Weekend Australian, Australia. 02 Apr 2016, by Verity Edwards.
Vocational education can help you keep your job or find a much better one
Workforce skills expert Nicholas Wyman stresses the importance of continuing education, particularly for people who want to move onwards and upwards or who are considering a career change. Wyman, chief executive of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation, has released a book offering advice on finding the right job and taking the right path, whether it be through vocational education, an apprenticeship or university.
His book, Job U, offers advice on how to find a job while unemployment is high and industries including manufacturing and mining are declining. While his book focuses on vocational education and upskilling through short courses, Wyman does not discount university or white-collar careers, and says the world is moving away from onesize- fits-all education and towards customised learning. “What’s not going well is that our systems are very traditional,” Wyman says. “We have a classroom with a talking head … but people like to learn in different ways and the system doesn’t cater for that. If you try to get someone to do that and they don’t enjoy it, they’re not going to move forward.” Wyman says there is too much of a push for high school students to attend university and less encouragement to take up a trade or vocational education, which can also lead to rewarding careers.
Nicholas Wyman is a speaker and expert on applying real-world solutions to the challenges companies face in finding skilled employees. He is CEO of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation, which develops mentoring programs for corporations and places people in apprenticeship and training programs globally. He has an MBA and has studied at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government. 
