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[00:00:00] Welcome everyone. My name is Julie Shields and I’m the director of college planning, education and training here at MEFA. And thank you for joining us this morning for our MEFA Institute webinar, the post-secondary career program landscape in Massachusetts. And I’m so happy that we are here with our expert presenter, uh, Norma Ray Ali, and Norma is the co-founder and CEO of next Gen talent.

And, um, I’m just so thrilled that we’ve we’re partners and colleagues and, um, this is gonna be a wonderful webinar right now. So I’m gonna turn it right over to you, Norma. Thank you Julie so much and thank you to MEFA for having me today on this webinar on an a topic that is really critical, um, given all the things that we’re seeing happening in the field with counseling, with students, um, in society.

[00:01:00] So thank you for having me and thank you to all of you who are joining us today. It’s always such a pleasure and an honor to, to see advisors of young people who are doing the hard work, right? That so many of us talk about all the time and see and read news articles. Um, thank you for the work that you do every day with our students.

So today, um, is on the topic of post-secondary career programs, um, in Massachusetts, what that landscape, what that universe looks like. And when I talk about post-secondary career programs, I’m speaking specifically about post-secondary programs that are career focused, um, right. So, um, I will give a little introduction of myself.

Again, my name is Norma, uh, and I am a native of Boston of Jamaica Plain, the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, specifically in Boston. So I’m really proud to be doing this work in my own backyard and for my own backyard. Um, I grew up in the Boston Public School system and ended up working at a community-based organization that served low income Latinx students, um, in, from basically middle school to high school.

I. Did a lot [00:02:00] of tutorial, um, um, sort of program work with them after school, mentoring, that kind of thing, and really loved that work. In that work as a teacher, I was able to work very closely with the college counselors, we call them. Back then, we didn’t have this sort of wider vision of post-secondary, which I’m glad we have now, and really loved that work and loved working closely with them.

But started to realize that there were quite a few sort of information gaps in the way that we were advising students. Um, and one of them. Was noticing that we weren’t as well versed on how to speak with young people about these career-focused post-secondary programs, right? Um, so ones that were really specific to train you to a certain kind of job or career.

Um, and also that we didn’t know enough about, um, how to talk with students about the admissions processes of this programs, of these programs. Like how do I sort of demystify that process for students? Um, we also, you know, we felt very confident in talking with students about four year liberal arts type [00:03:00] programs, but not so much, you know, these sort of vogue tech, um, or Tech Vogue, if you wanna call them, um, pro Pathways.

And I realized that we weren’t really serving all of our students well if we weren’t able to speak to all of those kinds of programs, right? Because our students have career interests that are as diverse as they are. And so we need to respect those, um, that diversity of interests. So that’s what we’re here to talk about today and I’m really excited, um, to share this information with you.

I wanna make it as interactive as possible, but I know we have a lot of people on the call. So I’m going to be doing some activities. I’ll be kind of shouting out some of the, the activities for you to do on your own, and then we can always have some conversation after the activities are done. Um, so with that, um, let’s get started.

So I wanted to start off with a quick, sort of a trivia, uh, game and just a few questions to kind of see. What your understanding is of the lay of the land here and, um, you know, again, we have folks from all over the state here, so understandably we’re not gonna know everything, and that’s okay. I probably would’ve [00:04:00] gotten all of these wrong if I didn’t do this work and didn’t have to know this stuff.

Um, so please don’t feel bad. This is not about making anyone feel bad about their knowledge, um, but just something fun to share with each other. So the first question is, which UMass offers a real estate certification course to its finance majors to prepare for possible careers as a real estate financial analyst, investor, acquisitions analyst, sales agent, or lending professional.

Is it UMass Amherst? UMass Lowell, UMass Dartmouth, or is it UMass Boston?

So I’ll give you a few seconds there to answer and feel free to write these down.

And the answer is a UMass Amherst. Um, this is an awesome program actually, where you major in, um, finance, but you’re able to also graduate with real estate certification. So, um, you have the opportunity to study [00:05:00] finance as your foundation, but then graduate with the ability to work in these other kinds of jobs, um, in real estate.

Next slide. So, next question. UMass Boston’s Bachelor’s in Nursing Program has a typical acceptance rate of 45%. What is UMass Lowell’s? Bachelor’s in Nursing programs? Acceptance rate. Is it a 10%? B, 15%, C 20%, or D 25%. And these are just rough estimates, right? It can sort of, um, change from year to year, but generally speaking, what is their acceptance rate?

UMass Lowell’s Nursing Program.

So the answer for this one is B 15% highly, highly competitive program, right? And a lot of folks who advise students in nursing around the state know this, that it can be very [00:06:00] difficult to get into UMass Lowell’s nursing program. And so students need to make sure that they understand what the requirements are and what can make them sort of better candidates for admission.

Next question. Number three. The only public college in Massachusetts that offers an FAA approved training program in aircraft repair and maintenance is a Bridgewater State, B Cape Cod Community College C, north Shore Community College, or d Massa Community College. And I know Julie knows this answer because we have talked about this before, together.

You’re so right, Norma. I saw a presentation recently and um, yeah, I know. Exciting stuff happening with this program. Yes, yes. Love to visit it in the summers, the winter’s not so much. It’s the wind is too much. Um, but b is the answer. Um, everyone, Cape Cod Community College has an excellent training program, um, on how to [00:07:00] repair and maintain, um, aircraft.

And, um, this is the kind of program that a lot of students may not even think about, right? Or know is an option, um, at this level. And so it’s important for, um, for us to get the word out. Number four, local 41, which mind you is a union, um, in Central Massachusetts and local four in eastern Massachusetts offer an elevator constructors apprenticeship program.

The typical starting salary for its graduates is a $39 an hour, B $47 an hour. C 53 an hour, or D $60 an hour.

And this is about that time when I start to rethink my career trajectory. But it’s fine. We’ll be fine.

The answer everyone is D $60 an hour. So not bad. Right? And then finally, which of the following statements is [00:08:00] true? So we have a bunch of false state false statements in here. A Franklin Cummings Tech is one of only two colleges in Massachusetts offering training to become an optician. B, according to mass.gov, the municipal firefighter exam application was open for only two months in 2023 c.

To apply for mass bio’s, nine week laboratory support specialist apprenticeship program, you need previous scientific background. D Simmons University offers an accelerated three plus one bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work. Students in this major submit an application for the master’s part of this program at the end of their second year.

So which of these statements is true? The rest are false. I.

