Decision tree - Springboard job branch
Springboard jobs offer career advancement. Workers in these jobs often progress within the same field to occupations with higher pay and greater responsibility. For example, someone might start as a human resources (HR) assistant for fairly low pay but advance to an HR specialist that makes a living wage. Again, refer back to the data that you collected on advancement opportunities to determine whether people stay in this first job or advance within five years.
Similar to other branches, you will answer YES/NO questions. The following will help you answer the three questions.
- For the first question, a meaningful and viable credential for an occupation is defined as a credential that is both possible for the youth apprentice to earn during the course of the apprenticeship and is valued by employers within the industry. For example, a particular credential might be highly valued by employers, but it might require five years of work experience, so it would not be viable for the apprentice to earn during the apprenticeship.
- For the second question, examples of educational requirements that significantly inhibit advancement include a legal requirement or a very strong industry preference for a bachelor’s degree or graduate degree. For example, if an apprentice starts as a paraeducator in a public school classroom, in order to advance to a full-time teacher, it is mandatory to earn a bachelor’s degree in order to get a teaching license.
- For the third question, a regulatory education requirement is when there is a level of education that is legally mandated in the role. For example, passing the bar exam is a regulatory requirement to practice law, and in most states, sitting for the bar exam requires attending law school. In contrast, a preferential level of education is when there are no laws requiring a particular level of education, but employers are often unwilling to hire someone without a particular level of education. For example, while there are no laws that require a public relations (PR) professional to have a bachelor’s degree, it is very challenging to get an entry-level PR job without a bachelor’s degree. Even though this educational requirement is preferential instead of legal, it can still pose a barrier to an apprentice’s upward mobility, post-apprenticeship.
Springboard Job Branch
Again, depending on your answers, you might come to a “thumbs down,” “time out,” or “thumbs up.” As a reminder, here are what these symbols mean:
Thumbs Down - the occupation is probably not a good fit for your program.
Time Out - the occupation could work for your program, but there are some factors you need to figure out before you develop it for your portfolio.
Thumbs Up - the occupation is a good fit for your program and should be developed.
On the next page, we’ll look at other considerations besides the outcome of the decision tree.