly defined as they once were. This is why coaching, mentoring, networking and informed insights are so important for today’s young people as they begin to navigate education and future employability.

At Junior Achievement of Arizona, work and career readiness are a major focus of the programs and learning experiences. By better aligning education with employment opportunities, with or without college, Junior Achievement is committed to helping the young people we serve achieve economic mobility.

Some of the tools we provide to help students prepare for the transition into a career include in-classroom programs, experiential education that provides young people with hands-on learning, virtual programs that reach students regardless of location or learning method, and immersive instructional models integrating relevant learning across the core academic experience.

And recent research including responses from Millennial and Gen Z JA Alumni by Ipsos show that over half of JA Alumni say Junior Achievement positively influenced their work ethic (57%), career choices (56%), and money management (54%).

The report also found that the top career fields JA Alumni report working in include those with well-paying professions that don’t require degrees, such as computers/IT, health care/medicine, financial services and business ownership.

Editor’s note: Katherine Cecala is president of Junior Achievement of Arizona, a Tempe-based nonprofit. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.