Gary's Address

Gary's Appeal to Educaship prospects

Introduction -- 172 words; 11-12th grade

Hello, everyone. I'm Gary. For over a decade, I've been dedicated to developing what I call 'work-alike practice' -- a method of integrating real-world work experience and guidance into education. This concept has been at the heart of my work in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, where I've seen firsthand how hands-on experience can make a profound difference in career choice and, further, career readiness.

My speech will run about 25 minutes. It may sound long, but it has the potential to save you years. It can also make your life happier. This is why I support this mission through both donations and volunteer work.

I want to emphasize that I'm not here to pitch anything; my goal is simply to share my observations and the logic behind them. If you're looking for shorter, more enthusiastic pitches about work-alike practice, you can find plenty of those online.

I encourage you to use the chat feature for your comments and questions. Your insights and queries will help improve this presentation for future listeners.

Reflection 1: Education Meets Career -- 274 words; 11-12th grade

It's common for career paths to differ from what one studies in college. It's a journey many people take; that was my experience too.

In high school, I was passionate about physical science, inspired by a thought-provoking teacher and enthusiastic classmates. This led me to pursue mechanical engineering in college. However, after graduation and starting my first job, I realized it wasn't the right fit for me.

Driven by a desire to create, I eventually started a desktop publishing company in the early 1990s when the field was still emerging. We had to train our employees ourselves due to the industry's novelty. There was simply no formal computer training available at that time. As technology advanced, we continually innovated, even developing our own customer management and business operation systems.

I value all of my college education. The skills I gained from my college experiences—problem-solving, analytical thinking, and adaptability—proved valuable in ways I couldn't have anticipated.

Nevertheless, I now recognize that my first degree didn't directly apply to my eventual career. If I had the chance to explore different fields before college, I might have chosen a different specialty.

I might have also sought another first job if I had discovered my true interests earlier. Initially, I took the job that my parents helped me land after my first degree, but finding my own way afterward led to unexpected and rewarding opportunities. My parents wanted the best for me, but they were not career experts.

I am sure there were innovative jobs available. However, neither I nor my parents looked for those jobs. We were also unaware of the importance of vocational discovery.

Reflection 2: Career as a Journey -- 188 words; 11-12th grade

Career development is a lifelong journey. It involves exploring different jobs, learning new skills, earning qualifications, and finding work. Our careers aren't set in stone; they change and grow over time. Here's why:

1. Personal changes: As we grow, our interests, skills, and circumstances evolve. What we aspire to at 16 may differ greatly from our goals at 40. New experiences can lead us down new career paths.
2. Job changes: Take mechanical engineering as an example. In the 1980s, when I specialized in this field, engineers used paper and pencils. By the 2000s, they had switched to computer programs. Now, they use 3D printers. In the future, they'll rely on AI and robots. The tools and methods keep changing.
3. World changes: New technology, economic shifts, and cultural trends create new jobs and make others obsolete. For example, AI and robots are transforming many jobs. This means we need to keep learning new things throughout our careers.

Given that careers are more like adventures with many twists and turns rather than straight paths, shouldn't college education adapt similarly? When I was in high school, I believed that five years in college would prepare me for my entire working life. However, ongoing learning and adaptation are essential, not just extras on the side.

Reflection 3: Practice Aids Education -- 332 words; 9-10th grade

Learning happens both in and out of the classroom. What we study in school and what we experience in the real world are both important for our future careers.

I learned this firsthand in the early 2000s. After finishing college, I realized my degree wasn't quite right for the job I wanted. So, I went back to school for a business degree. This turned out to be a much better fit for me.

Having some work experience made my classes more interesting. I could see how the things we were learning applied to real-life situations. This made me more excited about my studies because I understood why they mattered.

This second degree really changed my career path. It helped me run my own publishing business, which I later sold successfully. It even allowed me to become a part-time teacher, using almost everything I learned in my classes.

One big difference was that I paid for this degree myself, unlike my first one which was paid for by the government. When we invest our own money in something, we often take it more seriously and appreciate it more.

School and real-world experiences work together in two main ways:

• In school, we usually start with big ideas and theories, then learn how to use them in specific situations. It's like learning the rules of a game before playing it. But we also learn from examples and experiments in school, which is more like learning by doing.
• In the real world, we mostly learn by doing things hands-on and trying different approaches. But we also use what we've learned in school to help us solve new problems we encounter.

