Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, when a professional was looking to bolster their credentials, it often meant going back to school to get their MBA.
These days, universities, businesses and employers are still interested in developing and expanding the skillsets of professionals, but that enrichment is now being delivered via shorter training and certificate programs.
And the demand for more nimble, dynamic training programs is only beginning to increase, as the rapid growth in technology begins to change professional roles of all stripes, from business executives to software developers.
John Hagenow, chief executive officer and managing partner at professional staffing firm, Fusion Recruiters, is seeing demand for career development opportunities coming from both clients and candidates.
“The good companies, the progressive organizations, want individuals who are going to invest or actually be receptive to continued learning and development,” Hagenow said.
Sometimes that training is aimed at gaining the sorts of skills an employee might need to climb the corporate ladder, he said, but a lot of times companies want to see employees trained in other areas of the business to make them more versatile.
“We’re seeing leaders that are going into C-suite types of positions that have backgrounds and experience in other functional areas over the course of their career,” Hagenow said. “They’re no longer just purely specialized within a siloed vertical, a siloed function. Those individuals that have that cross-functional background and a stronger business operational mindset – that have upskilled, that have engaged and learned in different parts of the business – we’re seeing a lot more traction towards organizations wanting to recruit those types of individuals as opposed to someone who has specialized over the course of their career.”
A lot of companies are seeking candidates with project management or Six Sigma certificates, according to Hagenow. Businesses are also looking for employees with strong communication skills and executive-level presence.
Beefing up communication skills
“When I was in college nobody really looked forward to public speaking, but at this point, mid-and senior-level leadership people have got to feel comfortable doing it,” Hagenow said. “Even if you are in a stereotypical discipline that doesn’t necessarily have an extroverted personality profile, you have to be able to be confident and own a room and recognize that you are a subject matter expert.”
Hagenow said he has seen firsthand how candidates that communicate better, and by extension are better interviewers, will land jobs over another candidate that might technically be better suited or prepared for the role.
“It can truly be a differentiator,” he said.
Fusion Recruiters has invested in LinkedIn Learning so its team members can take courses to help make them stronger communicators, Hagenow said. Other companies offer public speaking training, whether that means learning to present better in video conferences or in a large room of people.
“It’s actually relatable at all levels. So just because you’re an executive, it’s no longer sitting in a glass office and ruling with an iron fist. You have to be able to get your boots on the ground and be able to communicate at all layers,” Hagenow said. “So not just the boardroom, not just in the C-suite. That’s going to define culture at these organizations, and their employment brand.”
Technology and AI
Candidates with the latest technology skills will also have a leg-up on the competition, Hagenow said. That’s especially true in Wisconsin, where jobs in software development and analysis continue to be in high demand.
And the tech skills that employers want candidates to understand most these days is artificial intelligence or AI, according to Kathy Henrich, chief executive officer of the MKE Tech Hub, and George Kroeninger, the recently appointed executive director of Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Center for Professional Education.
At MKE Tech Hub, which has a re/upskilling committee that studies how the organization can help upskill current tech workers, or reskill individuals who are new to the field, AI has been a huge focus, Henrich said.
The nonprofit has partnered with the Higher Education Regional Alliance (HERA) to help colleges and universities in the region develop AI programming that can serve employer needs. It was also able to leverage a U.S. Department of Labor grant around an AI upskilling program that served 60 individuals.
“Some of our employers have actually leveraged apprenticeship grants to upskill existing employees into new career paths. So, taking a bank teller or a frontline employee and bringing them into a tech workforce,” Henrich said.
In other cases, those who went through AI training were already in technical fields, like software development, and they or their employers wanted to add AI skill sets.
At MSOE’s new Center for Professional Education, Kroeninger is working with experts to develop a range of AI certificate programs, each tailored for a different audience.
“Employers are looking for information and training in areas that are timely and relevant,” said Kroeninger, who comes to MSOE after serving as the chief academic officer for the University of Wisconsin’s UW Extended Campus – the statewide office for continuing and professional education and online learning. “A lot of employers are looking at AI (right now) and they’re saying, ‘okay, we don’t know enough to know what we don’t know. We don’t know enough to know what we need to know, and we don’t know enough to know how to apply this in order to see a benefit from it.’”
The center is hoping its three new certificate programs slated to launch this fall – an AI literacy certificate, an AI application certificate, and an AI program aimed at executive-level managers – will help address those quandaries.
The literacy certificate will be designed to get everyone in a company up to speed on what AI is, how it works, and perhaps how they can benefit from it, while the application certificate will be more geared toward software developers and data users – “The ones that are hip deep in AI and making it work,” Kroeninger said. The executive certificate will be primarily focused on AI and strategic decision making, he said.
Professionals and business partners
But Kroeninger and staff aren’t just hyper-focused on AI. Their main goal at the MSOE Center for Professional Education is to make upskilling at MSOE easier for alumni and newcomers alike, by creating a bevy of customized training solutions, workshops, seminars, webinars, online programs, conferences, and special events.
The center will continue to provide existing popular training programs like its project management and Six Sigma certificates, while at the same time listening to employers to help create new programs. Those could include tailored onsite training programs, like the one the center recently provided to a company on patent searches, or it could mean developing the specialized AI courses.
“Our business partners, they’re often looking to address pains or gains that they’re experiencing in their business,” Kroeninger said. “Our job is to develop an attractive, viable array of programs that satisfies defined needs and interests – both industry informed needs as well as individual professional needs.”
