Why Career and Technical Education is Gaining Prominence

Rich Portelance, Founder and CEO of CareerPath explains why there's renewed interest in Career and Technical education, and how vocational education is different now compared to what previous generations of students may remember.

Transcript

Nicole Tomassi: 0:05

Welcome to Westchester Words, education, ed tech and publishing I'm Nicole Tomassi, and in this episode, I'll be talking with rich p ort L ance, the founder and CEO of career path. CareerPath i s a platform that facilitates connections between students, schools, training programs, and employers, helping each to have visibility to the options that are available in their desired career or market. Rich, you've been a long-time partner of Westchester's, but this is your first time on Westchester words. Welcome.

Rich Portelance: 0:35

Thank you very much. Looking forward to, uh, speaking with you.

Nicole Tomassi: 0:39

Great to have you here today. So how about we begin by having you tell listeners a bit about your professional background prior to starting CareerPath?

Rich Portelance: 0:48

So, um, I fell in love with, uh, education and helping students. Um, when I, uh, worked with a, uh, secondary education school, private school, uh, here in Connecticut. And, uh, prior to that, I was in, uh, agency work. So I worked in, uh, helping our clients, most of them, uh, big iron kind of companies like IBM and, uh, pharmaceutical companies with technical projects that, uh, would get them onto the web. So I was an early adopter of web technologies. And then once I went to, um, the private school, um, I was helping them with, uh, getting online and, and, uh, integrating social media. I was also an advisor to students and, and I, I really fell in love with that aspect of helping young people succeed. And I started to work with, um, higher ed clients, um, and, um, and really fell into CareerPath as a way in which I could, uh, bring my passion of helping students together with my, uh, knowledge of, uh, of branding and technology. So, uh, here I sit today with, uh, CareerPath.

Nicole Tomassi: 1:56

That's a great story. Businesses tend to be launched as a way to provide a new solution for an existing challenge, or perhaps to meet a need within the market that's not currently being addressed. So what was the inspiration for you to start CareerPath?

Rich Portelance: 2:11

So the inspiration came from one of my higher ed clients, actually Valparaiso law school. We were rebranding and, and building some, um, web tools for them, and they asked me to evaluate the careers center. The challenge was that not enough students were visiting or completing the tasks necessary to be job ready. And law school is all about finding a job afterwards and, and the schools are, are rated based on the job placement, um, numbers. So we did an evaluation and, um, they had a, a paper system, but the completion rate was anemic. So we said, let's, let's bring this into modern day and, and put it on an app. And we did some cool things, like compare those students to their cohort. So they knew that if 87% of their cohort was completing the activity and they hadn't done it, you know, it was a little bit of a kick in the pants to get going. From that exercise in launching that app for Valparaiso law school. Uh, I think their completion rate went from 14% to 87% in the first year. And the walk-in rates at the, uh, career center had tripled, so they were super happy with it. They wrote a white paper about, uh, VOLT, the Valparaiso online law tracker. And a couple months later, I got a call from Dartmouth, uh, college who wanted to do something similar up there. And, and that's really was the birth of career path.

Nicole Tomassi: 3:38

Present day, you are a bit more in the K12 space. What grade level does CareerPath begin to get involved in introducing students to the tools that can help them look at potential careers?

Rich Portelance: 3:51

We ended up migrating a bit, um, you know, higher ed there's, there's definitely a need there, but it's very niche. Uh, what we found was there was a real need for students to learn earlier on about the opportunities that were out there, develop some agency and, um, start to prepare themselves for what's next. And so over time, we ended up starting to work with high schools. We work with workforce agencies. Uh, I think the earliest application right now is seventh grade. Most of the applications are in the ninth through 12 space. I would love to think that over time, CTE is introduced to students even earlier, in the third, fourth grade because students, um, you know, I think when they're aware they make better decisions and they can start to plan.

Nicole Tomassi: 4:41

We all remember when we were in our early years of school, how everybody had these ideas of they would be a firefighter or a nurse or a teacher. So kids are thinking about what they wanna be when they grow up from a very young age. So I suppose it's never really too early for CTE, is it?

