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Which is Better for Finding Work A Technical College or College Degree?

With unemployment at an all-time high, competition for vacancies is fierce. The vacancies that do appear are hotly contested, with graduates winning out more often than high school leavers. Technical colleges provide essential skills for business. Colleges provide essential skills for business. So which is best?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of 2009 high school leavers were going to a college or university. That’s the highest number since those records began. That’s partly down to the lack of employment prospects in the market, and partly down to the desire to increase educational levels.

Children and parents seem to have grasped that it’s much harder to find work with just a high school diploma that with a technical college or college degree. I’ll give you the answer right now, there is no “best” college. Each has benefits for different types of career. PC Pro Schools Tuition is a great resource to help you, and maybe your friends get a foot in the door at one of the many PC Pro School Campuses.

Technical College

A technical college provides shorter programs of around 2 years. The courses concentrate on technical curriculum such as trades, computing and competency-based jobs. Most careers that uses the hands or practical skills can be studied here.

Technical college graduates make up the core workforce. They keep our cars running, fix our computers, nurse the elderly, design our clothes, fix appliances, manufacture our goods and a whole host of other things. Without them, our economy would cease to function.

College

College degrees have always been regarded as the default option after school. Wrongly in many cases, as many careers don’t use the knowledge that is taught there. However, many careers demand a four-year bachelor degree, and this is where college is most valuable.

Many careers such as medicine, law, engineering, software design, and so-called “high-flying” careers need a college degree. The disciplines are far too complex to be able to be mastered in two years.

Both establishments offer something different to students, and to employers. The problems come when the ratio becomes unbalanced as it is at the moment. The main complaint among employers right now is that the number of college graduates exceeds the employment opportunities available for them.

Where there is significant demand for the types of skills granted by technical colleges, not enough people are getting them. That means either the employer has to retrain suitable candidates, or train them from scratch. Both of which offer a significant overhead to employers.

So, as already mentioned, there is no “best” between technical college and universities. They both offer something different to the workplace. Society just has to realize that there are too many college graduates, and not enough technical college graduates.

That means those that do attend a technical college are far more likely to find work than those who had been learning for twice as long. This of course will change.

Once the balance is redressed and there is a glut of technical graduates, university students will be more in demand. Such is the ebb and flow of industry. The trick is to plan ahead, and predict which will be most in demand when you graduate in two or four years’ time. Easier said than done.