New credential programs and apprenticeships are creating more pathways for Wisconsin workers to launch careers, switch fields and build skills throughout their working lives.
But Wisconsin policymakers could do more to make those pathways accessible to students and workers.
Those were among the themes from a conversation Wisconsin Watch and Open Campus convened Tuesday to explore how short-term credentials are reshaping careers in a range of industries — from manufacturing to health care and education.
Here are four more takeaways from the event’s two panels, which were moderated by Wisconsin Watch/Open Campus reporters Natalie Yahr and Miranda Dunlap.
Training programs are providing more on-ramps to careers than ever — and career choices don’t have to be permanent.
Panelists said workers increasingly can build skills over time through short-term credentials, apprenticeships and certificates. Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield compared the “stackable” approach to constructing a Lego city — adding one building at a time as careers evolve.
“It’s OK to change careers. It’s OK to change your mind,” she said, encouraging students and workers to view education as a lifelong process rather than a one-time decision.
Nathan Roberts, president and owner of G.D. Roberts, a metal manufacturer in Columbus, Wisconsin, encouraged students and early-career workers to take their time, try new things and gravitate toward what gives them joy.
Parents should be patient, too.
“Give your kids enough time to figure it out,” he said.
Employers value more than just technical skills.
Knowing how to weld, code or care for patients may open the door to a profession, panelists said, but employers increasingly look for workers who can communicate, collaborate, manage projects and solve problems. Credentialing programs through technical colleges often teach those “employability” skills alongside the industry basics, Merrifield said.
That’s one reason why Roberts said he values candidates who have pursued credentials through technical colleges or adjacent institutions.
“It’s not about the morsels that they learn as much as the process you go through,” he said. “We want to know that you’re trainable. That you’re a team member. That you’re a problem solver.”
Those skills, Roberts said, are hard to find.
Apprenticeships and short-term credentials are expanding beyond the skilled trades.
Apprenticeships aren’t limited to construction and manufacturing.
“Earn-and-learn” programs have expanded into fields including health care, education, barbering, urban forestry and cosmetology, Merrifield said. Certified nursing assistant and EMT credentialing programs are particularly popular at community colleges.
“If they want to go into health care … that is a true stackable credential industry,” said Becky Kikkert, development director for the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin.
Since 2018 UW Health in Madison has been paying employees to gain credentials for careers as nurses, surgical techs or other positions — while they are working.
Even as career pathways expand in Wisconsin, access remains uneven.
Kermit Kaleba, strategy director for credentials of value at the Lumina Foundation, noted that states have invested a combined $4.5 billion in career and technical education to date, much of it since the pandemic. But Wisconsin remains one of five states without dedicated funding for career and technical education in public schools, leaving access to many programs dependent on local school district budgets.
Merrifield noted Wisconsin is one of just three states that do not provide dedicated funding for dual enrollment in high schools and technical colleges.
Merrifield said Wisconsin needs a broader conversation about what school is for — and what it isn’t.
The goal, she said, is to build a system that lets people return to learning — whether they’re 18, 38 or 48 — whenever their careers demand new skills.
“Your path is rarely as clear or as linear as you might assume. There are many on-ramps and off-ramps … There are so many opportunities,” she said. “There are so many options.”
Disclosure: The Lumina Foundation, Ascendium Education Group and the Joyce Foundation are Wisconsin Watch funders but have no control over its editorial decisions. A list of donors and funders through 2025, as well as our donation acceptance policies, can be found here. Ascendium and the Joyce Foundation sponsored Tuesday’s event.
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