What Color Is Your Parachute? (17 page)

Your high school guidance counselor or career center may know about formal internship programs to which you can apply. Adult members of your school’s booster club or local service clubs may also help you find an internship. Check with your local chamber of commerce. They may sponsor internships with local businesses, or they might help you set one up. You may also be able to find internship opportunities through the Internet.

With the help of a parent, teacher, or school adviser, you can set up your own internship. Identify a local business or agency where you’d like to work. Meet with the owner or the manager for the department in which you’d like to work. Ask if they’re willing to let you be an intern.

An internship proposal should be in writing. It should list the skills you hope to learn, the duration of the internship, the days and hours you need to be present, and who will supervise you during your internship. Employers think of internships as jobs, and you should too. If you’re lucky enough to get one, show up every day on time and willing to learn.

You’ll find more about internships after high school in
chapter 6
.

Creating a Career Portfolio

A career portfolio is a collection of information you’ve gathered on various jobs and careers as well as information on your interests, skills, and potential dream jobs. It’s like your parachute but with more details. Your portfolio can be as simple as a large envelope or a file folder in which you store all the information you’ve gathered, or you can put your portfolio on your computer. A career portfolio shows what you can do, as well as what you know.

THE IMPORTANCE OF OPTIONS

Less than half of those who start college finish their degree. Given the odds, it’s good to have checked out other options for gaining the career preparation necessary for the work you hope to do.

If you go to a high school that offers a career-planning class, you may create a career portfolio as a class assignment. If your high school doesn’t have a career class but does have a career center, ask if someone on the staff can help you create a career portfolio. Even if your school doesn’t have a career center, you can still put together a career portfolio on your own. Do an Internet search using the phrases “creating a career portfolio” or “creating an eportfolio.” (You can also check out
Creating Your Career Portfolio
, by Dr. Anna Williams and Karen Hall, or consult the resources section at the end of this chapter.)

What goes into a career portfolio? Here are a few specific items, but don’t hesitate to add anything else you think is important:

• A copy of your filled-in parachute (see
My Parachute
)

• A list of activities, class assignments, and experiences that show your interest in different jobs

• A copy of the best work that you created for those assignments (if your project is three-dimensional, take a picture of it)

• Information on the education or training you’ll need for jobs you’re interested in (including recommended college majors)

• Copies of awards, commendations, or certificates from specialized training

• Notes from information interviews

• A list of contacts (for information interviews, job shadowing, and so on)

• Newspaper clippings or magazine articles on people with jobs that you find interesting

This portfolio contains a lot of valuable stuff. If you have an interview for a job or internship, select the parts of your portfolio that best illustrate your skills and experience for the job. And here’s a tip: limit yourself to the top three examples of your work. If you take your whole portfolio, you can expect to see your interviewer’s eye glaze over.

Keep updating your portfolio throughout high school. You may find that your interests and potential dream jobs change as you do additional research. That’s good—that means you’re taking your research seriously. But always keep the research you’ve already done. You never know when a contact you’ve made or an interview you’ve conducted in the past may be important. And you may also find new avenues—potential dream jobs—for using your best skills and favorite interests.

Developing a Three-Part Plan

Another helpful thing you can do is to make a three-part plan based on your answers to the following questions. Using your
parachute
and the section entitled My Favorite Interests, determine your favorite field; that is, the area in which you would most like to find work. Then do additional research (at a career center, library, or online) to answer these questions:

• What entry-level job (a job you can get with a high school diploma) could I get in my favorite field that would help me get experience for better jobs in this field?

• What job could I get in my favorite field with two years (or less) of further training or education?

• What job could I get in my favorite field with a bachelor’s degree or advanced training?

You should know the answers to these questions by the middle of your senior year (if not before). To produce some good answers, you may need to return to the people with whom you did information interviews. Remember that each of the questions may have more than one answer—that is, more than one possible job. That’s great—it means you have more options. Right now you want as many options as possible, and you want to know what those options are. Having just one choice is very limiting. A one-choice plan is like a one-legged stool—it’s almost sure to let you down! When you have the answers to these questions, add them to your career portfolio. The information you gather will help you design a plan for what to do after high school.

Should I Go to College—or Not?

This question sounds quite simple, but given the realities of today’s work world, it’s more complex than it seems. It used to be that getting a college education generally meant that you would get a better, higher-paying job. That isn’t necessarily the case anymore.

To make career plans today, it’s important to understand the difference between higher education and training. Higher education is any formal learning you do after graduating from high school, although some people use the phrase “higher education” to mean college or university. If a teacher or career coach suggests higher education, ask them what they mean. Misunderstanding can easily result if you are thinking
technical institute
when you hear the phrase, and they are thinking
state university
.

In general, “education” is a broader type of learning. For example, to get your high school diploma, you have to take certain classes—some interest you, and others don’t. To get a college degree, you select a certain major, which should be the subject that most interests you. You’re also required to take classes in other subjects to meet graduation requirements. You may or may not find these other classes interesting, though they could provide you with
exposure to ideas, issues, and knowledge that may be beneficial personally or professionally.

REALITY CHECK

In our survey of high school and college graduates, 34 percent said that they wish they hadn’t waited until they graduated to make career plans and contacts. These former students felt that if they had gotten entry-level jobs, internships, or volunteer experience in fields of their choice while still in school, they would have realized their career goals much faster.

On the other hand, “training” is more focused or specialized. Training classes teach specific skills, technology, or procedures for use in particular settings and with particular jobs.

The way in which you get your education or training is also rapidly changing. There are many more opportunities today to meet educational or training requirements online or with more flexible learning schedules (for example, weekend or night degree programs).

Whether you choose to prepare for a career or job by going to college, pursuing specialized training, or a combination of the two depends very much on what you want to do. This is where all the research you’ve been doing on jobs—including the education and training requirements for those jobs—pays off. It can help you make good decisions concerning your further education or training.

Look at your answers to the questions in the previous section, Developing a Three-Part Plan. For each job that interests you and that requires additional education or training, answer these questions:

• What kind of education or training was recommended by the people with whom you did information interviews?

• How long would these studies or training take?

• What will the training for higher-level jobs cost?

• How are you going to pay those costs?

According to the Department of Labor, 75 percent of today’s jobs require some amount of education after high school. This is a big change from when your parents graduated from high school and there were more jobs for high school graduates that paid well. But not all good jobs need a university degree. Only 20 percent of today’s jobs need a bachelor’s degree or higher. Think jobs of the future will need more university graduates? The Monthly Labor Review projects that by 2016, only 22 percent of jobs will require a bachelor’s or higher degree. In the four to six years it takes to get a bachelor’s degree (only 30 percent of university grads get their degree in four years), a particular technology may have already undergone two or three generations of change. For many employers, the degree process is too slow. They need workers with a technical skill base who can quickly learn more technical skills. Therefore, in some industries, one- or two-year technical degrees are more valued than bachelor’s degrees.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to go to college to become financially successful. The Census Bureau reports that in the United States, only 30 percent of adults over age twenty-five have a college degree. Many people are financially successful without a college degree. In fact, a passionate interest may be a better indicator of financial success.