And the answer is B, according to mass.gov, the municipal firefighter exam application was open for only two months in 2023. Um, and that’s important for students to understand that a lot of these [00:09:00] civil service exams that you have to take to get into certain careers like firefighting, um, policing, right, probation officer, they’re only offered at certain times of the year, not just any time.

Um, so it’s important for them to understand that. As far as some of the other, um, things on here, um, Franklin Cummings Tech is the only college actually offering training to become an optician. Uh, you don’t need previous scientific background to apply for mass bios, um, um, apprenticeship program, et cetera.

So, um, yes, B is the only one that’s true. So thank you all for, um, entertaining me with that small activity. I always like to do something semi interactive, um, and that gets our juices, like our, our, our brains going right? Um, the juices flowing while we’re doing these webinars. So to get to sort of the topic at, at hand, right?

Um, why are we talking about this, right? Why are we talking about career-focused post-secondary programs? Well, I’ll tell you why. As I said earlier, very often I hear from high school counselors and other youth advisors. [00:10:00] They feel very knowledgeable about how to advise students, um, on, you know, four year liberal arts type programs, but not so much about these voc ag, you know, voc, um, tech programs or civil service.

Like how do you become a firefighter or how do you get into, um, a union apprenticeship program to train to become an electrician? Right? They’re not as knowledgeable about those kinds of things yet. We’re seeing a lot more interest from young people in those things, and we know that those kinds of programs can also lead to very, you know, to family sustaining careers.

What’s the advantage of career focus post Synchrony programs? Well, there are a lot, but I wanted to include a few here today. One is that. They can offer different kinds of credential levels, right? So these credential levels can range from just a few months, right? Like you could get a certificate, um, to several years, right?

You could be trained to be a physical therapist that does, that’s a doctoral degree program. So you have a lot of options if you’re a student in terms of the duration, right? The length of a [00:11:00] program, um, and what makes sense for you. Now also, um, these programs, career focused post-secondary programs, and this seems kind of obvious, but it’s not always, um, usually provide a clearer connection between what they actually teach in the program and actual job skills that you need to do the work.

Right? Now that’s not always true, right? Um, there’s always, um, there are always programs that may not do this as well as others, but in general, um, you do find this, um, happens more often with career focus post-secondary programs, and I think students really like that clarity, right? Um, and that ability to say this connects to this, connects to that.

And so I have a clear plan. Also these programs offer increased flexibility, um, or they can, many of them hands-on learning and smaller class sizes, which can be really great for certain kinds of learners or learners that want, um, sort of more opportunities to engage with other students and teachers, et cetera.

And then finally, they can potentially be faster because they can be shorter than a typical [00:12:00] bachelor’s degree program, for example. Um, and they can be a less expensive path, um, for students to a livable wage. So why this topic again and why now? Right. So, well, there are lots of red flags in these streets, as I would like to say, unfortunately.

Right? And one of the things that we’re seeing, um, in the statistics and in, you know, our lives, right? And when we watch the news and we talk with young people is that for far too many students, college degrees don’t have enough value in the labor market, right? So we’re seeing that they’re not. Ending up in well paying jobs after they’ve committed, you know, spent all this time and committed this time to a college degree, invested in the money and the time and the effort into them.

They’re just not seeing labor market payoff. And that’s a problem, right? Because we know that for most students, the thing that they rate the highest in terms of why a college degree is important is that it leads to the ability to make more money, right? That’s what we see in a lot of the surveys. And so if this, that’s not happening here, that’s a problem.

We know that that’s also [00:13:00] especially an alarming problem. Uh, and it has alarming consequences for low income students who don’t have sort of the, the financial safety nets, right? That their higher income peers had have. We also see that way too many, many four year college graduates are working in jobs that don’t require a four year college degree.

So we’re seeing that over half of them. Um, are in this situation a year after they graduate and, uh, 10 years later, 10 years past graduation, almost half of them still don’t have a job that requires a four year degree, even though they have one. So, again, like what is the point? Right? That’s, that’s a huge problem that we need to start addressing.

We also all know the story of crushing student loan debt, right? And not only does that create problems for how we live now, but it also means that students can’t save as much. They can’t, um, you know, invest as much in a home or, um, you know, create intergenerational wealth. And so these are things that students are starting to look at and saying, is it worth it?

Is it worth it to me? Right? Is it gonna build the life that [00:14:00] I want? And so this degrees decreasing faith in the value of a college degree. We’re seeing it in lots of different kinds of studies. You’ll see a few stats here that show, like Edge Research in 2023, put out a survey that showed that only 58% of high schoolers and 51% of non enrolled adults, um, that are young-ish, right?

Believe you need a college degree to get a good job. We also see this was a really interesting survey done by the HALT International Business School. Um, they surveyed. Um, recent college graduates. So they had to have graduated in the last three years, ages 20 to 22 to 27, who are working full-time in business, mind you in business.

Um, again, very recent study and they found that 94% of them have regrets about their college degree. 64% wish they’d majored in something else. Um, and 68% say their degree did not prepare them well, um, for their job. So we’re kind of in a crisis here, right? Um, and we wanna make sure that we’re addressing these things in the work that we do, in the way that we advise our [00:15:00] students.

So one of the things that I wanna make sure we cover today is that, and this is a message that we wanna make sure our students hear. That there are lots and lots of different educational paths to a well-paying first job. And I wanna make very clear what I mean by a well-paying first job. So, um, when I say a first job, some people will say, why don’t you say career?

Because that sounds more long term and Right. Uh, more comprehensive. We’re not talking at next gen talent about a career because we’re talking about the first job a, a student gets after they graduate from whichever post-secondary program they choose on this list, right? So they, it could be a two year community college program, it could be a four year, it could be, um, a bootcamp, it could be, you know, firefighter Academy, whatever it is, an apprenticeship.

We’re talking about that very first job, right? Um, when we say, well-paying at NextGen talent, we have a very specific definition and you’re feel free to use it yourselves. And that is that that job should pay. At least [00:16:00] 80% of the region’s median wage. So the region here, let’s say for example, it could be Boston, greater Boston, right?

So the Boston MSA, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that would be, in those terms, $50,000 at median. At least that job should pay for that very first job. That’s our standard definition. Again, you can feel free to use that or use your own, but it’s important that we’re on the same page here about definitions.

So if you look at this graphic, um, you’ll see that there are lots of, again, lots of different ways, right? And, and roots to a, a well-paying first job. And so we can start here, which is one that’s very familiar to most people, right? The four year college and university route. Um, and you know, we know that there are public and private universities.

