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Job U

Find your path


to a successful
career in a tough
job market

NICHOLAS WYMAN
A thoughtful guide to what is needed to succeed in
workplaces that are rapidly transforming themselves.
PROFESSOR PETER SHERGOLD

Photo credit DouglasGorenstein.com

Nicholas Wyman is a workforce development and skills expert, CEO


of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation and a multi-award
winning author.
He was Australian Apprentice of the Year in 1988 and went on to captain
Australias gold medal-winning Culinary Youth Team. Today, he is a leader
in developing skills-building, mentorship and apprenticeship programs that
close the gap between education and careers around the world.
He is a regular contributor to Forbes Magazine, and also writes for
Huffington Post and CNBC. He has an MBA and has studied at Harvard
Business School and the Kennedy School of Government and was awarded
a Churchill Fellowship in 2012. He regularly speaks at conferences and to
HR departments, trade associations, think tanks, high schools and colleges
in Australia, North America, Europe, Singapore and China.
***
Praise for the Australian edition of Job U:
Three cheers for a provocative book that challenges young people to think
carefully about how best to invest in their future. Education is vitalbut so
too, Wyman argues convincingly, are soft skills, practical training, entrepreneurial drive and emotional intelligence. Here is a thoughtful guide
to what is needed to succeed in workplaces that are rapidly transforming
themselves and in which traditional career paths are being disrupted or
destroyed by organisational innovation.
Professor Peter Shergold, Chancellor of Western Sydney University and Chair
of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research
We need to focus on youth employment, and Nick Wymans strategies as
always, are innovative and exciting.
Martin Riordan, CEO, TAFE Directors Australia

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Job U is a must read for any young Australian considering their future,
and perhaps more importantly, for their parents and teachers. It dispels
the long held belief that a rewarding career is reached exclusively via a
university pathway by showcasing VET options as viable first-choice
options that can lead to both individual and organisational success.
Mark Callaghan, CEO, WorldSkills Australia
Career practitioners will find Job U a useful addition to their careers
reference library.
Bernadette Gigliotti, CEO, Australian Centre for Career Education
Whether youre a job-seeker, parent, carer, educator or career advisor, Job U
is essential reading. Nicholas Wyman not only provides a compelling case
for change in the way we educate, but provides a blueprint to affect that
change on an individual, organisational and systemic level.
Dan Haesler, educator, writer, speaker and consultant
Praise for the US edition of Job U:
A provocative and well-researched look at education and skills developmentor the lack thereofin the United Statesone of the key issues
facing companies, colleges, and workers in the US today.
Eric Spiegel, President and CEO, Siemens USA
Its so refreshing to read a book as well written and accessible; that so
eloquently nails the problem surrounding the college for everyone
mindset. Above all, the marshalling of the growing empirical and case
study evidence that marketable and practical skills pays will keep a few
of those gilt edged educators awake at night as they continue (for the time
being) to do very well out of the knowledge society myth.
Tom Bewick, Managing Director, New Work Training Ltd, UK; President,
Transatlantic Apprenticeship Exchange Forum
Job U should be on the reading list of every middle and high school
guidance counselor and administrator. Mr. Wymans passion for helping
young and old alike attain the skills needed for our 21st Century workforce
is steeped into every page.
David Dewitt, manufacturingstories.com
Nicholas Wymans message is very important for today because both the
American economy and the British economy are suffering from the same
thing: an enormous skills gap. Job U sets it all out.
Lord Kenneth Baker, former UK Secretary of State for Education

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Job U

Find your path


to a successful
career in a tough
job market

NICHOLAS WYMAN

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First published in 2016


Copyright Nicholas Wyman 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968
(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever
is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational
purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has
given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Email: info@allenandunwin.com
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available
from the National Library of Australia
www.trove.nla.gov.au
ISBN 978 1 76029 006 1
Index by Puddingburn
Set in 12/15 pt Minion Pro by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

C009448

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The paper in this book is FSC certified.


