Q. I am a 36-year-old man being forced into finding a new career as my old one dries up. I have a liberal arts degree. If I choose advanced college study, I risk stacking up too much student loan debt. So maybe I should learn a skilled trade instead.
But if I choose to learn a skilled trade at a trade school, I am unsure about overcoming the no-experience hiring barrier. I know some trade schools advertise job placement assistance to graduates but do not fulfill that promise. Some don’t even offer much job finding assistance. And in this economy? — S.D.
A. The trades include such workers as electricians, plumbers and pipefitters, carpenters, cement masons, paving equipment operators and others who, working with their hands and heads, make good money (see
Different strokes. In broad brush strokes, a college liberal arts education develops the citizen, while a vocational education develops the worker. A few readers tell me they attended college for knowledge, and then learned a trade because it offered greater income potential doing what they wanted to do.
Other readers say they learned a trade first to finance their way through college later and at higher pay rates than those of typical student jobs.
Keeping Promises. Private vocational-technical schools typically do advertise that they’ll help graduates get started. Many arrange internships with prospective employers to flesh out hands-on training, while others shepherd grads to likely employers after graduation, even in this job-ripped economy.
In fact, job placement is one of the private school sector’s main claims to fame.
So, what should you do if you’re a newly graduated skilled trades worker, jobless and feeling ripped off? Go right back to your private vocational-technical school and announce that you paid up, that it’s time for them to put up and that you’re not going to shut up until they do.
Research first. You don’t have to attend a private vocational-technical school, which, like colleges and universities, also extend student loans that can be hard to repay.
You can learn a skilled trade at public vocational-technical schools and programs within community colleges, formal apprenticeships or military schools.
Before you enroll in any vocational-technical school (private or public) interview at least three recent graduates to benefit from their experiences.
