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MiMfg Magazine
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October 2018
The Great Debate: Degrees or Skills?
By Joe Kitterman • 180 Skills
In today’s tight labor market everyone is
struggling to find the workforce they need — this
is especially true for our nation’s manufacturers.
For the first time in at least 20 years, there are
now more job openings than there are people
looking for work.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings
dropped for the first time since the Labor
Department started collecting data in 2000, with
an especially large increase in manufacturing jobs.
One of the reasons for this shortfall is workers
appearing to not have the skills employers are
looking for because the employer’s hiring process
looks for traditional academic degrees, not skills.
Modern manufacturing is complex and driven by
innovations in processes, automation, and the
ever-increasing complexity of a global economic
system. As a result, workers have needed to acquire
new skills in order to continue their work in
manufacturing. According to Deloitte and their
Global Human Capital Report, the half-life of a
skill is 5 years. That means today’s manufacturing
worker requires constant retraining.
We also have the challenge of the perception of
skills training. The cultural perception of both
education and the general public is that the path to
success is anchored in a degree.
Yet our nation’s employers agree that individuals
with a degree are not necessarily prepared for the world
of work. According to Inside Higher Education,
college students may believe they’re ready for a job,
while employers think otherwise.
As a former plant manager, I know firsthand
the importance of skills. Skills run the nation’s
manufacturing facilities, and those skills change at
a rapid rate. Experience has taught me that when
individuals lack the skills they need, manufacturers
face quality and safety issues, miss production
deadlines, and waste resources on rework.
Get More!
The talent stats are staggering — dive deeper:
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Job Openings and Labor Turnover – July 2018
• Deloitte Global Human Capital Report:
2018 Global Human Capital Trends
• Inside Higher Education:
Overconfident Students, Dubious Employers
CREATE
So how do we change the conversation from
Degrees to Skills?
The first step is to remove barriers of access.
We need to stop searching for degrees and start
creating the skills we need. Three ideas for action
that you can take today are:
1. Make training available to everyone that
applies for a job but does not yet have the
required skills.
2. Make training available through community-
based organizations.
3. Make training available to everyone willing
to work.
When we change our hiring process from one
that looks for degrees to one that creates skilled
workers, the result is greater opportunity and access
across the board.
We have seen manufacturers take this approach
and they are seeing results. To applicants that
would otherwise be shut out, they now have access
to the training they need. If they complete the
training, they are guaranteed an interview and if
they qualify, they get the job…and you get a
committed individual willing to learn in a time
of ever-changing skills.
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Joe Kitterman is CEO for 180 Skills, creators of the
world’s largest library of skills training for manufacturing
careers. He may be reached at [email protected].
180 Skills is an MMA Premium Associate Member
and has been a member since 2017. For more,
visit online: http://180skills.com.