Both ways of learning help us become well-rounded and skilled. What we learn in school becomes more meaningful when we use it in real life, and our real-life experiences make more sense because of what we've learned in school. This balance between theory and practice helps us grow and become more effective in our future careers.

Reflection 4: Career Checks Guidance -- 355 words; 9-10th grade

In the mid-2000s, I moved from Belarus to the United States, determined to find my ideal career path in this new country. At first, I faced challenges because my English wasn't good enough for meaningful jobs and I had no work experience in America. But I knew I had to keep trying.

I started taking English classes at different colleges. Even though I worked hard, I wasn't sure what career I wanted. By the 2010s, I was close to finishing my Bachelor's degree in the US, but I still hadn't found a job that felt right for me.

Looking for help, I talked to career counselors and people from government agencies, private companies, and non-profits. They gave me advice, but I still struggled to figure out my career path.

I tried using tools like personality tests and career theories. These tools gave me some ideas, but they made things seem too simple and didn't really help me find a job.

Later, when I became a recruiter and helped others with their careers, I learned a lot more. I remember working with someone who didn't like their job as an administrative assistant. A career counselor told them to try becoming a technical writer. They spent a whole year trying to get that kind of job but couldn't, and had to go back to being an administrative assistant.

After all this, I realized there were three big problems with the usual career advice:

1. It makes things too simple: The tests try to match your personality and skills to specific jobs, but they don't consider how complicated jobs and workplaces can be.
2. It doesn't know enough about different jobs: Career counselors often focus on what you want, not what jobs are actually available. They don't always know the latest information about different industries.
3. It treats everyone the same: The tests don't consider that people's interests and skills change over time, or that everyone has different experiences.

Looking back, my search for a career in a new country taught me a lot. I used what I learned to create better ways to help people find careers through WiseNxt products.

Reflection 5: Inside of Career Prep -- 254 words; college student

When I moved to the United States, I made my living while working basic jobs. To boost my resume, I registered a non-profit organization. This experience allowed me to teach business classes at a community college first and move to other colleges and universities later.

Since the late 2000s, I got to teach part-time across the U.S., Belarus, China, and Russia. I also organized programs for students to study in different countries, which taught me a lot about how education works around the world.

These experiences helped me understand how colleges prepare students for their future jobs. The competencies needed for a job can be divided into three main groups. We call them "KSA" for short:

• Knowledge (K): This is the information learned about a subject. It's the easiest and cheapest to teach because it mainly requires an instructor and some basic materials like books.
• Skills (S): This involves using knowledge to do practical things. It costs more to teach because it requires special equipment for hands-on learning.
• Abilities (A): This relates to being capable of performing specific tasks required for a job. It's the most expensive to teach because it needs real-world settings, individual assignments, and feedback from experts.

Because colleges have limited budgets, they usually focus more on teaching knowledge. They offer fewer opportunities to build skills and often struggle to give students real professional experiences. As a result, students might graduate knowing a lot about their subject but lacking the practical skills and abilities they need to succeed in their jobs.

Reflection 6: Mentors Make Differences -- 315 words; 11-12th grade

Back in the early 2010s, I got a surprising job with the US Marine Corps. I didn't seem like the typical candidate, but my active lifestyle might've helped me stand out. They put me in charge of the Russian part of a cultural program. It was a role that would show me how much of a difference mentors can make.

The job was awesome because I had the freedom to try new ideas. We had great resources and not many rules, so we could use cool tech and different ways of teaching. I got to connect with top experts in the field. I'd reach out to people who wrote textbooks, created language apps, and other big names in language learning.

At first, we taught Russian using regular textbooks and conversation practice. But when our first group of students took their big language test, we realized we needed to change things up. The test was all about real-life situations, not just the stuff you find in textbooks.

This challenge led me to an amazing mentor. I teamed up with Professor Soboleva from the Defense Language Institute, a special language school in California. She agreed to try something different and became my mentor. She'd visit my classroom to see how things were going and guide our new teaching approach.

Mentors really do make a difference. With Professor Soboleva's help, we quickly came up with a new way of teaching Russian. As a result, our students matched the listening scores of students from top language schools. In a big part, this success was because of the guidance and support from my mentor.

The project only lasted a year because of money issues. Later, I did receive a promising offer from Professor Soboleva to teach at her institute. However, the low salary combined with the high cost of living in the area made it less attractive.

