Skillcations sound like the perfect solution to burnout.
Take time off. Learn new skills. Return recharged and more marketable. The concept has career experts buzzing about employees using PTO not for beach trips, but for professional development that feels rejuvenating.
The appeal is obvious. With 42% experiencing burnout globally, any approach that combines rest with growth seems worth exploring. And when 85% of job success depends on durable skills like communication and critical thinking, investing vacation time in skill development carries real career weight.
But I started asking a different question: who has the privilege to take a skillcation?
The Access Problem
Skillcations require three things most rural residents don’t have in abundance: paid time off, disposable income for courses or workshops, and proximity to quality learning opportunities.
The data tells a stark story. Between 2017 and 2022, only 6% of new tech jobs were created in rural areas. The remaining 94% landed in metropolitan centers where skill development infrastructure already exists.
That pattern reveals something deeper than job distribution. It shows how opportunity compounds for those who already have access, while rural communities face systemic barriers that individual solutions can’t overcome.
What Rural Communities Actually Need
I’ve watched this dynamic play out in Southeastern North Carolina. Residents here don’t lack ambition or capability. They lack infrastructure.
A skillcation assumes you can step away from work with pay, afford a course or conference, and return to an economy that rewards your new capabilities. That’s a metropolitan reality, not a rural one.
Rural communities need something fundamentally different: skill ecosystems that bring opportunity to residents rather than requiring residents to leave for opportunity.
Ecosystems create sustained access. They build local capacity. They recognize that individual skill development only transforms communities when it’s embedded in supportive infrastructure that makes growth possible for everyone, not just those with existing privilege.
Skill Spring offers four interconnected programs designed to cultivate the essential skills.
BE Program: Build authentic self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and presence. Know your values, strengths, and motivations — and understand how you impact others. This is the foundation for all meaningful decisions and interactions.
SEE Program: Learn to observe your environment, relationships, and opportunities with empathy and insight. Read situations, understand others’ perspectives, and recognize patterns and possibilities around you.
DO Program: Take purposeful action, investigating a business idea from conception to execution through effective communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making. Understand processes that turn awareness into results.
PURSUE Program: Embrace lifelong learning and adaptive development. Build your capacity to evolve through feedback, critical thinking, and continual skill refinement.
The Opportunity Framework
This is where everything changes.
When we help residents identify and articulate their existing capabilities, something remarkable happens. Confidence builds. Opportunities multiply. Communities transform.
The framework is simple:
- Recognize the durable skills already present.
- Develop the language to communicate their value.
- Connect those skills to emerging opportunities.
- Evolve the approach based on what works.
Building Toward Equity
The skillcation trend highlights a truth about how skill development happens in America. Those with resources use them to gain more resources. Those without remain locked out.
Changing that pattern requires shifting from individual hacks to systemic solutions. It means building learning infrastructure in places that have been historically underserved. It means recognizing that durable skills flourish when entire communities have pathways to develop them.
Skillcations might work for some. But rural Southeastern North Carolina needs ecosystems that empower all residents to create, innovate, and thrive regardless of their zip code or existing privilege.
That’s not a vacation strategy. That’s community transformation.
Our Company
Skill Spring is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Southeastern North Carolina dedicated to cultivating transformative skills throughout the region’s rural communities. We offer four dynamic programs: the “BE” Program, the “SEE” Program, the “DO” Program, and the “PURSUE” Program.
David W. Bryant, Ph.D., is the founder of Skill Spring, where he directs efforts to advance entrepreneurship education and durable skills development. Under his leadership, Skill Spring creates innovative programs designed to give learners practical tools and mindsets critical for thriving in a rapidly changing workforce. Bryant’s foundational approach in education has always revolved around the question, “How do we equip every learner with the skills to adapt, thrive, and lead?” This core motivation still guides his vision and strategies at Skill Spring today, focusing on empowering individuals with both the confidence and competencies necessary for long-term success.
Our mission: We strive to transform rural Southeastern North Carolina by cultivating skills that empower all residents to create, innovate, and thrive.
Our vision: We envision a future where every resident of rural Southeastern North Carolina possesses the capabilities to turn everyday challenges into opportunities and lifelong dreams into reality.
Our values: We value empathy, empowerment, enrichment, and evolution.
EMPATHY – We lead with compassion and a commitment to human dignity.
EMPOWERMENT – We build confidence and independence in every learner.
ENRICHMENT – We enhance knowledge and skills to create meaningful and lasting impact.
EVOLUTION – We embrace continuous learning, adaptation, and forward-thinking change.
Skill Spring is committed to transforming lives through education by embracing the values of empathy, empowerment, enrichment, and evolution. We begin by listening with empathy, ensuring every learner feels seen and supported. By fostering empowerment, we equip individuals with the confidence and skills to shape their own futures. Our programs are designed for enrichment, offering meaningful learning experiences that expand horizons and unlock potential. Guided by evolution, we continuously adapt and innovate, ensuring our education and training remain relevant in a changing world. At Skill Spring, we nurture growth, resilience, and lifelong success for every learner.
