Whether getting certification to venture out on their own or the IT skills to work from home permanently, some are now looking at the possibility of community college or trade school.
“We talk a lot about the housing market and how it is a seller’s market. Well, in the jobs world – it is a job seeker’s market right now,” said Pyeper Wilkins, Dallas College Vice Chancellor of Workforce Advancement. “We’ve seen so many people resign from their jobs and we’ve seen so many employers needing talented workers.”
While traditional four-year universities and community colleges have seen sluggish enrollment during the pandemic era, many trade schools have seen an uptick in interest.
“In the community college world, we are seeing a resurgence,” Wilkins said. “We’ve seen some slumps in enrollment over the past few semesters, this last semester is a little better.”
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Dallas College campuses have seen an increase in interest in medical fields and education among other concentrations.
“IT careers. The growth of telehealth and artificial intelligence and all the things we talked about over the past couple of years in the pandemic has grown and have resulted in a lot of jobs that require IT skills, certifications that may not be as much as a degree, but short term certifications that help get people started in those careers,” Wilkins said.
Community colleges and trade schools are now often trying to build bridges for the new American workforce model.
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“A lot of individuals who decided that they want to do it on their own. They want to start their own small business,” Wilkins said. “People saying, ‘I want to continue to work remote’ and I think we have heard that across the country as well 'and to continue to do that, I really need some IT skills. I need some IT certifications.'"