Nevertheless, even though the project was short, it had a big impact. It boosted my confidence for future projects and showed me how important mentors are for growing in our careers and coming up with new ideas.

Reflection 7: Industry Networks Matter -- 245 words; college student

After my Marine Corps project, I faced a choice: continue teaching languages or transition to IT? To make an informed decision, I sought advice from professionals in both fields.

For language teaching, I consulted a hiring manager at a major company. Their candid response was revealing: "There aren't many jobs, but a lot of people want them. Most of these applicants have better degrees and more experience than you do. Even if you did well in your first job, it's hard for me to hire you. As a bureaucrat, I don't want to be blamed if anything goes wrong."

Gathering insights about IT careers proved more challenging. Many people only had knowledge of specific aspects of the industry. I observed that IT jobs were evolving rapidly and offered more diverse opportunities compared to language teaching. Interestingly, I noticed that IT recruiters seemed to experience burnout faster than those in more stable fields.

In the language training realm, I was considered an insider with relevant credentials. In the IT world, however, I was viewed as an outsider, despite having worked with IT but not in IT.

This experience highlighted two crucial factors in career advancement: the importance of professional networks and the value of insider status. Both can significantly impact job prospects and career trajectory.

Reflection 8: Practice as a Career Tool -- 288 words

By the mid-2010s, I had established substantial credentials in hands-on training. Seeking to expand my expertise, I decided to focus on IT training specifically.

I founded a meetup group originally called 'Hands-On Training,' where we organize free IT workshops across various disciplines. To staff these sessions with volunteers, I partnered with a non-profit group called 'CNM.' Later, we started calling ourselves 'CNMCyber.'

It's often said that real-world project collaboration reveals team compatibility. This principle was put into practice when two hiring managers approached me to host hands-on training for SharePoint administrators. From what I gathered, they were facing a shortage of qualified administrators and were willing to train candidates on the job, but needed to identify those they'd be comfortable working with.

This experience, coupled with my background in apprenticeship development in Belarus, proved invaluable when I began recruiting, onboarding, and upskilling for a startup-focused investment group. Startups require versatile team members, and while interviews can help shortlist candidates, their actual performance is the true determining factor.

My recruitment strategy targeted 1,000 initial candidates. Through a funnel process, this pool narrowed to 100 who began training, 10 who progressed to work trials, and ultimately one successful hire.

One realization struck me: while I needed a narrow scope of candidates and had to reach out to many, the outcome wasn't simply finding "gold nuggets" among pieces of sand. Each candidate had potential value, if not for my startup clients, but definitely for other opportunities.

Practical experience is essential for clarifying career preferences. However, I faced limitations in delivering comprehensive assessment results, and candidates weren't actively seeking my career assessments. This revealed a gap between the wealth of talent discovered and the ability to effectively channel it to fitting opportunities.

Reflection 9: Experience Rocks -- 337 words

I am 60 years old, and over half my whole life, or three quarters of my professional life, has been dedicated to selecting employment candidates and putting them to work. I have performed as both a dedicated and contingency recruiter. Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of serving various organizations. I've observed that employers typically focus on three key areas when evaluating candidates:

• Job Performance: Can the candidate perform the job requirements?
• Cultural Fit: Does the candidate align with the organization's culture and team dynamics?
• Motivation: Is the candidate motivated by the compensation package offered?

When it comes to competencies, experience in the relevant field is the most critical factor. Logically, those who have succeeded in a job before have higher chances of succeeding in it again. Many job descriptions highlight this, stating "Experience may be substituted for education." Practical experience often trumps formal education in many cases. From that point of view, if education costs something, professional experience should cost more.

This emphasis on experience contributes to the struggle many recent college graduates face in landing their first job. I'm not saying that formal training is obsolete, but something is missing in the pure education package.

Back to my first college learning in the United States, one professor really helped me integrate into the American society. However, when I needed a professional recommendation to start applying for jobs, this professor said that they couldn't do anything like that because we hadn't worked together. They gave me a letter that I was an excellent student, which could be somewhat helpful if I were 18. However, such a letter sounded disastrous for a 40+ years old man.

If any recruiter argues against the importance of experience, ask about their own educational background. I've yet to meet a recruiter with a degree specifically in Recruiting or even in Human Resources generally. If you do find one, ask if their degree alone landed them a recruiter job. And, if they say "Yes", they probably recruit students for a college.

