Frazier: When we look at rising talent, what are some of the hurdles they face when trying to get ahead in their careers?

Burns: For many of these individuals, they are looking for what they might consider their first big career opportunity. They are looking to move out of an hourly job, or a high turnover job, or a job without career advancement opportunities. To do this, they need access to educational opportunities that build industry relevant career skills and professional experiences. The hurdles in their way might be financial or the ability to physically access the education or credentials they need, or, in some cases, it might be how they feel about education and their own beliefs around what they are and aren’t capable of. Even with access to an education, it can be difficult to move into a new career field without experience or a professional network to support them.

Educational programs need to move beyond just selecting a textbook and administering an exam. To really serve students, we need to work to make sure that everything they are investing their time to learn is industry-relevant and the skills they are gaining will help launch and accelerate their careers. We also need to help them overcome all the hurdles they are facing, from the personal to the financial to the professional.

Frazier: Education opportunities have really evolved in recent years, creating more pathways for rising talent. What are some of those new pathways?

Burns: First, I think we need to help people let go of the idea that the only pathway to an education is to enroll in a four-year program immediately after high school and live on campus and if that isn’t accessible for them, then they won’t be able to get an education. That pathway is still how our media often portrays post-secondary education and it is how we, as a society, describe and prepare high school students for a post-secondary educational experience. In reality, there are so many different pathways to educational opportunities, and I wish more adults and young adults understood all the options that are available to them.

One pathway might be to start with a single course. This is a great option for someone looking to gain a specific skillset, in say project management or information security. This is also a great option for someone who is uncertain about how school is going to fit into their already busy life. A single course can be a great way to test those waters.

For individuals who have a specific job role or career field they’d like to advance into a certification might be their first stop. I can’t speak to all certificate offerings out there, but WGU certificates have been created to develop a specific set of skills for specific job roles. These certifications have also been designed to stack into degree program offerings, should individuals want to continue their education into a bachelor’s degree. At the WGU School of Business, we have just begun offering stand-alone certificates this year and we have plans in the works to continue expanding these offerings.

Whether you start in a course, certificate or degree program, what really matters is that it creates a pathway into a new career or career advancement. In the School of Business, we continue to incorporate more of what employers are expecting and what students are saying they need to break into career fields and advanced roles. As we’ve designed some of our newer degree programs, we’ve infused these experiences within our courses and across the program experience. Depending on the area of study and the expectations of the career field, this may include things like project-based internships with employers, learning simulations in courses, creating a portfolio of work, building a personal brand, collaborating with employers, and joining professional networks. When we think about the needs of rising talent students, this is how we create the professional experiences and networks these students might need to break into a new career field.

Frazier: Let’s talk about how new pathways, like certificates, help rising talent advance their careers?

Burns: It’s important to first think about how some of our rising talent students are already working 40, 50, or even 60 hours a week, struggling to make ends meet, and often raising a family at the same time. It might be pretty daunting to commit to a degree program when you are already juggling so much. It might also be challenging to wait until you’ve completed a four-year degree to experience some of the career and salary advancement that you need. Certifications that are tied to very specific job skills and outcomes can create incremental steps for career advancement. They have the ability to help rising talent learners experience the career and financial benefits of educational offerings with a smaller time and cost commitment.

Frazier: Describe how the WGU School of Business has really taken the concept of certifications to support rising talent who are not yet ready to pursue a bachelor’s degree?

Burns: Four years ago, we began offering certifications embedded in our degree programs to help students showcase the skills and competencies they were gaining throughout their degree program. Just this last year, we also began offering certificates outside of our degree programs with the idea that career advancement can be gained through the completion of certificates that can later stack into a degree. This has helped us serve individuals who are not considering a bachelor’s degree right now but may find a degree beneficial in the future as they progress in their career.