From “Dirty Jobs” to Open Jobs: Mike Rowe Fights to Close the Skills Gap

All too often, a high school senior finds his or her path laid out for them. Prom. Graduation. Summer job. 4-year college. But that path is not for everyone. Mike Rowe has been championing alternatives for years. Host of TV’s “Dirty Jobs” and “Returning the Favor,” and founder of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, Mike has become a huge supporter of, and promoter for, hard-working tradesmen and women.

A popular presence on Facebook, in one recent post Rowe cited “6.2 million jobs that are currently vacant, the majority of which require training and specific skills - not an expensive, four-year degree. And yet we’re still telling our kids that college is the best path for most people. The result is $1.4 trillion dollars of outstanding student loans, a 50% college dropout rate, a legion of debt-ridden graduates who can’t find work in their chosen field, and millions of empty positions in dozens of technical industries.”

Training programs at Lincoln Tech prepare students with the skills they need to fill those jobs.

Lincoln Tech Works as Hard as Mike Rowe to Bridge the Skills Gap.

The skills gap is a hot topic all across the country right now, and Lincoln Tech is at the forefront of bridging it. Started in 1946 to help returning WWII vets find jobs in the heating and air conditioning field, the school today enrolls thousands of students in a variety of fields on campuses across the country.

Many of those students are coming right out of high school, and others are going back to school because they have had the revelation that they can take charge of their future and change the path they have been on. Opportunity is not dead in America – it’s just that some might need go in a different direction to achieve the prosperity it yields and be willing to work smart and hard to achieve your dreams.

Part of Mike Rowe’s advocacy of skills training and hands-on careers addresses that very prosperity and potential that some trades and industries can yield.  “Skilled jobs pay a good wage, and [can] lead to six-figure salaries and the formation of countless small businesses,” explains Rowe. “My own foundation has helped hundreds of aspiring welders, plumbers, carpenters, and HVAC technicians get the necessary training, and I can assure you, those men and women have more work than they can possibly complete.”

Lincoln Tech shares that sense of pride and commitment. Choose your career path, set a course to your future, and put your potential to work!