Most advisors, most school counselors are very familiar with how to advise students on these kinds of programs and next steps after high school. Same goes really for the two year community colleges, right? Um, and you know, we all know that these community colleges offer associate of arts degrees. They offer, you know, applied science [00:17:00] degrees, um, vocational certificates, right?

Those can be credit or non-credit. Um, so lots of different options there. We also have the military. My husband is in the military. Um, lots of different right branches of the military that students might be interested in. But, you know, one thing I do like to caution, uh, that for as much as the military can be a great option for some students.

Um, we also need to be careful that we’re not just saying, well, if you’re not interested in two or four year college, like, let’s automatically look at military. And I think this tends to happen, especially, um, with young boys, right? Um, for, in multiple of, of, of reasons. Um, um, or let’s say students that maybe, um, feel like they’re not as academic, um, in terms of their strengths.

And so a lot of times military becomes the automatic, like other option, right? And it, it doesn’t have to be there again, this graphic shows that there are lots of different options. Again, not that it’s not great for some people. I know lots of students that have done very well having gone through the military.

Um, so it’s another important thing to discuss vocational trade [00:18:00] or technical schools, right? So we know that, um, there are public schools. So for example, um, here out in Greater Boston, we have a high school. Um, that offers like LPN training for licensed Practical Nurse, right? Blue Hills Regional. Um, we also know that there are lots of private schools, um, that, you know, um, provide, um, trade options.

Um, for example, north, uh, north Bennett Street School, um, here in the north end in Boston has great, um, locksmithing programs, carpentry restoration, carpentry, piano, um, um, um, piano, um, repair, violin repair, those kinds of things. Um, very cool options. Apprenticeships. Now, this is one that I feel most counselors and students don’t know enough about, and we’re gonna get into the meat of this in a second.

But, um, it’s important that we understand that apprenticeships are a formal program of study. Um, they blend work experience, um, typically paid, not always, but typically paid with sort of a structured program of coursework, right? [00:19:00] Um, and those can be union or non-union programs, and we’ll get into that in a second in more detail.

We also have civil service training, right? So this would include things like training academies to become a firefighter or a police officer, right? Oftentimes, again, school counselors don’t know as much about the process for how to apply to these things or, um, um, what it means to be successful in them, right?

Like what you need to do to make sure that you’re successful in the training. And so those are things that it’s worth us understanding and learning more about. Also bootcamps, right? I’m sure many of you have seen that. There are lots of bootcamp camps that are popping up, especially in IT coding bootcamps and things like that.

Um, these tend to be more short term, specialized, sort of intensive training programs that are focused on technical skills for a career. So again, if you wanna be a coder, right, you go to a coding bootcamp, right? We also know that there are professional certifications, right? So, um, let’s say again, we talked about licensed practical nurse.

You could become, um, certified in that or in becoming a wind turbine [00:20:00] technician. Um, um, all kinds of different certification programs. Um, we know that there are also licensing programs, right? So if you wanna work as a nurse in the state, you need a license, right? So that’s another kind of credential that you could, um, that you could take on to become right, to become, um, a professional or nurse.

And then we know that there are lots of really interesting, um, community-based organizations and other kind of like nonprofit organizations that offer their own specific career training programs. So, for example, um, JVS, um, offers a great pre-apprenticeship carpentry program, um, in Chinatown here in Boston.

And again, forgive my Boston bias, but I’m a Boston girl. Um, um, they, uh, there’s a program called Beams, um, that, um, is run by the Asian American Civic Association and they do a great job, um, training folks. And it’s a very short training, um, on how to become facilities maintenance. Technicians with great partnerships with employers.

So again, you don’t have to go to [00:21:00] a school per se, right? Um, or a college to get that kind of training. You could get it from a nonprofit or a community-based organization. And then others that I couldn’t even fit on this graphic because nobody wants to keep trying to look at this small font. Um, and I only wanted these many colors, so I had to be real careful.

Um, um, but the point is there is a lot, right? And we could go on and on. I could be here all day. How many hours do you have? Um, but we don’t wanna do that, right? I just wanted to give you sort of a 10,000 foot view of what the options are. But the important message is college is one path to a well paying first job.

There are many, right? And, and we want our students to be aware of that. So let’s talk a little bit more about apprenticeships, and I won’t go into too much detail, but again, just kind of give an overview. So apprenticeships, again, are programs, right? That prepare a student to learn a trade or profession under an expert, right?

Um, in the trades, that’s usually called a journey person. Um, who is the expert, who is training you? Oops, sorry guys. Um, and again, [00:22:00] this kind of program combines usually like some hands-on training, more practical training with work that pays you, right? So a lot of these models are, um, sort of learn to earn, right?

You’re getting paid while you’re learning. You’re basically getting paid to learn, which is wonderful, especially if you’re a student who’s worried about money, right? While you’re, while you’re trying to go to school or, or learn. Um. Really important to understand that apprenticeship programs can be sponsored by different kinds of organizations.

It can be sponsored by labor unions. So like what we see with the building trades, for example, if you wanna, um, local 1 0 3 in Boston for electrician or a sheet metal union or, um, you know, all different kinds of unions. Um. Or they could be sponsored by individual employers, right? So I could go to my local, right?

Um, there could be a local company here that, you know, does elect electrical work, and they might wanna, you know, they might be interested in hiring apprentices themselves. I could go right to them and ask, are you hiring apprentices? You know, how much are you paying? What are the, you know, the benefits, et [00:23:00] cetera.

What’s the schedule? I could do it that way. Um, that’s separate from unions. There are also industry associations, community colleges and CBOs, community-based organizations that can sponsor apprenticeships. They tend to last between one and six years. Um, so again, local 1 0 3, that electricians apprenticeship here in the greater Boston area.

That’s a five year program. Others are a little shorter. Um, so like laborers, apprenticeship programs with the unions tend to be around two to three years. Um, sheet metals around four, carpentry’s around four. So it all depends on the trade that we’re talking about. Um, union versus non-union Apprenticeships, again, very important to understand, right?

So, um, union apprenticeships have their advantages as do non-union apprenticeships. One things I, one thing I’ve learned from talking with folks in the field around things like, um, apprenticeships in the building trades, whether you’d wanna go union or non-union. And again, these are generalizations, so don’t, don’t, uh, penalize me.

Um, if you find examples that don’t meet this, um. This, this, this [00:24:00] standard. But what I have learned is that often, you know, we know that oftentimes union apprenticeships pay more, right? Because they’re constantly advocating to get better pay and better, um, benefits. Um, and that’s what, that’s what makes them strong, is working together to, to advocate for themselves.