FSC promotes environmentally responsible,
socially beneficial and economically viable
management of the worlds forests.

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Preface

This book aims to change the entire conversation about what


the right path to a rewarding and prosperous career can look
likethe conversation going on at company headquarters, in
university admissions offices and around kitchen tables across
the nation. It will shatter the false dogma that university is
the bestor indeed onlypath for every ambitious young
person, and it will provide the spark to ignite a jobs revolution
by offering a new and different way of looking at the path to a
fulfilling and successful work life.
Whether you are just out of high school, a recent university
graduate or well along in your career journey, you will discover
affordable and accessible pathways to a respected, rewarding
and well-paid career. Indeed, by the time you finish this book,
you will have a whole new outlook and road map for how
to find the best way to add valueand be valuedin todays
job market.
The fact is, it doesnt matter how young or old you are, what
field you work in or aspire to work in, or what your background
looks like. Today we are all facing the reality that unemployment
vii

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viii JOB U

and under-employment are at record highs across all regions of


Australia and New Zealand and the industrialised world, across
all industries and across all income and educational levels. At the
same time, millions of jobs are being left vacantor, worse, being
carried out overseas because there are not enough local workers
with the skills to do them or do them well.
Here are the hard facts. Today, around 800,000 Australians,
many with university degrees, are unemployed, and this figure
does not include those who are under-employed or have given
up trying to find work. Estimates vary, but experts believe that
this figure includes a further 11.5 million people. Yet 145,000
positions remain unfilled, and half of all Australian businesses
say they have trouble finding people with the practical,
technical, job-ready skills they need. And this problem is not
something new. In the manufacturing industrya sector that
has long been the lynchpin of our economy (especially in South
Australia, Victoria and New South Wales)the situation is even
worse. Companies report tens of thousands of unfilled manufacturing jobs, with 44 per cent of manufacturers reporting
they have unfilled positions and struggle with the inability to
find skilled workers. Thus companies are struggling to find
enough skilled people to justify moving jobs back to Australia.
And if companies cannot fill roles that currently exist, it makes
it difficult to find the confidence needed to make long-term
hiring and investment decisions.
In short, here and across the United States, European Union
and G20 developed economies, there are millions of willing
people waiting on the sidelines, yet not enough of them have the
practical and transferrable skills required to keep companies
staffed and the economy humming. One reason for this supply
demand imbalanceknown as the job-skills, or middle-skills,
gapis simply that too many job-seekers, including many of
todays higher education graduates, are finishing their educations
without practical work experience or the soft skills needed to
land and keep a job: the skills required to be part of and work

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PREFACE ix

on a team, and to navigate the day-to-day rigours of a modern


workplace. For reasons outlined in the coming chapters, today
many young people are graduating from university with a solid
footing in theoretical subjects, where grades are driven as much
by the ability to argue as the underlying argument, but little to
no exposure to or training in the technical and practical skills
that so many of todays jobs and companies actually require. This
skills gap will have major ramifications not only for individual
job-seekers and companies, but also for the economy at large
particularly as we face the demographic and technological
challenges of baby boomer retirements and increasing automation
of traditional knowledge jobs.
The good news is that from crisis comes opportunity, and the
middle-skills gap that frustrates thousands of employers will
present genuine, life-changing opportunities for those people
ready to seize themopportunities for every person deciding what
to do with the rest of their life, and for every university graduate
who cannot find a well-paying job. It represents opportunities
for every seasoned worker whose livelihood is threatened by
automation and outsourcing, for every mid-life career changer
or redundant worker who needs new skills to find a new job
and for every man or woman looking to rejoin the workforce
after parental leave or other lengthy period of absence. It also
provides opportunities for parents everywhere who are asking
not only how and whether they will be able to afford to spend
tens of thousands of dollars supporting their childs higher
education, but also: Is this the best investment I can make in
my childs future?
And it represents opportunities for every executive, manager
or other professional who has reached a point in their working
life where they crave satisfaction through tangible achievement and hands-on workfor anyone seeking what Matthew
Crawford describes in Shop Class as Soulcraft as the satisfactions
of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual
competence.1

