In its simplest form, a job involves exchanging your skills for a wage—and employers have a keen interest in people who know how to do a thing or two well. That may be laying down a concrete foundation for a new building or providing empathetic care to a nursing home resident. Or being proficient in another type of vocational skill.
What are Vocational Skills?
Vocational skills are applied skills you acquire to become proficient in a specific trade or profession. They usually include a combination of technical, hands-on, and craft skills to excel in fields like construction, culinary, administration, healthcare, and many other professions.
Here are some examples of vocational skills:
- Carpentry and woodwork
- Electrician work
- HVAC maintenance
- Cosmetology
- Medical assistance
You can acquire vocational competencies in trade school, an apprenticeship program, community college programs, union training programs, adult education centers, or via countless eLearning certification programs.
Unlike college education, vocational education focuses on work-based learning. It helps you acquire practical, job-specific skills to make you immediately employable. And that’s a great option for anyone looking to jump-start their career.
Some 44% of all upper-secondary students in OECD countries are enrolled in vocational education and training programs. Many adults choose to pursue vocational training later in life when changing careers or returning to the workforce after being a stay-at-home parent.
In-Demand Vocational Skills List
Vocational training skills are in high demand. The construction industry is short on half a million workers. The demand for plumbers outweighs the talent supply.
And it will only get stronger as the US market will have a labor gap of 6 million skilled workers over the next eight years, especially in hospitality, healthcare, and skilled trades.
So if you’re looking to acquire new vocational training skills, here are the ones you should definitely look into!
Electrical Skills
Being an electrician is not the easiest job. It requires both strong technical knowledge of various electrical systems and their components and mechanical dexterity. Not to mention, a high tolerance for physically demanding work conditions: You may be asked to work in too wet, too cold, or too hot environments quite often.
Yet, the job doesn’t require a degree but comes with a hefty paycheck of $ 73,859 per year on average. Moreover, the employment of electricians is expected to grow twice as fast as that of all occupations through 2032.
Construction Skills
Over 70% of employers in the US are concerned by an insufficient supply of construction and 80% have a hard time filling up open positions. If you have completed vocational training in roofing, carpentry, welding, masonry, or concrete work, you should have no trouble finding a good job today and in the future.
As new infrastructure gets constructed and aging assets require updates, the construction job market will add another 345,000 jobs around 2027–28, with many being open to entry-level skilled trades talent.
Healthcare and Caregiving Skills
Ever since the global pandemic, the healthcare industry has been struggling with talent retention and attraction. Between 2020 and 2021, some 100,000 registered nurses have quit their jobs—the largest drop in supply over the past 40 years. Trained caregivers for the elderly, minors, disabled, and people with chronic conditions are also in limited supply. Last year, some 1.8 million such vacancies were left unfilled.
There are plenty of vocational jobs you could go after after completing a training program. For example, become a certified nursing assistant, certified caregiver, or a phlebotomist if you want to have patient duties. Or you can look into an administrative position in medical billing and coding that has a better work-life balance.
Culinary Skills
The hospitality sector has always provided a steady range of job opportunities, especially in the culinary branch. Skilled bartenders, line cooks, chefs, and baristas can always find excellent part-time and full-time job opportunities.
According to a survey released in late 2024, 82% of restaurant businesses are actively hiring new staff. The most in-demand positions were chefs, followed by dishwashers and cashiers. Going into 2025, however, most restaurant owners expect to face stiffer staffing shortages. This is prompting many operators to increase base wages for hard-to-fill and high-turnover roles and launch new bonus schemes to attract more workers.
Sales and Retail Skills
The retail sector is another sector, recruiting all year round (and more so during the holiday season). The nature of retail work can be demanding—long hours, weekend shifts, grumpy customers—but it also has some great career prospects. Retail workers move up the career ladder every 14.5 months and get a 15.2% pay increase on average with each promotion.
You can cultivate many in-demand skills for retail jobs at work or via employer-sponsored mentorship or apprenticeship programs. Walmart is well-known for investing in its workforce development, starting from the entry-level staff. Last year, the company promoted over 180K associates to positions with greater responsibility and higher pay.
Conclusion
Getting a degree from a prestigious college is no longer the only way to have a job with high security and excellent pay. Vocational training helps you build real-world competencies many employers lack, and thus, are ready to pay for lavishly as this post has shown. So the ball is now in your court. Start building the right skill sets to advance your career.
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