Um, they often pay better, they provide better benefits. But sometimes, for example, in the building trades, I’ve heard that if you go through a non-union apprenticeship, you can learn oftentimes how to work on smaller, more home-based projects in electrical, for example, like how to fix certain things in a person’s home.

Whereas if you’re working with the unions and training with them, a lot of times you’re working on big commercial buildings, very large scale projects. So you’re not as focused on that scale, on that sort of smaller scale, um, type of work. But again, you would be prepared to work in, in almost anything, right?

Um, but again, advantages and disadvantages to both. Um, we know that people who complete an apprenticeship tend to earn more, um, when they start out in their work over the course of their, uh, and when they, and over the course of their careers, [00:25:00] um, than folks who are in non apprenticeship, um, um, positions.

Um, and we also know that there are these wonderful programs called pre-apprenticeship programs, which are different than apprenticeship programs. And how are they different? Well, they’re kind of like the step before or, or the, the beginning step to an apprenticeship program. These are programs that are designed to prepare people for entry into registered apprenticeship programs or other job opportunities.

They usually last from a few weeks to a few months. Um, they may or may not be paid, um, and they can give students a leg up when they’re applying to an apprenticeship program. So some pre-apprenticeship programs are very specific to a trade. Could be pre-apprenticeship in carpentry, for example, and some actually are more general.

So they allow. Um, people to learn about all different kinds of trades so they have a better idea of what kind of trade would interest them. Is it sheet metal? Is it plumbing? Is it carpentry? Which one is best for me? So they might visit lots of different training sites to get them that answer. Um, and they also focus a lot on soft skills, professional skills, right?

Like learning [00:26:00] how to be a pro, you know, how to show up on time, making sure you know how to deal with constructive criticism, et cetera. Um, and so those are great programs. If you wanna kind of start out at an earlier step. And we also wanna talk today about training academies, right? For work. That could be things like civil service work in Massachusetts, and that would include things like firefighting or policing.

Um, you can see from this slide that there is a very, very, very big need for recruitment in these areas, um, especially because we have some issues around not being representative in our fire and police departments as representative of our communities and their demographics as we would like. Um, so you’ll see some of those stats here.

Um, one thing that’s really important to understand about. Being able to get into these training academies is that it’s not easy, and it’s especially not easy if you are not a veteran, you haven’t been in the military. Um, and as a matter of, and, and as a matter of fact, the folks who get the highest preference on the list when they’re, um, sort of trying to get folks into [00:27:00] these training academies for firefighting, um, are disabled veterans.

So first on the list, um, in terms of preferences, disabled veterans, and then veterans. Um, now some of you might be scratching your heads about how could someone who’s a disabled veteran work as a firefighter, right? Kind of doesn’t, um, it’s a little confusing. But, um, what we need to understand is that definition of disabled veteran is very wide.

So this could be someone who had. A service, um, you know, a an injury from service in the military, but now has since gotten help. And it, it doesn’t preclude them from being able to do the work or pass the test, the physical test that they have to pass to, to get into the training academy. Or they might have PTSD, but it’s being treated.

So there are lots of different definitions of disabled veteran, so that we all understand. Um, we know that right. There are other recruitment challenges around sort of male dominated culture. Um, so most firefighting de firefighter departments are looking for more women to join. Um, we also understand that there can be some issues that make the hiring process for all kinds of folks more [00:28:00] difficult.

So you have to be a resident oftentimes. Um. For these training academies of a city that you wanna work in for at least a year. Right. And so there are lots of departments around the state that are revisiting some of those policies to see if they can bring in more and new people, um, with it. When it comes to policing similar, um, sort of some other issue, similar issues, but also we have a lot of folks who are retiring.

Um, and you know, the max age is 65, so they need to be replaced. Um, obviously with the politics that have been going on, it’s been more difficult to recruit folks. But there are some really interesting, um, programs, post-secondary programs out there to kind of fill some of these needs and gaps. And one of them, if you haven’t heard, is, um, at Fitchburg State University, it’s a five-year police officer training.

Um, that. Enables you to graduate, not just with the police officer training, but also a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in criminal justice. Now, I do wanna point out, and you can see it here, that you can work in all city and town police departments except [00:29:00] Boston when you graduate from this program.

So here, I’m trying to take Boston out of the equation since I did it so much earlier in this, uh, PowerPoint. Um, but it’s a great program. Um, you could work, let’s say, as, um, also a, a police officer on a campus, like a, a university campus if you’d like. Um, but one of the things that I wanna make sure that people know about is these police cadet programs, and I don’t know how many of you have heard of them, but Bo both the bo, both the Boston Police Department has its own cadet program, as well as, um, the state has a Massachusetts State Police Cadet program.

These are programs that pay you, um, they can be, you know, two years long usually, um, they pay around $30,000 a year. Which is not a lot, but it’s great because you’re getting trained, um, and if you graduate from that cadet program, um, where you’re usually kind of like learning from, you know, police officers, um, or firefighters, because there’s also a firefighter cadet program here in Boston.

Um, you’re learning from them. You might be doing some office work, right? In the meantime, you’re not [00:30:00] like on the beat with the, uh, with the police officer obviously for, for a number of obvious reasons. Um, but you’re learning a lot. Um, as you go. If you graduate from that program, you have a very good chance of getting into the police, uh, training academy or Fire Fire Training Academy.

And again, unless you’re a vet disabled vet, it’s very difficult to get to get into those academies. So that’s a nice sort of like backdoor way in at. So Boston Fire Cadets, the program I was just telling you about, so this is specific to Boston, but again, we’re gonna be exploring ones all over the state.

Um, this program, um, you can just keyword search it right in Google and you’ll find Boston Fire Cadets. But here is where you’ll learn. About, um, this program and sort of what it takes to get into it right here. Sorry. Let me scroll down to see if you, you guys can see it. So why don’t you guys just take a second to read some of this and then we can talk a little bit about it.

And I’d love to just hear if anybo, if you knew about this program before this training today, because I tend to find that like 90 something percent of advisors haven’t heard of it. I [00:31:00] definitely hadn’t until I did this work, started doing this work. So if you can’t see it on the, in the chat, then feel free to just read off of my screen and I’ll, I’ll scroll down and I’ll give you a second.

So here’s information on how to apply and the requirements.[00:32:00]

So anyone willing to, um. Unmute themselves and just, uh, mention something that they find interesting about this program or something they wouldn’t have known even if you knew about this program. Something you didn’t, you know, didn’t know much about before, something you’d wanna tell a student if they were interested in this program to make, to look out for.

And I will, I will monitor q and a and let let you know. Sure.

Don’t be shy guys.