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x JOB U

But the doors to these opportunities cant be found at traditional elite institutions or leading universities. Nor can they be
found at any of the many second-tier educational institutions
newer and regional universities that, although they dont confer
the same prestige and connections on students, can be just
as costly for graduates when entering the job market, in terms
of Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) fees and forgone
experience.
In fact, the paths to these opportunities can be found only
outside the traditional university model, in the burgeoning domain
of skills-based education, such as that found through dynamic
vocational training courses, technical schools, Technical and
Further Education (TAFE) and apprenticeship programsin the
educational pathways ready, willing and able to equip ambitious
students with the job-ready skills that companies actually need.
Note that Im not talking here about pathways to minimum-wage, low-mobility or low-variability jobs that no one
aspires to hold. Im talking about skills-based learning opportunities that lead to well-paying, respectable careers in a diverse
range of professions, such as electricians, cardiovascular technologists, machinists, aircraft mechanics, auto technicians, dental
hygienists, welders, mechatronics engineers and air ambulance
paramedics, to name just a few. When I talk about people with
skills-based careers, Im talking beyond old-style factory work,
with its negative and limiting perceptions of low-paid workers
doing monotonous, routinised tasks. Im talking about the highly
skilled and well-compensated technicians around the globe
repairing aircraft engines at Boeing, who enable millions of
passengers to fly each day, or at Siemens, building gas turbine
generators to power (and empower) communities around the
world, or at the Australian biotechnology company Cochlear,
who have helped 250,000 people gain hearing through cuttingedge implantable devices. Im talking about entrepreneurs who
run their own photography studios, artisans who fill their days
handcrafting high-end bespoke furniture and apprentice chefs

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PREFACE xi

preparing meals at your favourite cafe or restaurant. Im talking about the people who build our homes and bridges, perform
preventative and primary healthcare functions, care for our sick
and keep our complex IT networks running; the people who
keep our new world of advanced manufacturing humming by
programming and operating our computer-controlled tools and
robots, and the people we call (and pay a premium to) when our
pipes spring a leak or our dishwasher breaks down. These are the
people who build and maintain the day-to-day world we inhabit,
and underpin the networks powering civilisation. Almost all of
them learnt their skills through high school vocational education,
TAFE or trade certificate programs, traineeships or apprenticeships, formal and informal company-initiated training, or
one of the other alternatives to traditional university that youll
read about in this book. Contrary to popular belief, a surprising
percentage of them earn more than their peers who spent three or
more years and tens of thousands of dollars earning undergraduate bachelor degreesa fact unknown to many parents and career
counsellors, who think university is the best or only p
athway to
building a prosperous career.
We have all been sold on the narrative that university is for
everyone, and have been promised that a traditional Bachelors
degree is a guaranteed ticket to a well-paid, secure professional future. But the truth today is that, more often than not,
a Bachelors degree fails to deliver on that promise. University
has never been for everyone, and with the proliferation of
providers boosting graduate numbers, its increasingly difficult
for employees to assess the inherent quality of many degree
qualifications. Sure, many of those who attend university go on
to successful careers, but the reality is that for many this system
does not work.
And lets not forget that an undergraduate degree comes at a
hefty cost: the dark side of degree education, of course, is debt.
In Australia, student HELP debts recently surpassed $30 billion,
and this figure is expected to peak at $51.4 billion in 201718.