Reflection 10: Experience as a Craft -- 321 words

Career paths are often non-linear, and unconventional experiences can lead to unexpected opportunities. I know someone with a Bachelor's degree in performing arts who started a recruiting business. Although the business didn't work out, he used that experience to land a corporate recruiting job. My own career has also benefited from non-traditional work arrangements.

Project-based work, apprenticeships, internships, entrepreneurship, and freelancing often offer more flexibility than traditional jobs. These options can complement regular employment.

Typically, volunteering is the most flexible. However, it's important to note that while many organizations welcome free help, career-oriented volunteering should focus on building networks, gaining credentials, or developing skills -- not just feeling good about helping.

I learned this lesson the hard way. While volunteering at my community college's academic support center, I hoped to secure recommendations for future jobs. However, when I needed those recommendations, I discovered a college policy prohibited staff from providing them. Although the work experience was valuable, had I known about this policy, I would have limited my volunteering to 6 months instead of 18.

On the other hand, my volunteer involvement with 'CNM' serves my life purpose. Through this more than a decade experience, I observed two successful approaches to alternative employment:

1. Full-time volunteering to quickly fill a specific need, supported by savings or financial assistance from others.
2. Part-time arrangements to gradually build credentials while maintaining a full-time job elsewhere.

These unconventional jobs can help build valuable skills and expand professional networks. While they might not offer all the benefits of full-time jobs, they often have fewer entry requirements. This creates a realistic path from no experience to a fully paid job: start volunteering, build credentials, move to a part-time or apprentice role, and eventually secure full-time employment.

It's important to note that in today's dynamic job market, reaching that "final" stage of full-time employment isn't necessarily the end goal. These unconventional experiences can be stepping stones, preparing you for future opportunities.

Reflection 11: Career as an Enterprise -- 329 words

A career is like a journey with ups, downs, and unexpected turns. But it can be more than just finding a job when needed; it can be about actively managing and growing one's professional path like a personal enterprise.

Managing a career involves strategic planning, continuous learning, and adaptability, much like running a successful business. One's capacity to land various jobs make up their career portfolio. This involves nurturing strong credentials, investing in new ones, maintaining reliable competencies, and possibly letting go of less productive activities.

Having two or more jobs is a feasible option. Consider the concept of "bread" and "butter" jobs. "Bread" jobs provide financial stability, while "butter" jobs are driven by passion and bring satisfaction. Ideally, one wants to find ways to combine both elements in their career.

Let's take my situation as an example. With strong credentials in training, securing a job in that field is feasible. However, specializing requires focus. As AI becomes increasingly important, gaining experience by volunteering on an AI project or starting an AI training business could be beneficial. This approach combines my existing skills (the "bread") with a growing field that interests me (the "butter").

As another example, my interest in vocational discovery might lead to working at a public school and offering an after-school program like WiseNxt once in the system. In that case, my "bread" job will also be a key to my "butter" job.

A career is complex and requires various skills: planning, building credentials, analyzing the job market, marketing oneself, providing good service, and managing finances. Determining a career path and managing it alone can be challenging. It's like trying to be an expert in job markets, a career advisor, and a networking professional all at once.

This is why seeking advice and support from others is crucial for making informed career choices and progressing. Just as successful entrepreneurs often have mentors and advisors, managing one's career enterprise can benefit greatly from external perspectives and expertise.

Reflection 12: The Scarcest Resource -- 242 words

In my experience, workplace dissatisfaction is common. I've encountered colleagues counting down to retirement years in advance, despite enjoying our interactions.

A typical career path often looks like this: Get some education, land a job, receive on-the-job training, take on financial commitments, and then stick with that job because it's secure and pays the bills. This leaves little room for exploring other options.

Our practice-to-job projects have shown promising results across different age groups, including both young people and adults changing careers.

These career projects usually take several months and require both time and money. Interestingly, we've found that securing funding is often easier than finding available time. While sponsors or the government can provide financial support, they can't give you more hours in a day.

During my time recruiting for a startup, we hired just one person out of 1,000 initial candidates. The main challenge wasn't finding skilled people, but rather those willing to complete our time-intensive, practice-based training.

Most adults have family responsibilities and need steady income. This makes it risky for them to engage with startups or invest time in career exploration and skill development.

