What Color Is Your Parachute? (19 page)

A QUICK ASIDE ON DEBT

For generations, young people moved their socioeconomic status upward through higher education. They pursued degrees that would allow them to enter professions: medicine, criminal justice, education, science, engineering. This may still be a good strategy. The ideal is to have very little debt from earning your first degree. Anyone hoping to go to graduate school must also keep borrowing within manageable limits. Students who have too much debt from earning their undergraduate degree may be denied entrance into graduate programs. For information on college debt, see
chapter 6
.

Many people complete college degrees and then return for additional education years later—either to update their knowledge and skills in the field in which they work or to move into another line of work. Occupational skills don’t stay current without additional studies or training. To stay highly employable, plan on refreshing or adding to your skills at least every five years. In some fields, you’ll need to take additional classes every year.

Another change in the workforce that may affect your career goals is that some technician-level jobs have salaries that exceed professional-level jobs. If you don’t mind a year or two of further study after high school but don’t like the idea of devoting four to six years, check out technician jobs in fields or industries that interest you.

Remember that you always have options. Even if you later feel you’ve made a wrong decision, you can choose another direction for your life and work.

Postscript: Life after High School

As we mentioned earlier, in today’s work world most well-paying jobs require some amount of additional education or training after high school. You can continue your studies soon after you graduate from high school or wait a couple of years. You may not be ready for college or advanced technical training now, but after a few years of work, you may look forward to going back to school. People who decide to return to school after they’ve worked for several years often become great students. They have valuable work and life experience, and they’ve become quite clear on what they want in life—so they go for it!

In choosing what to do after high school, you have many opportunities and possibilities. Here are a few:

• Travel—around the country or around the world.

• Get a part-time or full-time job and continue your education (go to a two-year or four-year school, take online courses, get a technical certificate or license, or learn a skill or trade).

• Get a part-time job and do volunteer work to learn more skills and to make contacts that will help you in your job search.

• Get any job you can to learn more about a particular field or industry.

• Check out a new city or state (or even country!) to live in.

• Begin a government apprenticeship.

• Get a fun job, even if it’s not what you want for a career.

• Join the
Peace Corps,
State Conservation Corps,
Job Corps, or
AmeriCorps. Information about these organizations is available at
www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2000/fall/art03.pdf
.

• Work or study abroad.

• Join the military.

Does reading this list—or looking at the drawing on the next page—give you more ideas? Add them to the list. What are your top three choices? Whatever you choose to do, do it with your whole heart and live your life to the fullest.

TIRED OF SCHOOL?

After twelve years of classes, no one can blame you if the thought of additional studies doesn’t thrill you. However, with unemployment high among young adults (over 25 percent as of this writing), a technical certificate or license, which might take only a few months to finish, can greatly boost your earning potential. If you can’t face another day of school, consider a “
gap year.” You might not want to take a whole year or you might take two. This gap isn’t a vacation paid for by your parents; this is a focused time-out. It’s time you can work, volunteer, do an internship, or take a few classes so that you learn what you need to know to make better career plans. To learn more, visit
www.igot2know.com/index.php?videoid=785&partnerid=34.

IF YOU WANT TO EXPLORE FURTHER…

Career Portfolios

Social networking sites are gradually becoming capable of serving as electronic portfolios. For example, on LinkedIn you can post slides of your work or presentations. You can also post your work on Google Docs and create a link to your LinkedIn page. Here are some additional resources:

Robins, Mary.
Guide to Portfolios: Creating and Using Portfolios for Academic, Career and Personal Success.
Prentice Hall, 2009.

Here you can try out an eportfolio free for a month (after that, individual accounts are priced based on memory size):
www.eportfolio.org
.

Careers

Crawford, Matthew.
Shop Class as Soul Craft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work
. Penguin, 2009.

Eikleberry, Carol.
The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People
, 3rd ed. Ten Speed Press, 2007.

Farr, Michael, LaVerne L. Ludden, and Laurence Shatkin.
300 Best Jobs without a Four-Year Degree
, 3rd ed. JIST Works, 2009.

Gray, Kenneth C.
Getting Real: Helping Teens Find Their Future
, 2nd ed. Corwin Press, 2008.

———, and Edwin L. Herr.
Other Ways to Win: Creating Alternatives for High School Graduates
, 3rd ed. Corwin Press, 2006.

Krumboltz, John D., and Al S. Levin.
Luck Is No Accident: Making the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career
. Impact Publishers, 2004.

Nemko, PhD, Marty.
Cool Careers for Dummies
, 3rd ed. For Dummies, 2001.

Phifer, Paul.
Quick Prep Careers: Good Jobs in 1 Year or Less
. Ferguson Publishing, 2002.

Rich, Jason.
202 High Paying Jobs You Can Land without a College Degree
. Entrepreneur Press, 2006.

U.S. Department of Labor.
Young Person’s Occupational Outlook Handbook
, 6th ed. JIST Works, 2007.

For information about high-earning jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, check out this article:
www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2004/winter/art01.pdf
.

The Internet Public Library’s Teen Space offers valuable information on a variety of topics, from lifestyle to money to careers:
www.ipl.org/div/teen/
.

This very popular site includes information on career planning, choosing a college, and job hunting:
www.quintcareers.com/teens.html
.

Project Lead the Way offers classes and projects for middle and high school students interested in exploring engineering and biomedical sciences:
www.pltw.org/index.cfm
.

For interviews with a handful of people who are tops in their field, see this site:
www.streamingfutures.com
.

College students have interviewed people about their jobs and how they have or haven’t used their college majors. Find out what they learned at this site:
www.roadtripnation.com
.

In short videos, community college students discuss their career decision making and choice of major at:
www.whodouwant2b.com
.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook site gets you to the latest edition of this always useful resource. The Handbook lists descriptions of thousands of occupations from A to Z. Revised every two years, the handbook describes what workers do on the job. Included are descriptions of working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations.
www.bls.gov/oco

College: Selection and Admission

Asher, Donald.
Cool Colleges for the Hyper-Intelligent, Self-Directed, Late Blooming, and Just Plain Different
, 2nd ed. Ten Speed Press, 2007.

For a book that helps students and their families through the admissions process without killing each other, get a copy of this excellent book: Goodman, Steven, and Andrea Leiman.
College Admissions Together
. Capital Books, 2007.