Launching and repositioning programs that can compete in a challenging market requires a nuanced assessment of working professional students’ needs and motivations. All too often, these students are treated as one monolithic audience—or divided simply into career changers versus career advancers.
A closer look at the different needs and motivations of working professional segments reveals opportunities for professional and adult education units to innovate program design and strengthen the portfolio.
Upskilling in place
Motivation: “I need new skills to keep up with job expectations.”
Value Added by Education
Value most often from skills learned quickly (not credential’s authority).
Career Goal
Keep up!
Require new skills to stay current in their jobs or to move laterally to another employer
- Affordability, because new skills may not lead to pay increase
- Flexible scheduling while working
- High unemployment
- Growing employment in fields with high-need for digital or technical skills
- Employment concentrated in health and IT fields
Seeking promotion
Motivation: “I need to build new skills for my next step.”Value Added by Education
Skills often outweigh credential, except in industries with prescribed career ladders.
Career Goal
Advance
Need to prepare themselves for more senior roles in their fields
- Builds on field knowledge
- Accessibility while working
- Low unemployment within field
- Demand for managerial skills
- Growth in entry-level employees needing managers or who will seek to become managers
Many professional and adult learners might start with a career need or concern but are unaware of how further education benefits them. Providing each audience segment with nuanced and innovative programs addressed to its motivations requires an intervention to help prospective students recognize the educational need. Each section below provides the original student motivation, the recommended intervention, and the resulting re-framed student need.
Facing replacement
Original motivation: "My career doesn't exist anymore."Intervene to reframe original motivation as a recognized educational need:
Recommended intervention: Inform about job options
Reframed motivation: “I need retraining.”
Value added by education
New skills offer greatest benefit but may require credential to change industry.
Career goal
Secure a new job
Must change jobs due to automation, outsourcing, corporate relocation, etc.
- Accelerated time to completion
- Retooling for an adjacent field
- High concentration of jobs in manufacturing and highly technical fields
- High regional wages and taxes
Returning to the workforce
Original motivation: “I haven’t worked professionally in a long time."Intervene to reframe original motivation as a recognized educational need:
Recommended intervention: Explain how to refresh skills.
Reframed motivation: “I need to develop updated skills.”
Value added by education
Credential communicates readiness for today’s job, and updated skills ensure performance.
Career goal
Secure a new job
Refresh skills to return to work after long-term unemployment or full-time caregiving
- Rebuild professional networks
- Update technology-related skills
- Declining wages or increasing cost of living
- Cyclical or sudden economic downturn
- Growing K-12 enrollment (leading indicator of parents returning to work)
Preparing for a switch
Original motivation: “I want a better job."Intervene to reframe original motivation as a recognized educational need:
Recommended intervention: Articulate pathways to better jobs.
Reframed motivation: “I need to prepare for a career switch.”
Value added by education
Credential signals preparation, but fields (e.g., tech) may primarily seek skill growth.
Career goal
Secure a new job
Develop different skills to move to a job with greater compensation, prestige, or work-life balance
- Introduction to unfamiliar field
- Create new professional networks
- Low unemployment
- New industry moving into the region
- Growing industry diversification
Pursuing a passion
Original motivation: “I’m looking for a career with meaning.”Intervene to reframe original motivation as a recognized educational need:
Recommended intervention: Introduce meaningful alternatives.
Reframed motivation: “I need to prepare for a career switch.”
Value added by education
Skills learned for new role matter most, if entry-level degree requirements are met.
Career goal
Secure a new job
Seek new skills to take job with greater personal meaning (e.g., business ownership, human services, creative roles)
- Portfolio creation to demonstrate new abilities
- Preparation to navigate self-employment
- Low unemployment
- High regional income
- High proportion of Millennials (seeking more fulfilling careers) or Boomers (pursuing encore careers)
Discover how to attract tomorrow’s students and compete in a crowded market.
Want to learn more about credential design?
Design Credentials to Meet Adult Student Needs
Rather than choose a credential to launch and hope to find an audience, first determine the audience a program will serve and then build the offering to meet their needs. Read our Roadmap on how to effectively design credentials to meet adult student needs.
Develop Outcomes-Focused Recruitment Messages for Adult Learners
Distinct from first-time students, continuing education units need to develop outcomes-focused recruitment messages for adult learner recruitment.
Credentials for an Unpredictable Market On-Demand Webconference
Join us for this webconference as we discuss alternative and short-format credentials, separating hype from reality.
