EP 23: Stories from the Field: The Skills Economy: Training at the Speed of Workforce Demand

00:00:05 Intro 

What could happen if we take our workforce to new heights? Workforce on the Mic presented by NAWDP brings you inspirational stories, innovative solutions, and expert insights that are shaping the future of the workforce. 

Tune in for dynamic conversations that motivate and transform the workforce development community. And now on to the episode. 

00:00:29 Alexis Franks 

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, all you workforce warriors across the country. My name is Alexis Franks, and I am your Director of Membership with the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals. And welcome to another episode of Workforce on the Mic presented by NAWDP, where we seek to amplify the many voices of workforce development. 

Today’s conversation provides insight on critical skills, access, and opportunity as we dig into one of the most talked about developments in the field right now, Workforce Pell, and what it can mean for learners, training providers, and workforce systems across the country. 

We’re joined today by Jason Aubrey, CEO of SkillsTrade, an organization that works at the crossroads of education and workforce development to expand access to skills-based training. 

So welcome to you, Jason. We’re so glad to have you today. 

00:01:32 Jason Aubrey 

Hi, Alexis. Thanks for having me. 

00:01:34 Alexis Franks 

Absolutely. So here on Workforce on the Mic, we’re going to do what we call passing the mic.  

And we really just want to dig in to some of the insights that you’ve had so far and how you work with skills trade to address new needs that are coming and new developments in workforce. But to get us started, can you share a little bit about your background in workforce and education space and where you are in the country? 

00:02:02 Jason Aubrey 

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I’ve spent upwards of 10 years in workforce development for almost half of that time period. 

I was the prior CEO of an organization called MedCerts, which is now a fairly large healthcare and IT workforce development platform. And that was a great experience and I was able to learn a lot. 

Ultimately, we decided to found SkillTrade to build a better mousetrap. In healthcare and traditional skills training, I think if there’s an organization that can figure out how to scale both online and in-person training to help employers, to help power programs for institutions, I thought that was a very good market fit. 

So we’re excited to almost celebrate two years in business. We have a lot of new activations that we’re excited to talk about. 

I live in Grosse Pointe, Michigan which is just north of Detroit. Born and raised here, spent some time in New York. And like many people, born and raised in Grosse Pointe, I ended up boomeranging back home. Recently married. It’s a great place and there’s a lot of great things happening in Detroit. So if you’re listening and you haven’t been, I strongly recommend coming to Detroit. It’s a great city. 

00:03:14 Alexis Franks 

Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that. That sounds like a very unique journey and workforce and to where you are now. 

And in our preparation for our conversation today, I think Skills Trade has a very unique look at how you prepare someone for an employment opportunity, particularly in the healthcare space. 

Can you talk a little bit more about that role that you play that it kind of intersects education and employment and how you all work in that space? 

00:03:44 Jason Aubrey 

Absolutely. You know, I like to say that we’re more than a training partner and that we’re a community engagement partner. 

And what I mean by that is I think the best models bring multiple parties together, whether it’s a school, an accredited institution who wants to offer high ROI programs aligned with employers who are looking to grow their own talent with verified skills or with workforce agencies to fund programs with measurable outcomes. 

And so we really connect the dots, right? By way of example, we power programs for Texas Women’s University. And we’ve been able to bring other parties to the table such as Goodwill. It was really interesting. 

We were in the Dallas Morning News just recently, this past week. And what we’ve done is powered an in-person hybrid program inside a Goodwill facility. Goodwill marketed this opportunity to local residents. There were over 1,300 applicants that applied. And we just activated our first cohort of 17 students. 

Collectively, we’re all offering supportive services and bringing employers to the table to offer externship or clinical rotations. So this is really what I mean about being a community engagement partner. 

A lot of times, if you have a school, two schools, right, the institution, an organization like Skill Trade, a workforce partner and employers, you can collectively kind of identify where the funding opportunities and ultimately these kind of partnerships I think yield the best outcomes. 

00:05:14 Alexis Franks 

I love that, especially as that community engagement partner, we all seek in our individual programs for that level of participation. I mean, 1300 applicants. That’s quite a number. 

And a lot of individuals and workforce programs are seeking those people to serve. But being in that right space and having that network of partners increases that ability to impact those that really need it. 

So that’s a good point that all of our listeners can take away from today is really acting as that convener, as that connection point for so many other programs and how it can open up opportunities 

00:05:55 Alexis Franks 

So Jason, kind of as we switch our train a little bit into what’s happening now in workforce development, if you can tell us, at a high level, what excites you the most in the space that you’re in about Workforce Pale and its introduction to how you’re playing as that connector and that community engagement partner and workforce. 

