I often see community colleges struggling to help local manufacturing businesses fill jobs with qualified candidates with students who go the route from K-12 to college to workforce. While these businesses have no trouble filling roles with career changers, there is a shortage of K-12 students at the college looking to pursue a career with local industry.
There are a few key challenges colleges face that make this recruitment especially challenging.
Poor Structuring of the K-12 to College Funnel
Many K-12 schools offer some variety of completer programs, which are designed to create a pathway for students interested in a particular subject matter – like CAD, cosmetology, or Family and Consumer Sciences – to funnel from K-12 to college to industry.
Generally speaking, these completer programs are great. They give students the skills they need before continuing their education at college and then entering the workforce. However most schools do not offer a program that bodes well for Industry 4.0.
In order to graduate, a student needs a certain number of credits. However, certain electives do not offer credits that count toward graduation. So essentially the more electives a student takes, the more difficult it is to graduate on time. That means a student is less likely to add one or two electives to study, say mechatronics, as an add-on to their existing coursework.
Institutions should find more creative ways for students to get the credits they need to graduate by having learning concepts cross over different courses. For example, students need to know basic trigonometry to become machinists, but don’t get a single math credit for taking a machining course. Or what about allowing a student to get one introduction to computer science credit for taking a cybersecurity course? Aren’t these all missed opportunity for students to get credit for the work they are doing?
By creating a completer program for Industry 4.0 careers and changing the way credits are given, schools can offer students a more robust education that helps funnel them to community college. Add in a few certifications that can be covered in a course or two along the way and students will be fully prepared for the workforce.
An added bonus? Funding is often more frequently available for completer programs compared to technical electives so there are often more resources available to make changes this way.
Misconceptions Remain About Industry 4.0 and the Manufacturing Industry
Parents still don’t fully understand what modern Industry 4.0 job looks like. When they hear the word manufacturing, they picture oily machines, hard labor, and work that isn’t intellectually stimulating. What they still don’t understand is that these jobs are highly motivated, highly technical, and extremely intellectually stimulating.
It is the job of K-12 administrators as well as community colleges to help educate their communities about the promise of the job opportunities in their area – as well as the industry overall. That also means dismembering the misconception that those with a two-year technical degree cannot make a living wage, which is completely untrue. In fact, jobs in automation are among the highest paying jobs available.
Colleges need to work more hand-in-hand with their local high schools. A major resource here is guidance counselors, who simply need to become more educated about the industry. Together, colleges and K-12 administrators can host events – perhaps even partnering with local industry – where parents can come in and hear about what these high tech jobs look like and how they can be valuable to students.
It’s not just about the parents. Students also need to get excited about a potential career in manufacturing.
When a 15-year-old is unsure of what they want be when they grow up, how do you give them basic exposure to a range of options – including modern Industry 4.0 – at a K-12 level? Again, this comes down to outreach by the K-12 and community college institutions.
