Career Paths Younger Minnesotans Are Choosing Over College!

Moving into March means that we are one step closer to high school graduations in the next few months. Many seniors have been accepted to college and making their plans for their next step. 

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For others, the increased cost of a college education is causing them to consider one of the branches of the United States Military. They’ll get hands-on training which should set them up to have a path to follow when they have served their time to their country. 

But, as I wrote a few weeks ago, there’s also a group that realizes college usually comes with expensive loans that take forever to pay off. And they’re choosing the Community College route for a direct route into a career that for years has been labeled “blue collar”. 

I found an article on Yahoo.com that offers some data to validate my story on St. Cloud Technical and Community College. The Yahoo article brought out data from a Harris Poll from last year that showed roughly 80% of Americans say they had noticed an increase in the interest in “blue collar” jobs, or jobs in the restaurant and sales industry. 

One of the big keys to pursuing careers in some of these roles is that they can pay very well, and those workers won’t have to see some of that hard earned money go toward student loans.  

Many of these jobs are manual labor jobs like construction, truck driving, and mechanics, especially for men. 

Another area that has seen more interest from younger men, is becoming a chef. There is some culinary training involved of course, but often a degree is not required. 

Culinary is a field that is available at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. 

For young women, nursing has always been a popular career choice and still is, but obviously to be a registered nurse, there’s extensive classes and training required. 

The Yahoo article says that sales and customer service roles are growing in popularity among young ladies, as is waitressing.  

If you’ve got a child or grandchild that is trying to decide on what they want their next step will be, I’d say that being able to make between $60,000 and $100,000 in the next five to ten years will get their attention. Heck, it might even get your attention too.