00:06:18 Jason Aubrey 

I’ve always gotten the question, how do you recruit prospective students? And employers will say things like, we’ve been struggling to solve these critical staffing shortages for the longest time. I actually think one of the biggest issues was awareness, right? 

There are so many people who if presented an opportunity like this would jump on it and they’d be great candidates. I think that the framework and the current landscape, up until recently, it was not that accessible, right? 

These are individuals who may not be able to go spend 18 to 24 months getting an associate’s degree, or they might have transportation issues getting to campus with a fixed schedule, right? Life gets in the way. 

And I think these short-term credential programs, which obviously is gaining such support nationally in healthcare and traditional skilled trades, whether it’s through potentially eligible programs or apprenticeship training. I think the most exciting thing is the market dynamics are shifting. I think everyone’s getting better at building awareness for these types of programs. 

There certainly is federal and state funding available, whether it’s through an apprenticeship program, workforce agency, or potentially incumbent worker training, which is, in short, upskilling internal staff. That certainly is exciting. 

But the hot topic right now is workforce Pell. And I think that’s a modernization of opportunity, right? 

That I think for decades, right, Pell grants were tied to instead of, minimum top 15 week program, it was like a 15 week semester model, right? And so it finally recognizes that skills don’t have a minimum time requirement. They have a competency requirement. 

And so by opening funds for programs as short as 8 to 15 weeks, I think we’re aligning federal aid with the speed of the 2026 economy and the workforce needs. And so I think it’s a game changer. 

in short for adult learners and non-traditional students who can’t afford to wait two years for a paycheck. 

00:08:31 Alexis Franks 

Absolutely, absolutely. And I like the way that you put that. It really is a modernization of a structure that’s already been in place of support that’s being provided to learners and students. 

And if we change that perspective, it doesn’t just become a buzzword, it becomes a way that we conduct business. Are we supporting our learners to meet their goals as efficiently as possible? And does this and other funding, whether it’s federal or state, really support that easy transition into employment and opportunity? 

I think that’s a great way of thinking about any new initiative. 

You know, workforce development folks, we are the ABC, the alphabet soup of all programs. So it’s nice to think of something as not just new, but something that we can really implement into our programs to help support the customers that we serve every day. 

And Jason, so in that conversation with workforce and education leaders that you may have, our listeners that may be joining in today, what should we really be paying attention to as we start to roll out new initiatives, either related to Workforce Pell or just supporting learners in general? 

00:09:46 Jason Aubrey 

Yeah, I think we all need to keep our eyes on the accountability guardrails, right? This isn’t just free money, right? It comes with strict skin in the game metrics. 

The 70-70 rule obviously is very critical and paramount to all of this, meaning programs must maintain at least a 70% completion rate, 70% job placement rate.  

Stackability is important, right? The credentials must be portable, articulated into further degree paths. 

And ultimately, we don’t want to create dead end certificates for students. 

And then value added earnings, right? We have to look at the current and future projected earnings of said student or graduate, making sure that they are higher from whatever situation that they started in. 

And I will tell you, I have had many conversations with higher education, whether it’s medical schools looking to get into certification training or community colleges and continuing education departments. They are afraid of these guardrails and outcomes. And I think that if you implement the right model, you can achieve these, right? 

And that’s what I mean, I keep going back to this community engagement aspect. 

When you have the right partners in place, and I think if you have the employers, starting with the employers, and you’re not just trying to get someone to enroll in a program, you’re ultimately showing them what that North star is, and you’re seeing there is a job lined up, as long as you meet and accomplish these milestones. 

In 3 months, you’re going to be working at this health system. 

You even have an interview lined up as long as you complete the program. 

And making sure that they understand that that’s the ultimate goal and you’re talking to them up front, I think it will make a big difference. 

And that’s part of why we require every prospective student at Skill Trade to complete a three-hour introductory course. Not many schools do that, certainly not many certification training companies do that, but it’s our way of making sure the student understands what this role really is on a day-to-day basis. 

We give them some quizzes, they take some of the content that they’ll be learning, so it ensures that there’s a good learning style fit for them, for our program specifically. 

00:12:06 Alexis Franks 

Wow, that’s definitely new. I think that engaging with students and those who are looking for certifications that can lead to impact, that’s their buy-in at the very start of the program. 