Our practice-based training is efficient, taking only a few months compared to traditional degrees. However, many adults can't afford to go without income even for a short period, which limits their ability to participate.

These insights guide our focus on younger audiences for vocational discovery, as they often have more flexibility to explore career options.

Summarizing the Reflections

The most important lesson I learned is this: The sooner one tries something, the quicker they can determine if it's right for them.

I would state that it's never too early to start exploring options and discovering what truly excites a person, whether that's through traditional education, work experience, or alternative paths like gap years.

Looking back, I wish the concept of a gap year had been available. It could have provided valuable time to explore different fields and gain practical experience before committing to a specific degree. This option, while not common then, can be beneficial for some students today.

Exploring different paths through various experiences - whether it's a summer job, an internship, or a school project - can teach valuable lessons about personal preferences and strengths. These opportunities, even if they seem unrelated to current interests, can provide insights and skills for future careers.

For students and parents, this means it's important to value both school learning and real-world experiences. Good grades are important, but so are internships, part-time jobs, or volunteer work. Together, they help prepare us for successful and fulfilling careers.

There's a fundamental mismatch in higher education. On the supply side, colleges focus on imparting knowledge. On the demand side, employers prioritize experience. This disconnect suggests that education, industry mentorship, and real-world professional experience should be integrated from the start, rather than occurring years apart.

College education and career management are most effective when paired with work experience. However, due to high costs, those in the process of vocational discovery are often denied this crucial experience until they secure a job independently.

Moreover, both college education and effective career management are time-intensive. This creates additional challenges for individuals with family obligations, who may struggle to afford the time investment required for both.

Time is a crucial, limited resource in professional development. While younger individuals typically have more available time, the current system often delays their opportunities for hands-on practice. This postponement can hinder the efficient integration of education and real-world application.

From Problems to Solutions

My experiences made me want to create the career products I wish I had when I was starting my professional journey.

I began working on a way to combine personalized education and practical experience with a project called WorldOpp. We wanted to help entrepreneurs in areas with fewer opportunities by teaching them through hands-on learning and giving them money for their businesses. But when our main financial supporter changed their plans, we had to think of a new approach.

That's when I came up with Educaship. It mixes education, career guidance, and real-world experience. Our goal is to collaborate with schools to enhance their curriculum by incorporating simulations, internships, and apprenticeships.

While we believe there's a significant need for this approach, we anticipate a 1-2 year implementation period. The primary challenges we foresee are recruiting qualified mentors and establishing partnerships with schools. Educational institutions are not known as change agents, and integrating our hands-on methodology into existing academic programs will require careful planning and execution.

While we're working on Educaship, we realized we could start with something simpler right away. That's where WiseNxt comes in. It's part of Educaship, but it focuses on helping students figure out what they're good at before they choose a career. Imagine it like a big playground where you can try out different jobs. You might analyze products, build websites, plan events, manage computer systems, or lead projects in all sorts of fields.

We first thought about starting WiseNxt in Ukraine, but plans change. Now we're getting ready to introduce it in Kenya in the next few weeks as part of something called the "KenyaX" program.

With WiseNxt, you can discover your talents and interests through hands-on experiences. This way, you can make better choices about your future career and find something you really enjoy doing.

I'm not here to promote Educaship and WiseNxt, but explain the logic behind them. If you have better ideas for how to advance work-like practice or to revolutionize career preparation in other ways, I'd be happy to support your initiatives.

Join the Career Revolution

Our approach is revolutionary because it goes beyond simply delivering standardized curriculum or even replicating job situations. We're creating a comprehensive ecosystem where:

• Learners explore diverse roles to discover their vocations and strengths.
• When asked, "What do you want to do when you grow up?", our graduates have a clearer understanding of their options.
• We collaborate with educational institutions to secure internships or apprenticeships in students' chosen specialties.
• Graduates enter the job market with formal training, practical work experience, and a range of career opportunities.

This vision began as a personal mission, initially developed with my children's futures in mind. Though they've grown, the journey has proven invaluable. I'm deeply committed to making this dream a reality and would gladly dedicate my life to its success.

We invite you to be part of this transformation – as a participant, parent, supporter, or advocate. Will you join us in revolutionizing education and career development?

Drafts

Today, I'd like to share my personal story to showcase the problems work-alike practice can solve and illustrate how the concept of using it as a learning backbone developed and evolved over time.