Oh, wait. I know we won’t un well we won’t unmute everyone, but, um, you could put it in the q and a or do you want me to unmute? Let’s say if I can unmute people Sure. Kind of one at a time. Um, or let me [00:33:00] unmute for a moment maybe while we have this discussion. Sure. Okay.

Oh, I can unmute if you raise your hand. Okay, Kristen. Thank you, Kristen.

Alright, I’ll, I’ll also unmute Jennifer.

Okay. You two are unmuted. We do have a question also that we can address afterwards about, um, any apprenticeship programs in Springfield, mass. Yes. Specific Specific to what, sorry? Because there are so many different kinds of apprenticeships.

Do they mean in, um, in the building trades, for example? [00:34:00] Yeah. Or even, yeah, I think. I think so. Okay. Okay. We. Here the, um, so I just, you can clarify something. People wanna make sure This firefighter piece is for Boston only. This is for Boston only? Yes. Yes. This is for Boston only. Yep. Now some municipalities may create their own, but this specific one is for Boston.

That being said, some of the other programs we’re going to look at next are not Boston specific. So just like the quiz, I’m trying to make sure we. Cover, you know, areas all around Massachusetts and not just Boston, but this is the example from Boston. Yes. And, and yes, it was the building trades. Oh, hi. Hi.

Is this Boston Fire, um, cadet program also paid? I don’t think I saw that. It is, it is paid, yes. So, um, it pays a little less than $30,000 a year, um, for both years. So it’s around 29,000 and something now, which isn’t a lot of money. It’s definitely not a living wage here, but the idea is that it gives them a leg up into the tra Firefighter Training Academy.

And so if they become a firefighter, then they’re [00:35:00] making very good money. Right. So it’s kind of an investment in the, in, you know, learning while you’re getting some money until you can get into the training academy. It’s, yes. I, I work for a school. Good question. That isn’t even in Boston, but I would imagine that, um, the, like the, the folks who get into this program would have to have the support of their family who can help pay for their living, um, expenses and things like that.

Sure. Yes. Yes, yes. It’s something that I was thinking about as I was, you know, scanning that page. Yes, that’s right. That’s right. Yep. Now, that’s a little bit different than, for example, like the building trades union apprenticeship programs. Right. Which, where you’re starting out making way more money than $29,000 a year and you’re learning while you’re earning.

Right. So those, you wouldn’t have to necessarily have that situation, especially not after the first year. Um, you could probably rent a place on your own or, you know, you’d be in a better financial situation. Yeah. Great question. Thank you. Anyone, anything that [00:36:00] they’d like to, they’d wanna tell a student about this program?

If you raise your hand, I can unmute you. That’s probably the best way for me to see who wants to speak. Okay. Here we go. Jen McGuire. Hi Jen. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, Jen. I was, I was just gonna say that like when, I mean, it’s probably important to talk to kids about things like drug screening Yes. And stuff like that, because.

It should go without saying, but they’re teenagers. That’s right. That’s right. And it’s a way bigger issue now than when we were coming up. Right. And so, for sure, and, and one of the things that I should mention to y’all when it comes to the union apprenticeship programs and the building trades, they tend to drug screen not only before like when you’re applying, but randomly throughout your entire program, apprenticeship program.

So for example, local 1 0 3 is an electrician’s, uh, the electricians union apprenticeship program. That one is a five year program. They randomly drug drug test you all five years. So there’s really no way around it. [00:37:00] Like you have to be clean. Um, it’s, it’s not easy, right? And so, yes, those are things that we have to make sure our students understand, right?

And we know that we can stay, you know, marijuana can stay in your system for, I think it’s like up to six weeks. So, um, yeah, lots of things to think about there. Another one that they need to know for this is like, you have to have a good driving record. You need a driver’s license and you need to, um, have been living in Boston for the last three years.

Excellent. If you guys don’t mind, I’m gonna move on to a different one ’cause I wanna make sure that we cover a lot of different ones. Um, this next one is that Elevator construction constructors program that I was telling you about. Um, this is the website for the National Educational Program, but you can see that from their website.

You can go right to sort of apprenticeship opportunities, right? What’s the application process, et cetera. Um, and so you can see. A little bit more about this program here. If you wanna just look it up online, you can just say Local 41 Elevator Constructors Apprenticeship. Um, but again, this program is about four and a half, um, to five years long.

[00:38:00] Um, this specific one is out of central Massachusetts. Um, and you need a high school diploma, as you can see are equivalent, um, to be hired into the program. Um, but you can apply, right? You can apply from high school, most of the building trades, apprenticeship programs, um, you, if not all, you can apply straight from high school.

So I always tell folks that you should talk, start talking with students about these programs earlier on in high school. Like, don’t wait till, you know, 12th grade, like start talking about this stuff earlier. Because sometimes some of these programs, it’s a nine month. Application process. There are tons of different parts of that process.

An interview, aptitude test, written application, all kinds of things, right? And so to get prepared for that and understand, again, those things about drug screening, all of this stuff, it’s important to know this as soon as possible. Um, they do pay you, um, to learn. So day one, you’re getting paid and that increases over the five, you know, the, the, the, the, the years of time that you’re in the program, whether it’s four and a half or five years.

Again, starting salary for this particular program is around $60 an hour. Not including [00:39:00] benefits. Um, and yes, need to understand like what are the requirements in terms of aptitude testing. Prepare as much as possible with those things. Find things online to make sure that they practice as much as possible.

The other thing very important, make sure students read everything on the website when they’re applying. If they’re videos they put about, put up about what they do, where they work, who their contractors are, you know, what they built, have them know about that so that they can talk, speak to those things during the interview process, it really impresses right?

The hiring committee when they’re like, well, I know that you did the, you, you do the electricity for you. You know, you create the, you know, you put on the lights for the Red Sox, um, for, you know, Fenway Park or Gillette Stadium, and I know this, like, it just makes people realize that students or applicants are paying attention and that they really did their research that, you know, impresses them quite a bit.

Um, so it’s important to do that kind of work. Another one I wanted to show to you all. Um, and I’ll, I’ll also ask for, uh, people to raise their hands here about something they, they might find interesting or wanna [00:40:00] tell a student is Franklin Cummings Tech. Um, this building Energy Management associate’s degree program is excellent.

Franklin Cummings Tech is a great school, as I’m sure many of you know, in terms of supporting its students. Lots of different comprehensive support services. Um, you know, very good at, um, um, um, making sure that they’re thinking about the green industry moving forward, which is growing. Um, and so this is one of those.

