Each year, we see further evolutions in work and hiring. This creates an environment where both workers and employers must continually assess if the current ways of doing things are working and if not, how to fix them quickly.
Younger generations, too, are observing how these changes impact their parents and caregivers, and many are coming to their own conclusions about what does and does not work. This is creating a multi-faceted ripple effect playing out across workplaces.
These dynamics are also creating an adjacent effect where younger generations and their parents are beginning to ask if pursuing a college degree still makes sense financially and time wise. Greater interest in alternative paths to obtain marketable skills is opening larger conversations when it comes to creating job descriptions and job titles that will be in demand.
Alternative Education Paths
It has long been known that the college track is not for everyone, and the provision of skills-based paths remains popular in industries such as healthcare and manufacturing. These skills can come from a range of educational paths including vocational training, apprenticeships, courses online and bootcamps for coding. Greater acceptance across the board for these college degree alternatives is helping shift the old paradigm of blue-collar and white-collar workers into something more inclusive, more relevant, and more adaptable.
New-Collar Workers
These shifts are bringing greater interest to the hiring of new-collar workers. New-collar workers combine tech skills and soft skills with no college degree required. But the term, new-collar workers is not new. Ginni Rometty, CEO, IBM, was credited with the term back in 2016. The blend of skills possessed by new-collar workers is proving especially beneficial in roles and in organizations that emphasize practical experience over learnings from traditional academic degrees.
Emerging Fields for New-Collar Workers
• Artificial Intelligence
• Cybersecurity
• Electric vehicles
• Engineering
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Robotics
• Software
• Technology
Educational Outlook
The trend for skills-based learning is also playing out on the campuses of two-year colleges where more students are choosing to spend their time and money earning a certification or associates degree toward a skills-based occupation rather than pursuing the longer, more expensive road toward a 4-year college degree.
Some organizations and industries are embracing this trend, pairing internal resources with local community colleges and resource training centers to offer focused, skill-based training that is relevant to the current time and place. Employers who are interested in building new-collar workers in-house are encouraged to look for ways to partner with community colleges, vocational schools, and online learning centers to help current employees bridge skills gaps before they become an issue.