And you’re absolutely right. For us as workforce professionals, the accountability can always be a little bit scary, but I think it keeps us focused on the goal as well. So I like the way that you put at the end of the day, starting with the employer helps us to make sure that the accountability is there all around. 

And as that community engagement partner, it becomes then a shared goal, a shared vision, a shared outcome for that individual. So that is definitely something that we all want to pay attention to moving forward as we continue to see Workforce Pell roll out as well as other programs. 

And Jason, I know we’ve had you for a little bit this morning, didn’t want to keep you for too long, so I just have one more question for you. 

For all of our workforce professionals or what we call workforce warriors across the country, who may just be a little curious but unsure about where they should start with Workforce Pale, where they should start as a community partner, what’s one small way that they can engage in this moment? 

00:13:25 Jason Aubrey 

Start with a high demand gap analysis, right? Don’t try to boil the ocean. Look at your local labor market data for one specific sector like HVAC or electrical engineering or medical assisting. 

So do that, then identify a short-term program that you may have some content for. Have conversations internally regarding do you want to build this on your own or do you want to find a partner, whether it’s a content licensing partner or service a service partner like a skilled trade. 

#2 is check it against your state’s in demand list. You got to make sure that it is in demand. It aligns with employer staffing shortages. 

I know that the Pell Grant funding mechanism is sort of separate than workforce development where you have your occupations in demand on the education training provider list and program lists, but that’s also good to cross-reference as well because they’ve done a lot of homework on that. And then draft how that program would stack into a larger degree, right? If it’s a medical assistant program, what programs might an institution already offer that are degree granting? 

How many credits can be transferred and present that life cycle to you your prospective student so that you’re not saying, hey, become a medical assistant in 15 weeks. You’re saying become a nurse in four years. 

And there’s opportunities to help subsidize that tuition through potentially employer sponsored training. 

Won’t get into too many of the details right now because you asked me a very specific question, but I think those are some things that institutions can start right away. 

00:15:02 Alexis Franks 

I like that. Those are really good first steps, especially determining the need. That’s a big part of where all of our energy needs to be focused. 

Where is the demand and what employers and occupations are local that really need the help? And how can we help support that growing economy as well? 

So Jason, here at Workforce on the Mic, we do have what we call mic drop moments. So you have given us a great mic drop moment. And so I think don’t start with boiling the ocean. That was great. We don’t want to start there. 

This is all work that will be done over time, but being that community engagement partner and starting small and then seeing how we can scale to what’s very feasible in our local communities. That’s great advice for all of our listeners today. 

So we really appreciate you, Jason. 

00:15:59 Jason Aubrey 

Alexis, one more potential mic drop. 

00:16:02 Alexis Franks 

Sure. 

00:16:02 Jason Aubrey 

It’s interesting, right? There’s such popularity now in short-term credential training and in skilled trades, right? 

Whether it’s non-traditional or traditional skilled trades and apprenticeship training, right? And so I always like to say the bell bottoms are coming back. 

00:16:17 Alexis Franks 

Oh yes, I like it. I like it. Always comes back, right? Either it’s a program or fashion, whatever it is, we welcome it back. Thank you. That’s a really good one. I love that mic drop. 

And Jason, so anyone that’s interested in learning a little bit more about SkillsTrade, a little bit more about the work you all are doing, what’s the best way for them to do that or to connect with you? 

00:16:43 Jason Aubrey 

Absolutely. Just simply go to skilltrade.com, fill out a form, we’ll be in touch shortly, or send me a LinkedIn request. I’m on LinkedIn. We post often and we like to share our insights with the entire industry and engage in active conversations. 

00:16:58 Alexis Franks 

Great. Well, we definitely welcome you back for future conversations. We look forward to engaging you in the future. And we hope that all of our listeners enjoyed today’s episode. 

Feel free to reach out to Jason or their team, and we will look for you at another episode of Workforce on the Money. 

00:17:17 Jason Aubrey 

Thanks, Alexis. 

00:17:19 Alexis Franks 

Before we wrap up, make sure to register for the upcoming NAWDP Business Services Academy. This event is specifically designed to equip workforce professionals with the advanced tools, business engagement strategies, and pipeline development skills needed to better serve local employers. Spaces fill up fast, so head over to www.nautup.org today to secure your spot. 

00:17:54 Conclusion 

Thank you for listening to Workforce on the Mic presented by NAWDP. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To learn more about NAWDP and to become a member, visit www.nawdp.org. That’s www.nawdp.org.