New “one-stop” website showcases the latest on “Great Jobs” for students, parents, educators and employers

Are you a high school senior searching for a well-paying, in-demand career that will help you avoid college debt?  Or a teacher who wants to learn how Minnesota’s most innovative school districts—like Burnsville and Alexandria—are preparing kids for the workforce of the future? Or an employer who wants to bypass the talent crunch by designing a top-notch apprenticeship program for your company?

No matter who you are, CAE’s new “Great Jobs” website offers a host of valuable career-related resources you can use.

The Center’s new website is gathering “success stories” about the exciting ways that young people, educational institutions, and businesses in Minnesota are meeting today’s workforce challenges. It features videos like the must-see “Success in the New Economy,” and a myth-busting article entitled “Gold in a Two-Year Degree,” which describes how young people who choose career pathways like CNC machinist, medical sonographer or HVAC technician can make more money over a lifetime than many of their peers with four-year degrees.

If you’re a student, the website can help you learn how to combine college credit and workplace training—and get paid at the same time. You’ll also discover a simple quiz that helps you identify your interests and points you toward jobs you’re likely to excel at and enjoy.

You can get tips on how to finance your post-secondary education from an article entitled “What to Know Before You Owe.” You can find out what post-secondary options other students at your high school are choosing, or watch Mike Rowe of TV’s “Dirty Jobs” in “College Pressure? There are alternatives!”

If you’re an educator, you can read about how AchieveMpls is helping students at Roosevelt and Edison High Schools learn—one-on-one—about all their post-secondary options, including two-year technical degrees, certificates, internships, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training. Or you can learn how Buffalo’s Wright Tech is developing student entrepreneurs: from wedding cake bakers to grass-fed beef producers.

If you’re an employer, you can get the details on Minnesota’s new PIPELINE Project, which allows young people to get simultaneous and complementary classroom education and on-the-job training.

You can read about Buhler, Inc’s ground-breaking Apprenticeship Academy—based on the world-class Swiss model—where students combine on-the-job training at the company’s Plymouth facility with classes at Dunwoody College of Technology to become Customer Service Engineers/Industrial Specialists for Machine and Process Technology. Or you can discover how manufacturers in the St. Cloud area are addressing their talent pipeline challenges through the Central Minnesota Manufacturing Association.

Our aim is that the Center’s “Great Jobs” website will have something for everyone. Let us know what else you would like to see, and we’ll do our best to make it happen.