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xii JOB U

The cultural assumption that every student should aspire


to a university education becomes more outrageous when we
recognise that people possess a huge range of different intelligences, skill sets and interestssome people just dont thrive
in a traditional classroom but are masters when working with
their hands. For some, the dream career may indeed be found in
the halls of a law firm or corporate headquarters or investment
bank, but few win such tournaments, and for every one of these
people there exists another equally capable individual who is just
as passionate about building aircraft, tinkering with robotics, or
creating bespoke furniture. And while there is certainly nothing
wrong with harbouring lofty humanistic ambitions to save lives as
a doctor, surgeon or cancer researcher, is it any less noble to dream
of making a difference to humanity and society as an emergency
medical technician, primary carer or social entrepreneur? We all
have differentand randomly distributedpassions, talents and
ambitions. So why are we all pushed down the same educational
pathway? The reason is not lack of opportunitiesit is lack of
awareness.
Why is the existence of accessible, affordable alternatives
to traditional university education seemingly such a well-kept
secret? Why is it that a Year 12 student, upon entering their
career advisers office, will likely be asked their subject mix
and estimated Australian Territory Admission Rank (ATAR)
scores, then presented with a stack of brochures for undergraduate programs and pressured to apply, with no mention of the
fact that other, far less expensive, options exist? Why is it that
state education departments across the country are scaling
back or closing their vocational courses or programsto the
point where only a small number of schools still even offer
the traditional woodworking and metalworking classes? Why is
it that, as much as we celebrate and take pride in our inventiveness curricula, ingenuity, adaptability and entrepreneurship, and
quickly absorb technological innovations, parts of Australias
secondary educational system lag behind those of many other

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PREFACE xiii

developed nations when it comes to updating our core curriculum


and integrating the latest computer science, engineering and
other technical competencies into the classroom?
Why is there still a lingering stigma about vocational and
technical learning? Why should parents announce their childs
plans to attend a TAFE institute or enter a registered training
program any less loudly and proudly than they would boast about
their childs acceptance to a university program? This book does
not promise to have the answers to all these questions. But it will
show you how you or your child can avoid falling victim to these
popularly reinforced misconceptions.
My own career offers an example of how a non-traditional
education, fostering the development of a marketable skill, can
set a young person on a rewarding and successful pathway
through life.
Conventional wisdom tells us that if we follow our passions,
success will follow us. That was certainly true in my case. Yet
my pursuit was almost nipped in the bud by my well-meaning
parents, who had other plans for the young Nick Wyman. My
father was a university professor, and it was natural to presume
that his son would earn a Bachelors degree at a minimum. My
parents had saved hard to send me to a private school. My mother
had worked as a kindergarten teachers assistant and, having had
limited educational opportunities after emigrating to Australia
under the Ten Pound Pom program, she wanted her children to
have better opportunities. In her eyes, university was the place
for her son. So both my parents and the majority of adults in
my lifealmost all university graduatesregularly told me that
university was the logical (and therefore only rational) choice.
But my happiest adolescent memories were not of books and
classrooms but of cooking at my European grandmothers side,
soaking up the glorious smells of her kitchen. My peers thought
I was crazy to pass up all the social opportunities that uni life
had to offer, yet I knew in my heart that university was not where
I belonged at that point in my life.

