The Hard Work of Becoming Qualified

Employers have jobs to fill and cannot find qualified applicants. It is a familiar concern in workforce development meetings. Yet a shortage of trained workers is not the same as a shortage of people willing and capable of learning the work.

Every year, young adults leave high school uncertain of what comes next. College may not be right for them, at least not yet, and military service may hold little appeal. They need to earn a living and find their way into an occupation, but they lack the training employers require and often have little idea where to begin acquiring it.

What if we stopped discussing employers’ unmet needs and these young people’s uncertain prospects as though they were unrelated problems? Could we begin to address both?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 1.2 million recent high school graduates were not enrolled in college in October 2024. Among those participating in the labor force, 20.4% were unemployed.

Behind those numbers are young people who need to make decisions about their futures. Many are capable of becoming the skilled employees an organization needs, provided someone is willing to employ them and invest in developing their occupational skills.

In Texas, Central Health partnered with Austin Community College to develop a 15-week medical assistant apprenticeship for individuals without previous medical experience. Participants receive full-time employment, benefits, and a scholarship while completing classroom instruction and practical training toward certification. The employer participates in preparing the person it intends to employ.

Manufacturing offers another example. Through the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), Eastern Iowa Community Colleges works with manufacturers that employ students three days a week while they attend college classes and laboratories for two. Students earn wages, develop occupational experience, and work toward an associate degree in industrial maintenance.

These arrangements offer something worth considering, but an employer cannot reasonably be expected to develop a separate educational program for every position it struggles to fill. The greater opportunity may lie in reconsidering what employers expect of someone entering an occupation for the first time.

An entry-level position ought to offer an entry into the work. Yet employers sometimes advertise positions as entry-level while expecting applicants to possess experience and competencies that can only be acquired through employment.

A young adult’s willingness to learn is not occupational competence. But neither should the absence of occupational competence disqualify someone from a position expressly intended for a beginner. Employers must be prepared to help an inexperienced employee become proficient.

That requires some practical changes in hiring and employment practices. What must someone know before beginning work? What can they safely learn while working? Who will teach them, and how will their progress be recognized? The time and expense of developing a new employee need to be understood as part of the position itself.

Universities and community colleges can support that development when the work requires instruction beyond what an employer can reasonably provide. Not every position requires a new credential or a formal training partnership. Sometimes the opportunity begins with an employer willing to hire a capable beginner and provide a credible means of becoming proficient.

For a young adult uncertain of what comes after high school, such a position could provide an income, an introduction to an occupation, and the opportunity to discover whether further education might lead somewhere worthwhile.

If your organization has positions that are difficult to fill, Cleveland State University's Division of Lifelong Learning and Workforce Development can help you identify the competencies new employees need and explore how education and workplace learning might support their development.

Contact Dr. Nancy M. Pratt, Executive Director, at n.pratt@csuohio.edu or 216-875-9710.

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