Nicolet College “perfectly positioned” to help students fill booming middle-skills job sector

Demand for workers with skills training beyond high school continues to surge as traditional blue-collar jobs decline and shift dramatically toward more technically skilled positions.

That’s according to a new landmark Georgetown University study that looked at how labor trends have shifted across the country from 1991 to 2016.

“We’re seeing that exact same trend across the Northwoods,” said Jeff Labs, Nicolet College Dean of Trade, Industry and Apprenticeships. “Talking with employers, there’s clearly been a shift and significantly stronger demand for workers with technical skills training after high school. Nicolet is perfectly positioned to train students for those jobs.”

The Georgetown study found that good jobs in middle-skills sector of the workforce – those with at least some college training after high school – was one of the fastest growing areas.

“Since 1991, good job opportunities declined by 1.8 million jobs on the high school path (and) grew by 3.5 million on the middle-skills path,” Georgetown reported. “The middle-skills pathway includes workers with more education than a high school diploma, but less than a BA (bachelor’s degree), including certificates, certifications, licenses, associate’s degrees, and some college coursework.”

The national study defined good jobs as those paying at least $35,000 a year and averaging $56,000 for workers with less than a bachelor’s degree.

Labs noted that Nicolet is perfectly positioned to provide the training for the booming middle-skills labor sector.

“Now about two out of three jobs demand at least some education or training beyond high school,” he said. “That’s exactly what Nicolet offers and has been doing so for more than 50 years.”

The college currently offers 62 different college credentials. These include short-term certificates, one-year technical diplomas, and two-year associate’s degrees along with various apprenticeships.

Recently the college also launched the Nicolet My Way format to make college more accessible for students, many of whom are working parents.

Instead of a traditional semester-long, 16-week course where everybody moves through the curriculum at the same pace, Nicolet My Way programs take that same curriculum and chunk it into competencies. Students progress through the course at their own pace, mastering one competency before moving on to the next.

Nicolet My Way courses also offer a great deal of flexibility by combining online instruction with open labs where students learn hands-on skills by working one-on-one instructors.

“The whole concept is for students to fit college around their lives rather than fitting their lives around college,” Labs said. “Most of our students work and many also have children. They need that level of flexibility to complete the coursework at times that are best for them. For many, this is the only way they can make a college education a reality.”

The college’s Welding, Information Technology, Business Management, and Accounting programs are currently offered in the Nicolet My Way format. Several other academic programs are expected to adopt the structure in 2019.

For more information, call the college’s Welcome Center at (715) 365-4493, 1-800-544-3039, ext. 4493; TTY 1-800-947-3529 or 711 relay.