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xiv JOB U

Being a psychologist, and a clever parent to boot, my father


realised that logic alone would not dissuade me. So he turned
to a time-tested parental tool for getting children to change
their mind: subterfuge. The next thing I knew, my father had
arranged for me to work at the local pubwhere he figured the
uninspired, tasteless dishes would surely break my heart. I still
remember the worn patch on the tile floor where the chef had
stood for the past 20 years melting slices of cheese on the slabs
of desiccated meat he passed off as chicken parmigiana. Would
this be my lot in life?
My fathers ploy worked at first. Within a few weeks, I was
ready to abandon the cooking life and march off to university.
I wont forget his chuckle as I told him, Gee, Dad, you were
right. Being a chef is not for me. Luckily, neighbour Sandro
Brunelli, who ran the iconic Campari Bistro in Hardware Lane
in Melbournes CBD, convinced me to hang on to my dream,
and helped me land a culinary apprenticeship in an outstanding
international hotel kitchen in my home town of Melbournea
kitchen where something as elemental as chicken stock was
created with meticulous and loving care.
Then, as now, new apprentices were assigned the unglamorous chores, and I got my fair share as a rite of passage: chopping
lettuce; peeling and chopping bag after bag of onions, garlic and
potatoes; and cleaning up after the demanding head chefs. It was
hard work. I was on my feet twelve hours a day. During serving
hours, our kitchen staff moved at warp speed. But I loved it
because I was learning and applying new skills every day. And
the experience affirmed that I had an unquenchable passion for
what I was doing: cooking.
My four-year apprenticeship was more fulfilling and rewarding
than any lecture theatre experience could have been. Three years
into it, I was selected as captain of the Australian Youth Culinary
Team, which competed and won gold in the 1988 Culinary
Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany. I still fondly remember the
blood, sweat and tears that went into serving 115 portions of

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PREFACE xv

Desert Bloom, our award-winning rabbit dishvictory made


all the sweeter because of our adaptability (the 30 kilograms
of rabbit meat wed brought from Australia had been held in
German customs). Fortunately, problem-solving under pressure
is one of the many soft skills you learn as an apprentice chef, and
combining our initiative, time-management and team-building
skills, within 24 hours we had located a local source of rabbit
meat, negotiated a supply of the central ingredient, prepared our
dish and outscored 20 other nations. Chalk one up for the Aussies!
As I refined my skills, more career opportunities presented
themselves. In 1989 I was named Australian Apprentice of the
Year, and awarded a scholarship to study and work in some of
the best kitchens in Europe. Among many iconic eateries, these
included Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland and Claridges Hotel in
London, where I had the life-changing experience of cooking for
Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales,
King Constantine of Greece and other assorted royalty.
My London experiences included a stint at the Ritz, which
defines high tea as an art form. It was there that I was introduced
to a side of the restaurant business with which I had limited
experience: sourcing at the markets. In the early hours, when few
Londoners were stirring, the citys food markets were bustling.
Fresh fish, meat, poultry and vegetables traded at a furious rate.
Those pre-dawn forays into the food markets opened my eyes to an
often unseen London subculture (and provided work experience
that no traditional classroom could have imparted).
Yet my stint as a chef did not close the door to academic
learning or other possibilities as my parents had feared. After
several years of striving to perfect the art of cookery, I was
satisfied with my career but looking for more. If working in
storied kitchens had taught me anything, it was that being a
successful chef involved more than cooking. I needed to also
learn about marketing, customer relations, managing people
and running a business. So I went back to study, eventually
completing a Master of Business Administration degree. At first

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xvi JOB U

I had feared the years spent out of school would put me at a


disadvantage compared with my conventionally educated peers,
but in fact the self-confidence and operational problem-solving
abilities I had developed through my apprenticeship and work
experience served to provide me with unique perspectives, and
a point of difference in the classroom. I have since continued
my executive education with Harvard Business School and the
John F. Kennedy School of Government, and today, as CEO of
the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation, I have the
privilege of helping hundreds of young people do exactly as
I did: develop respected and well-paid careers via journeys other
than the traditional high school-to-university route.
You will meet many of these young people in the chapters
that follow, including a mechanic on the world car-racing
circuit, a photographer sought after in New York Citys theatre
and performance community, a young apprentice who is
helping to build 600-tonne electric generators, young English
lads who spend their days restoring some of the most iconic
aircraft from World War IIincluding the RAF Spitfireand
countless other individuals who managed to land dream
jobs you may never even have known existed by following
non-traditional paths. Through their stories, you will learn
why we have so many people without jobs and jobs without
people. You will come to understand how societys myopic
focus on university for everyone may be hurting as many
young people as it is helping, and you will see why the antidote
to this misconception is to embrace the alternate pathways to
attractive occupations that do not require a traditional undergraduate degree.
Youll read about these pathways to attractive occupations
that do not necessarily require a tertiary education (or the
resulting mountains of debt), such as apprenticeships, occupational certificate programs and on-the-job skills training, and
how to find, choose and pursue the path best suited to your
passions, goals and abilities. Most importantly, you will learn