Programs within the green industry, right? Um, that’s gaining more and more popularity. A lot of students don’t know what exists. A lot of counselors don’t know what it means. Um, and so this particular program that you’ll see on my screen, um, shows sort of what this is about. So this is an associate’s degree program.

It’s a two year program. Um, and really the first year of that program is hvac. And then the second year you’re learning about other things like, um, sort of networking, computer-based control systems. The idea about this, of this program is that you graduate knowing how to sort of manage. Right. The energy of a building, right?

A lot of times big commercial buildings, [00:41:00] so you are in charge of managing like the HVAC systems, the electrical systems, um, things like that, right? And you use con computer based control systems to do that, right? So you have to learn about networking, right? And all of these different things. Um, it’s an excellent program.

Um, it’s a co-op program. Now, and this is one thing I wanted to mention to y’all, if we wanna make sure that a, a career program is a strong one, right? Then one thing is we wanna make sure it leads to a well paying job based on the definition I gave earlier. But another thing is you wanna make sure that there’s some sort of work based learning component.

What’s nice about Nice about Franklin Cummings Tech is that they have that and most of their programs are going to be co-ops. Um, eventually, so students will get. Experience working, um, in that work during their training. Um, and then oftentimes are, you know, if they do well, they’re, they get hired right as soon as they graduate.

So my own son is actually in this program and he’s loving it. He graduates in August, he’s already working through his co-op at Whitehead Institute at m at MIT. And it was so cute because when he first started, you know, he [00:42:00] was very nervous. He’s never worked in, you know, um, worked at a place like that before.

He just learned about building energy management literally last year. And he was like, ma, I came. He was like, ma, you wouldn’t believe what I saw today at, at work. And I was like, what’d you see jj? And he was like, there’s a chimpanzee, they have labs there with chimpanzees. And I saw, I met the chimpanzee and I was like, what?

And it was just so cool. And I’m like, that’s pretty cool. Like, I can’t say that at work every day. So, um, so he’s working at Whitehead and Whitehead has already said to him, if you do well during, you know, your time, um, you know, in the program at Franklin Cummings Tech, like, we’ll hire you. So, um. So great work.

A lot of them are starting out at around $67,000 a year, um, with an associate’s degree. So really excellent program. So you can see here a little bit more about what it’s about. Is this something, can anyone raise their hand and tell me if they know about this program or if they think their students know about this kind of program?

Or is this something that would be really interesting to kind of explore with them?[00:43:00]

I just unmuted Kristen. Hi, Kristen.

Kathy, I unmuted. Yeah, please let me hear. I’d love to hear, I’d love to hear from the field sort of like what are the programs people know about? I. I think this is one of those things that if you looked at this on a website, and I even say this to Franklin Cummings, sometimes the language needs to be a little less, you know, sort of, um, um, technical so that students understand what this means.

Um, and we know a lot of college websites don’t do a great job of that. I think Franklin Cummings is pretty good at it, but, you know, there’s still, you know, some mystery sometimes about like, what the heck does this actually mean? Like, what would I be doing? Um, and so sometimes students avoid researching these kinds of options because they just, it already looks too intimidating or scary.

I don’t even understand what the description is, much less will I be able to do it. So, you know, and that’s a problem. We need to work [00:44:00] on that in our field. Anyone, any feedback about this particular program? Hi, can you hear me? Hi, yes. I, I can, so I did. Um, hi Kathy. Hi. I did the A GC summer program. A few years back, which I highly recommend to anyone who’s doing, um, this kind of work with students.

I’m way out in Berkshire County, so a lot of what they did nice, um, was was Boston based. But a lot of our students are also interested in, in working in Boston. And I can tell you from that experience that, um, both, um, Benjamin, uh, no, this is the Franklin Institute. Yes. Highly, highly regarded by all of the major construction companies in the Boston Worcester area.

It is 100%. And, um, and so just wanted to get that endorsement. Yes. No, thank you. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that it, you’re absolutely right. I, I, I have to say that. Franklin Cummings techs, uh, [00:45:00] so Franklin Cummings Tech, it’s always hard for me to say techs, partnerships with employers is outta this world.

Um, I don’t know a lot of colleges that have that level of sort of engagement with employers and industry, um, and really do the work to figure out like, are these programs going to lead to well-paying job? Um, and you know, so we have a great partnership with them at NextGen Talent and many of their programs, like you said, are highly regarded.

Um, their optician reprogram is another one that’s super interesting, right? So that’s an associate degree program. It’s, um, the only one, um, that’s out here. And it’s something that like, let’s say students are interested in fashion, they might not realize that optician re is part of fashion when you style somebody’s glasses or you recommend a certain frame for a certain kind of face or bone structure or style, right?

That’s fashion. Um, and a lot of students might not consider it that way, but that’s what it is. And so it’s important to kind of like break open their minds a little bit and be like, have you considered this also very good outcomes in terms of pay from that program at Franklin Cummings? You’ll see that here.

We, you can always explore on their website more, a little bit more [00:46:00] about their optician, reprogram right here. And they even have a video, which I always love. Excellent. Thank you guys. So I’m gonna go, I know we’re getting close on time. I’m gonna go to the next program. Um, a lot of young people are interested in things like, um, you know, working with young kids.

Um, but they might not realize that you don’t just have to be a teacher to work with kids, um, or children, um, right. Um, there are lots of different other options. And so, um, one of them is this excellent pre speech pathology, bachelor of science, um, from Bridgewater State University. Um, so it kind of, um, prepares students, right, um, for this sort of pre-professional foundation in speech anatomy.

Um, by, um, their last year, they’re able to transfer into the master’s program because as you know, you need to, um, have a higher degree, right? Not just a, a bachelor’s to work in this field, but this is an excellent program, um, that you can take a look at. Um, and again, I’m sorry that we weren’t able to deal with the chat very well today.

[00:47:00] Um, but again, this, this speech language pathology program is awesome and a lot of young students don’t really know about this. It’s not something that, you know, you’re necessarily exposed to unless you know someone who has like a speech language dis disorder or, you know, difficulty communicating. I recently just.

Worked with a speech language pathologist because I’m having some issues with my breathing. Um, and there are certain exercises that they were recommending I do when I do cardio, and that’s, that was a speech language pathologist that actually taught me that. I never realized that that’s what that person would do.

So it’s pretty cool. Um, and, you know, it’s a, it’s a field that definitely leads a lot more people, just like a lot of things in, in medicine right now, we have, uh, not a lot of people studying enough and it’s a d difficult, you know, career path, so not everyone can do it. Um, but it’s a great program. Um, again, you know, this is at, you know, the four year college level and higher.