Rich Portelance: 4:57

No, you're absolutely right. There's a lot of influence to your point, uh, whether it's parents or aunts and uncles or teachers that influence young children in one direction. And I think for the past, you know, number of years, we've been influencing our children very heavily to college. And, and I think this has done a service in one area, but a disservice to a lot of other students who may have been better off in non-college type programs. And so the earlier we can introduce it and the, the less stigma we can put on these kinds of careers, the better off our society is gonna be, and these, these young people. You know, there's, there's terrific careers that don't need college degrees and business trade industry, health, agriculture, cybersecurity, everybody learns differently. And so we wanna present those things and provide the students with agency so they can make better choices and feel confident about those choices.

Nicole Tomassi: 5:52

You've developed relationships with program providers and companies who have jobs available within those career pathways for students who are completing these training programs. So how do you facilitate those connections?

Rich Portelance: 6:07

We are, uh, just launching a new program called Crossroad. It brings in and aggregates all local employers to a region. CareerPath is about explore, discover, prepare, and launch. And so if they can explore, uh, all the local companies, what different, um, industries they represent, what kind of jobs they have, what kind of skills are needed in order to competitively work in those environments, that's great for the student and it's good for the companies, because then we can provide some, um, idea of the number of students who may have interest and who may have matching skills to the jobs they need. So we're trying to provide a better service to the employers so that they have an understanding of the, um, potential number of incoming employees that they can look at, um, from their region and for the students who can find the companies and start to prepare themselves for jobs and, and not necessarily always have to, um, go away from home. There's a lot more locally than we know about if we, um, can discover those things. And so we're trying to facilitate those, uh, connections.

Nicole Tomassi: 7:18

And do the companies come into, uh, the schools or the training programs?

Rich Portelance: 7:23

We found over time that when you introduce students, because they're so facile with digital technologies, if you introduce things on their phones or on their computers, they're more than likely to engage in one to one conversation or one, to many conversations. We start with the digital technologies, get them comfortable, and then the students are more likely to talk to their career advisor. They're more likely to talk to a representative from a program or from a company and start to engage.

Nicole Tomassi: 7:54

Companies are having such a difficult time finding employees in manufacturing and other industries. So I, I could see where introducing students from a relatively earlier age of middle school and high school could close that gap a bit between the company's need for employees and the labor market.

Rich Portelance: 8:12

Oh, you're absolutely right. Nicole, we've been approached in some of the work that we do with groups like Michigan works, um, Southeast, which is in the Detroit area or here in Connecticut at, uh, uh, Northwest workforce board is, uh, build specialty pipeline programs, uh, for manufacturing or for cybersecurity, so that they can start to identify opportunities and, and, and workers for those areas, and those companies in their region that are desperately looking for workers. And we're finding it in, in, in these niche industries, um, they don't know how to, to make those connections. Fostering those connections, you know, as I indicated earlier takes what I, I think is a long tail engagement plan. You can't just expect to, for someone to come on indeed or some other, uh, job board and just find the company and go that, um, you know, kind of a hit or miss approach. But if you engage the student on a continual basis over a long period time, you can introduce these ideas. You can introduce these companies, you can build awareness and we'll have a much higher success rate of both the student finding what they're looking for by matching their skills and what their aptitudes are and interests are with what the company needs. If we can build better matches, we do a things. One is we give the student, um, success coming out of high school and, and building their credentials to get into a job that they like. And that's going to ensure that they stay longer. It's gonna cost the employer less money in training. You know, when they have that rollover, of someone coming in and not enjoying the job and leaves in a couple weeks or a couple months, there's a real cost to that. There was a, a, a statistic out there that said it was a 57 billion issue with, um, having to rehire and retrain employees. If we can build, uh, that, uh, employee, um, employer relationship for a longer period time a year plus two years, then we, we save the employer a tremendous amount of money, and we also give some stability to the employee. They're gonna be a better citizen. They're gonna be able to do more with the money that they're making. And if, if they're not just jumping into college and, and coming up with 40,$50,000 in debt, but instead making some money and, and making some better decisions, I think we, we provide a valuable service for all those parties involved.