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PREFACE xvii

how to parlay that education into a fulfilling and well-paid


dream job in any field.
I have one of those dream jobs myself: helping young people
make the difficult transition between school and the workplace.
At any given time, the organisation Im privileged to lead has
600 young men and women being mentored in apprenticeship and trainee programslearning while earningas they
develop the particular skills that employers badly need in their
workplaces. If our historical record of success continues, over
82 per cent of these people will complete their three- or four-year
programs and receive a certification in trade specialties. More
than ten thousand people have followed this very path with
WPC (Work Place Connect) Group, which also forms part of
the institutes skills-based enterprises. Upon completing their
apprenticeships with WPC Group, the mentored apprentices
get a pay increase and the opportunity to continue working for
the same company that sponsored their training. There is no
frantic job search and no loans to pay off. Most of them will
advance over time to positions offering greater responsibility
and still better pay. Many will eventually become managers
or owners of the companies that had the foresight to invest in
their training.
This work has taken me to the United Kingdom, Europe,
Southeast Asia, Canada and the United States. While the time
zones change, I consistently see the same endemic problems:
vocational educational programs that are disrespected and in
decline; parents and policy-makers who see a university education
as the only certain pathway for young people; and a middle-skills
gap that is stunting economic progress, particularly in the sciences,
technology, engineering and manufacturing (STEM) space. On a
brighter note, I have also encountered a raft of companies and
passionate educators and policy-makers who are enthusiastically
attacking these problems with unique strategies and close collaboration. And Ive come across communities that are reinventing
education through partnerships between global corporations and

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xviii JOB U

local school districts. You will meet many of these pioneers in the
pages that follow.
Whether you are a high school student (or the parent of
one) trying to figure out how you are going to shoulder the cost
of university education (or trying to decide whether you even
want to go!), one of the tens of thousands of students graduating
into one of the most competitive local job markets in Australia
for decades or someone well along your career journey, you will
benefit from knowing that a multitude of options for acquiring
valuable, marketable skills do exist, which can and will open the
door to greater employment opportunities. And you should be
aware that the door to the opportunities you seek may well
be found in one of the non-traditional pathways youll read about
in this book.
The paths described hereapprenticeships, vocational and
technical education, certification programs and on-the-job
skills trainingoffer compelling solutions to a large slice of
our unemployment and under-employment problems. They
offer a solution for employers who cant find skilled people
and for job-seekers who want to become more employable and
job-ready in an increasingly competitive economy. Through
my work, I am in a unique position to see why we need united,
decisive action now, not only to resuscitate our middle class and
save our younger generation from chronic unemployment, but
also for the future of our economy, national incomes and living
standards. And there is no time like the present. Some may
say change has already overtaken us, and that it is too late or
too difficult to overturn the university for everyone perception,
or to prevent the next generation of unskilled workers from being
replaced by technology and automation, and relegated to the
unemployment lines. Yet new research emerging from prestigious
economic research institutionsmuch of which will be dissected
for the first time in these pagestells us otherwise.
It is time to get moving on these proven pathways. A jobs
revolution is already upon us. To ensure a more prosperous future

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PREFACE xix

for ourselves, our children and generations to come, we need to


throw out models that no longer work. We must abandon old
assumptions and embrace a new way of thinking about what a
successful educational and career path can look like. All it takes is
a shift in thinking and the courage to act. By doing so, we can give
millions of people the purpose, direction and sense of fulfilment
that comes from satisfying, respected and well-paid work.

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