So we’ve explored apprenticeships with unions and non-unions. We’ve explored, you know, associate degree programs. We’ve explored civil service training. And so again, we just wanna make sure that students receive information on this wide [00:48:00] range. Right, and not just four year, is it? Right? Because it’s not for everybody.

Not everybody wants to do that. So you can see a little bit more here on their website. Um, and this is a program that we know leads to a well-paying job. Um, I think the average salary or median salary out here, at least sort of around Massachusetts for a speech language pathologist is around 80 something thousand dollars.

So not bad. And so the last thing, um, I wanted to go through, ’cause I know we only have a few minutes left, is, um, at NextGen, um, and hopefully you guys can see this, um, we, what we do at NextGen besides these kinds of PD sessions is that we. Have created sort of innovative, sort of one of their kind right tools in the country, um, to help advisors, teachers, and other staff like you to sort of guide students into, you know, financially rewarding, sustaining, um, jobs.

And one of those tools. Is this what you can see on the screen Navigator? Um, we also always provide training. Um. Our partners include [00:49:00] like one goal, Massachusetts College advising Core bu, bottom line, uh, Blackstone Valley, the hub out there. Um, the Boston Pick. We have a ton of high schools that partner with us, community-based organizations.

Um, you name it. College Access and Success organizations, and. The reason that we work with them is because they’re able to then use our tools. We train their counselors like you to use our tools to, again, help students, number one, figure out where are the well-paying jobs in their region, and number two, where can you find training for them from this wide variety?

And what’s nice about Navigator, our platform here that you see on the screen is that unlike Naviance, unlike, you know, occupational Outlook handbook, unlike on net online, right? We do the research that you don’t have to do to figure out, well, what are the training programs from this wide variety that, um, we know will lead students to a well-paying job that we know will provide a good return on investment.

So we not only do internet research on over 300, now it’s over 340 career focused post-secondary programs in this directory. Um. We not only do the [00:50:00] research online about them, but we also interview as many as we can to find out about their outcomes. And then we assess will this provide a good return on investment, especially for low income students.

So we’ve done that work for you. Um, again, very wide variety. So if I go into the directory itself, you’ll see that we have, um, these over 340 programs in a lot of different kinds of programs of study concentrations, fields, et cetera. And you can keyword search or you can search by different career areas.

As you can see here, you could search by the target occupation, et cetera. Um, so lots of different ways, right? Um, to explore all of these different programs. Um, remember we were talking about that aviation maintenance technology program at Cape Cod Community College. We have it right in here, and you’ll see if you click on that program profile, you can print this out.

We ask for things like graduation rate, that’s not necessarily public information. And then we have all of this information here about the application process, um, right, like what are the outcomes? Where are people working, what’s their employment rate, what’s their starting salary? So we have a lot of [00:51:00] really detailed information that’s not publicly available, um, because of the research that we do.

That’s one of our tools. We have many others that we’d love to show you. If you want a demo of our work and our tools, um, we’re happy to follow up after this. Feel free to reach out to me. We’ll send you the PowerPoint with my contact info, um, and or can reach out to you. But there’s a subscription service based on how many students you serve and you pay, uh, for a year subscription to our tools and a training comes along with that.

So, um, happy to, you know, sort of talk with you all about this after that. But I wanted to leave just a few minutes for any final questions and for the Springfield apprenticeship work. Let me get, if you could please send Julie your email info so that I can give you a longer answer than what I can give you in the next few minutes.

I would really appreciate it. Oh, that’s great. You can put that in the, in the q and a if you want. That’s wonderful. Please, we just have a few, a few last questions. Um, do, do we know, is Franklin Cummings a Oh, can’t hear you. Sorry, Julie. [00:52:00] Uh, sorry about that. And I was just telling this, uh, Springfield person to, yeah, put your email in the um, q and a, please.

Yes, please. And then, um. Uh, Franklin Cummings is not a free college, right? That is a private No, that’s right. It’s a private school, but very, very reasonably priced programs and, and, um, amazing financial aid packages, especially for, um, you know, again, for students from marginalized communities. Even my son, um, got some great scholarships that he didn’t even know.

He didn’t even apply to them. He just got them based off of his grades. Um, he was like, ma, I got a scholarship today. I was like, whatcha talking about? Did you apply to that? No, I didn’t. I’m like, man, so you didn’t apply and you got to that and you got a scholarship and you see chimpanzees, like, that’s crazy.

Um, so yeah, no, it’s, it’s an, it’s an amazing school. Very, very affordable, and especially given when we talk about return on investment, it has proven time and time again from its outcomes, which we have looked at. Uh, NextGen has that program outcomes for every single one of its programs. Um, that the, you know, the, the [00:53:00] overwhelming majority lead to well paying jobs right after graduation.

Yes. Now someone asked, um, can you tell us what a GC is from the past participant comments? Oh, yes. Would you mind talking about that? I think, was it Kathy who said that? Yep. Yes, it was me. Um, so the, the A GC and I can’t, I’m apologizing for not knowing, um, what it stands for. And Julie, if you want to email me, um, or share your email with us, I’m happy to, um, send you a link to their information.

Oh, great. But they are, um, to the best of my understanding is they work with the larger companies in the greater Boston and Worcester area to, um. Uh, who have seen the, the reason they came about is these construction companies were getting frustrated with the lack of, um, skilled employees [00:54:00] and, um, wanted to get the word out to high schools and technical schools about the opportunities that are available.

Yeah. And so the A GC does an externship every summer that is, um, a week long. Um, and it’s open to all educators, all public educators in Massachusetts and private probably too, if any of you are, are in private schools. Um, and I highly recommend the experience you get to tour, um, all of the various companies and, um, they, they treat you very, very well.

Um, they provide food and, um, and the voices of different employees. So you get to go to construction sites, you get to go to office buildings, you get to hear what is the work that they’re currently doing and what kind of skills they’re looking for in high school students. Um, yes, it’s very [00:55:00] beneficial.

You get paid. It’s paid too. It’s a, it’s a stipended position as well. So, um, yes. And they’re the associated general contractors. That’s what a GC, just so you all know. Um, yes. Thank you, Massachusetts. Thank you. No problem. Okay. And as you all know, there are tons of people in construction right now who are retiring, right?

Like, and so they’re leaving the industry and we just don’t have enough people to fill those jobs, young people. Um, because there isn’t a lot of education around opportunities. You know, I think they’re doing a better job of, um, showing up at career fairs and things like that. The, the, the union apprenticeship programs at high schools and, you know, there’s more of a connection now, but there’s still a lot more that needs to be done so that students are aware of the opportunities out there.