Nicole Tomassi: 10:45

CTE programs have been available for high school students for decades. I've noticed in recent years, there does seem to be more of a renewed interest. What do you think are some of the factors that are contributing to this?

Rich Portelance: 10:55

I think the there's two main factors. One is from the student side, that people are becoming more acutely aware of the fact that, uh, people are starting off life in debt because they either make bad decisions about, um, going into college and then quitting, but still having that debt to deal with, or if they're getting into a college and then going through a program, graduating, but not getting a job, that's commensurate with the amount of debt that they have to service, then they're still in that cycle for way too long. We've pushed so much higher education that everybody wants to get the white collar job. And there's a ton of other jobs available that are just not getting filled. So the employers have a huge need right now. I'm on the Connecticut, um, workforce board's, council. I, I sit in on meetings and I listen in, and, and I, I hear this here and, and elsewhere, I think this is a nationwide problem that, um, there's a huge need for cybersecurity talent. Um, and, and none of these necessarily need a, a college diploma, but what they need is specific training. So you can get into a six month program to become a cyber security analyst with a high school degree. And then with that certificate, you can go in and, and make 60, 70,$80,000 a year, uh, fairly quickly. So there's a lot of great opportunities. The employers have the need to find, uh, the talent that's willing and the, um, the students are, I think, looking for better decision making, getting into, uh, careers that they're more comfortable with and having less debtload to have to service. So I think those are the two big driving factors.

Nicole Tomassi: 12:36

What do you find are some of the pathways that have the strongest workforce need or where the most opportunities are?

Rich Portelance: 12:43

Absolutely. Um, manufacturing is top of the list for sure. Healthcare has a huge need right now for entry level talent. We have healthcare crisises on our hands right now, and hospitals, um, medical practices all need, uh, people who have specific skills to jump on board and then the trades. There's, um, just a tremendous number of plumbers and electricians and, and other tradesmen out there that are, uh, getting close to retirement age, but very few that are just coming in. And so we have this chasm. I talked to a friend of mine, who's a local, uh, electrician, and he said, I can get as much work as I ever want. There's only two other electricians, and we're all booked out solid for months. It's really a shame that there's no young people coming in because these are great career. I mean, you can have your own company, uh, or you can work for somebody else and you can make an excellent living and, you know, plumbing, the same thing. So I think the trades really, there's a high demand there, manufacturing, uh, these are advanced manufacturing jobs. It's not your old, uh, manufacturing with, um, you know, grease and dirty floors. These are high tech manufacturing with really incredible machines that are coming out. Connecticut has a ton of industry in the aerospace that, um, you know, they can use, I think, uh, it's, uh, Electric Boat was looking to hire 15,000 people over the next five years. That's a big number to fill. So it's gonna take all our, uh, high schools and all our savvy to figure out how to introduce these programs and, and give students the opportunity. And, and so they understand that they can go into one of these areas, and find, uh, a lot of success, very early. The good thing about these things are, you know, you can do a, a four or six month program. You can go in and, and do it for a year or two. And if it's not for you, then the, the student can go on to college, or if they wanna augment what they've learned, that opportunity is available. So it's kind of like a, you know, you can you take a gap year or two, go into a trade and, and, and then you can always shift and you didn't do a disservice to yourself, but if you jump directly into college and you, uh, get yourself in a big hole, it's much harder to fix that, uh, problem that has occurred. So we're really trying to encourage students to look at these opportunities very seriously and not give in to the stigma that these are, um, you know, poor jobs or, or non serviceable. They're, they're really, um, incredible opportunities that are out there.

Nicole Tomassi: 15:20

There's been increased funding through the Perkins act and the American rescue plan that gave CTE providers more funding that they could use to further improve their programs and including things like teaching materials. Looking at it from your perspective, what do you think CTE program providers or these training schools should be thinking about when they're developing or updating their curriculum?

