Steve Rose: Continuing education helps put students to work in booming fields

Gallup has discovered through extensive polling that one of the key factors in successful students finding employment in their field is having an internship related to what they were studying. Of college grads, only 29 percent had such an internship.

Enter the Johnson County Community College’s continuing education program, where the median age of a student is often in their 40s, and where instruction is tailored specifically for employment. This is no “junior college.”

Many people know the community college offers to area businesses students trained in computer software, information technology, management and supervisory skills, health care and more.

However, areas that gets too little attention are supply chain/logistics and commercial driver’s license.

In most cases, 80 percent or more of students who graduate from these relatively short programs are employed almost immediately.

These programs meet the needs of the employers in Johnson County and metropolitan Kansas City who have constant openings for students with the right training. These programs are relatively new to JCCC and have seen steady growth.

Commercial Driver License Class A is in response to the growing need for truck drivers. To date, the program has graduated a total of 28 students from public courses and 218 from the BNSF signal division. The average student age is 41.

To date, 95 percent of graduates from this program are employed in the transportation industry.

With collaborative relationships with other area community colleges, students are trained on tractors and trailers, so when they graduate, they are literally ready to hit the ground running.

In just nine weekends, students can hold other jobs, while learning this new, lucrative career.

Supply chain and logistics are programs that are ideal for the booming logistics operations in this area. Thousands of employees over the next few years will be hired for the new BNSF intermodal facility and Logistics Park in Edgerton in southwest Johnson County.

In the meantime, there are lots of current job openings for people with these skills.

Supply chain involves activities such as the planning, buying and manufacture of materials, and the coordination of all these components.

The average age of enrollment in the supply chain program is 43. Almost all are already employed and are using this training to enhance their career opportunities.

A typical salary coming out of this program is $60,000 per year. The number of students enrolled in this program over the past year is about 60.

The monthlong “boot camp” includes forklift certification, Certified Logistics Associate training, an OSHA 10-hour safety card and skills focusing on effective workplace interactions.

The logistics part of the program offers different skills, including the handling, storage and transportation of materials.

So far this year, there are 37 students enrolled in the program, and the average age is 37.

Although this program does not often lead to high-paying jobs — $12 to $14 per hour — 80 percent are employed within 30 days of completion.

The program fees can be challenging.

The commercial driver’s license program fee, for example, is $4,249, although some students are eligible to have their fee funded through KanWorks.

However, the investment of fees are usually well worth the payback from being trained in fields where employers are begging for skilled help.

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Steve Rose: Continuing education helps put students to work in booming fields."