Right. Can I also just add that mass hire, um. Berkshire and Springfield last year. So if any of you other folks are from Western Mass provides an opportunity, um, in May to have one of those trade career fairs. Um, it was excellent last year and I’m already recruiting students for this year. [00:56:00] And, um, um, so if you get an invite from Mass Hire, it’s well worth taking a day to bring your students to that opportunity as well.

And to just point out that Julie put the, um, information for construction, uh, for the A GC in the chat. Yes, yes. That’s great. Thank you. And I think, did we have one more question? Just a, uh, uh, wondering if Union share the acceptance rate? Do you ever see that data? Yes. Yeah. So they do with us. We ask for it.

Um, and most of them do with us or give us an approximation. Um, so, but that is not typically public information. So, um, or is on the line, I believe my assistant director, correct me if I’m wrong, so like I know local 1 0 3, for example, the electricians, um, union apprenticeship training program here in Boston, or Greater Boston.

Um, their acceptance rate for years was, um, [00:57:00] especially right after Covid was 5%. So it can be even more competitive than a four year college’s acceptance rate. Um, I think now it’s around 8%. It’s one of the most competitive, but you might find like some laborers unions that are around 25%, but they’re still relatively competitive.

I would say, you know, 20% is on the higher end for a lot of them. So again, I think what’s important to know is that students need to have a lot of self-discipline. They have to be good with time management. Right. Um, and, you know, they have to be just very responsible. Like they show up when they say they’re gonna show up, they’re early, they’re not late.

Um, and not a lot of adults, much less, you know, young people are good at all of that. So, so make sure that you students understand what it takes to, to be, to, to get into these programs and to be successful in them. That’s wonderful. Well, I just wanna say thank you so much Norma and um, of course, thank you.

This was so great and I, I. I, I’m sorry about the technical issues versus chat versus q and a and so sorry if that hindered anything, but, [00:58:00] um, no worries. This is great. And anyone, if I put my email in the, um, in the chat too, so if you want any specific follow up, just just send me a quick note and I will make sure that Norma Andia receive it as well.

And yes, thank you everyone so much. And again, yeah, sorry, but I, you know, we got some good questions there and feedback and I appreciate it. Um, and yeah, let’s, uh, you know, let’s just keep opening the doors for, for understanding what all the options are for students, um, and make sure that we meet their individual interests, you know, um, and that we make sure that they understand that there’s more out there than maybe they know about.

Um, that’s important too. So, um, thank you all so much, um, for your time today. I wanted to end us off with some final thoughts and tips, um, on a few different things, right? So one is when we think about post-secondary training specifically, right? Um, this college or bust or college for all mentality, um, is outdated, right?

Um, there are lots of. Education and training paths that can lead to a well paying job. College is one of many, as we saw in that graphic [00:59:00] earlier. And again, it’s important for us as schools and organizations and students to understand that we also, um, wanna make sure that we’re really mindful, especially as advisors and teachers of bias language that others, certain kinds of students.

So a lot of times when we talk about, um, you know, programs, post-secondary programs are. Outside of college, we say things like alternative programs or other programs or non-college, which again, can come off as derogatory or condescending or not as good as Right. And failure to, so we don’t wanna do that.

Um, and that’s not fair to do. So instead you could use other kinds of terms like tech vo or vo tech, right? Um, there are lots that some people say education to career pathway. That’s, that’s a, a mouthful, but lots of different ways, um, to not other students. And to be mindful of that. And I also believe that it’s really important to evolve students, friends, and families and information sessions on these pathways, right?

To counteract that bias, um, and make sure that they understand, like, look, like, you know, these building trades of union apprenticeships pay wonderful money and they offer [01:00:00] great benefits and let’s talk about those. And they’re not any less than, um, or less important than a college program, right? They’re, they’re, they’re just different.

Also important to that students understand that college degrees are still beneficial. Yes, they are. But we need to help students identify which ones right, have high labor market value, which means that they lead to a well-paying job. We at NextGen Talent have tools to help with this, so please get in touch with us.

Um, there’s information on the last slide with our contact info. We, for example, created a directory of over 340 post-secondary programs in Massachusetts that we have vetted, um, and we know lead to a well-paying job. Um, so please get in touch with us to learn more. When it comes to career exploration, some final tips here.

So, when students are considering potential jobs, their interests and passions matter, of course, we wanna make sure that students are interested in what, right? The kind of job and the kind of work that they, that they wanna be doing. But so do potential earnings, right? Um, and especially for low income students, um, and first [01:01:00] generation college goers, um, it’s really important that students, um, use any tools that they can get their hands on and that you have access to those tools so that they can research.

What does an electrician in Greater Boston, or in Lowell, or in, in, in Hammer, Amherst, or New Bedford make, right, starting out or middle of their career or experience level? Oned online is a great resource where you can find local wages, so, um, make sure to check that out. Also really important to encourage students to thoroughly investigate any potential first jobs after they graduate from post-secondary.

Um, and one really important way to do that is to help them to connect with real people and real jobs through things like informational interviews, internships, and other work-based learning experiences, right? Like you don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t know until you’re in it sometimes. Or you can talk with someone who actually does the work.

Looking at websites, seeing videos is just unfortunately not enough. And then finally on jobs, and I cannot make this point enough. The first job a student lands after they graduate [01:02:00] from a post-secondary program is critical. Why? For a lot of reasons. But one of the most important is that it sets a starting point or a benchmark for the types of pay that they’re going to meet be making over time, right?

So where you start off with pay, right, kind of sets a certain standard with where you’re gonna go and how you’re gonna grow that pay over time. And if you start off low, it’s gonna take longer to end up high, right? Um, so that’s important to understand. It’s important that we help students to create and practice a one to two minute elevator speech, um, um, when they’re thinking about interviewing with employers, um, or for internships, et cetera.

And then finally, it’s really important to teach students to be able to identify and market their own transferable skills. Lots of students. And even advisors will come to me and say like, well, what happens if a student changes their mind? Or what happens if I change my mind on what career? What post-secondary program?

Um, and that’s why it’s important for them to understand there are skills that are needed across industries. And so you need to know which of those you have so that [01:03:00] you can make that pitch in case you do wanna make a career change at some point. Um, and so that’s it. Um, again, this is a folder for resources on topics related to our webinar today.

Really appreciate your time today. And then here’s our contact information. Again, I’m Norma, my assistant director of Ovia Next Gen Talent. And thank you again so much, Julie, for your time today and everyone on the call for your tremendous work.