Rich Portelance: 15:42

That's a great question. Um, I think they need to be looking at, um, uh, skills, skill matching and building more, uh, digital technologies, because there's only so much you can do from a, um, interpersonal standpoint with these programs. The old way of doing it with workforce agencies of, you know, someone walks in the door, they're looking for a job. And so the workforce agency makes some calls on behalf of the person, helps to get them into a training program that paradigm while it's not wrong, it's also outdated outmoded. The new technologies and things that are coming out can really aid that whole process and automate it. There is a massive data kind of, uh, programs coming out where it used to be a couple years ago, we'd, we'd have, uh, three or 400, uh, skills we could match up, uh, between the employee and the employer. And now there is, uh, groups like MC Burning Glass that have over 30,000 skills that have identified by scraping jobs and, and starting to learn through AI, what skills employers are looking for. So they can really specifically start, uh, give us data to do some matching. So if the, manufacturer is looking for a machinist, we can parse out that job description and say, okay, here are the 28 skills that are embedded in that job description. And now we can, by working with the students early enough, we can understand with their, uh, aptitude lies by giving them assessments, by asking questions, by seeing what classes they've taken and done. And so we can give them better instruction on which classes they might need to take to be a better match for that particular opportunity. So we can start to put percentages to things and say, Hey, you're a 74% match for that particular opportunity. Here are the two classes or the programs that you need in order to be a perfect match. And then when the time is right, we can bring those two parties together. So that's, what's starting to occur. There's a huge shift that's going on. And, um, we're trying to educate the workforce community that there is a better way. It doesn't have to be done, uh, just by word of mouth and, and, and making calls any longer. It can be done in a more automated fashion so we can increase the numbers very rapidly.

Nicole Tomassi: 18:09

And maybe I'm hearing something that wasn't in there, but it's almost sounds like in a way, like a, a personalized learning approach within these tools, because each student is gonna have a different level of aptitude and have completed different courses to match into the particular career pathways that they're looking for, is that accurate?

Rich Portelance: 18:31

That's right on, uh, Nicole. What we're doing now is we're taking the, um, the course guidebooks from schools, and we're parsing that into our engines and starting to look at those courses and really understanding what skills are coming out so we can do, we can personalize things for students they can know, and I'd like to take these courses. This is how it's going to drive me towards my goals. Part of that also is giving the students agency. I mentioned that word earlier, and it's, it's so critical that we empower students. We're not just making decisions for them. If you look at what's happening in high schools, you have one counselor to 5, 6, 700 kids. That's an impossible number to reconcile. And I was actually on a, uh, a workforce call with a whole bunch of state representatives, and they were trying to get a goal number of down to 400 to one. That was the goal number. It it's just impossible for one person to service 400 people effectively, to give that student agency so they can start to make better decisions for themselves. And so, you know, we're look, we're, we're giving students tools like adding your own activities to your timeline, so that you can start to journal where you want to go. And then as I talked about some of these automated skill building things, and, and where we can, can start to help students match up those skills that they're developing to the job market. All that stuff together provides the agency for the student to make decisions when they do meet with their career advisor, they're prepared. Uh, you mentioned, you know, starting as early as possible, we think that's really important, introducing some of these concepts and giving that student an agency. And then we can start to, uh, tailor the, the learning mode to the student, uh, more and more. And that's, I think, you know, in the future, we're gonna see things, um, start to come together where the schools are gonna be able to provide more diversified learning programs for students as they become a little bit more automated. And it's not to say the teacher doesn't need to need to be in the classroom because those one to one connections are absolutely essential, but I think we can help to improve and help and aid the classroom through technology by, um, giving that student some agency to explore stuff independently.

Nicole Tomassi: 20:51

Rich, I wanna thank you so much. This has been a really informative episode for me and, and hopefully for everybody listening out there.

Rich Portelance: 20:57

Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for inviting me, Nicole. And it's really, uh, great to get out there and talk to people about what we're doing and, and what we see out there in the world of education and how it's it's changing. So, uh, thanks for the opportunity.

Nicole Tomassi: 21:14

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