Go for an apprenticeship and get paid to learn a new trade

Are you afraid to make the leap into the middle-skills market because you don't have the funds to cover your education? Consider taking an apprenticeship,
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Are you afraid to make the leap into the middle-skills market because you don’t have the funds to cover your education? Consider taking an apprenticeship, where you can earn a living while you learn skills to apply to your trade of choice. Think about it, the U.S. needs more workers to replace a retiring generation of plumbers, electricians, welders and other middle-skilled jobs that are in high demand. Beyond blue collar jobs, there are also apprenticeships available in growth industries like clean energy and healthcare. RELATED: Here’s why you should become an apprentice. Apprenticeships usually take between one and four years to complete, depending on the trade. They offer classroom instruction and practical on-the-job training which makes for a powerful one-two punch of skills-based learning. And they come with a steady paycheck, unlike accruing college debt for a college degree, which can take decades to pay off. Though apprenticeships are usually associated with blue collar work (10 of the top apprenticeships are connected to construction) WorkingNation wants you to consider these career pathways which are also accessed by the apprenticeship model:
  • Clean energy jobs are spreading quickly and there is a shortage of workers in this sector. For example, wind turbine technicians ($51,000 median salary) are the fastest-growing occupation with a projected 108% increase over the next seven years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • You can also train to become a solar panel technician and make about $39,000 a year.
  • Many apprenticeships in the healthcare industry can be completed in about a year, which means making the transition to a new career won’t be as time-consuming as a four-year college degree.
Finding apprenticeships takes some research and the application process can be time-consuming, but the effort you put into it will pay off in the long run. According to the BLS, people who complete apprenticeships report higher lifetime career earnings. Apprenticeships offer a winning solution to uplifting a generation of workers because guaranteed career placement, steady wages and zero student debt is a secure pathway to the middle class and a comfortable retirement. Here’s how to get started: MORE from WorkingNation: The Apprentice: The White House Edition Join the Conversation: Are you thinking about becoming an apprentice? Tell us your story on our Facebook page.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.