What Color Is Your Parachute? (20 page)

Nemko, Marty.
The All-in-One College Guide
. Baron’s Educational Series, 2004.

North, April.
College Is for Suckers: The First College Guide You Should Read
.
iUniverse.com
, 2009.

This link will take you to the website of the College Board, the organization that administers the PSAT and SAT tests. It offers advice on getting ready to go to college, financing college, and choosing a college, as well as information on distance learning.
www.collegeboard.com/?student

In addition to career assessments and information, EUREKA also lists colleges and information about financial aid:
www.eureka.org
.

This site suggests you begin planning for college in the eighth grade (an opinion shared by many):
http://mappingyourfuture.org/MiddleHighSchool
.

This website provides links to all colleges in the United States and its territories:
www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state
.

This website has links to the home pages of all U.S. colleges and universities that grant bachelors or advanced degrees, links to U.S. community colleges and Canadian and other international institutions:
www.clas.ufl.edu/au/
.

For links to home pages of higher education institutions in 194 countries, visit this site:
www.braintrack.com

If you’re interested in distance learning or degrees online, check out this site:
www.onlinedegrees.com

General Education and Training

Teens with a strong Christian faith may want to check out
Real Life Begins after High School: Facing Your Future without Freaking Out
, by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz (Vine Books, 2004).

From 2003 through 2005, the October issue of
Atlantic
magazine contained their annual College Admissions Survey. The articles cover issues important to students who are considering going to college (and to their parents).

This Department of Labor website helps students identify training, educational opportunities, and financial aid. It also tracks occupational and industry trends and provides links with job-search services.
www.careeronestop.org

Dr. Marty Nemko, a brilliant career strategist and author, offers numerous articles on education and training (including the provocative “College: America’s Most Over-Rated Product”) on his website:
www.martynemko.com
.

Explore technical careers, check out the skills employers really want, find training, research technical topics, and take a look at the current job market, at the Vocational Information Center site:
www.khake.com
.

Internships

This site provides information on co-op and internship opportunities for high school students:
people.rit.edu/gtfsbi/Symp/highschool.htm
.

This site explains why you should look for an internship in high school:
www.fastweb.com/college-jobs-internships/articles/205-internships-for-high-school-students
.

You can find additional sites dealing with internships by using any search engine. Search on “high school internships” and you’ll get pages of options.

Job Opportunities and Information for Teens

Check out this website for jobs and other opportunities for teens:
rileyguide.com/teen.html
.

Teen workers are the most vulnerable to accident and harassment. Provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), this is the premier site for teen worker safety and health information. OSHA’s mission is to help teen (and adult) workers stay healthy and safe while on the job.
www.osha.gov/SLTC/teenworkers/index.html

In the United States, restaurants and other eating and drinking establishments employ over three million people under age twenty. Many teens’ first work experience is in the restaurant industry. This fun OSHA website helps youths working in the restaurant industry to be safe and healthy on the job:
www.osha.gov/SLTC/youth/restaurant/
.

Job Shadowing

For information on Groundhog Job Shadow Day or the National Job Shadow Coalition, check out this site:
www.jobshadow.org
.

A great article on the whys and how-tos of job shadowing:
www.groovejob.com/resources/sondra-clark-job-shadowing/
.

Again, an Internet search using the phrase “job shadowing for teens” or “job shadowing for college students” will give you pages of links.

National Disability Mentoring Day is usually scheduled every October. Students with disabilities have the opportunity to be matched up with mentors to explore their career interests. To learn more about the program, visit these sites:
www.dol.gov/odep/programs/dmd.htm
and
www.dmdaapd.org
.

Life Planning and Teen Success

Levine, MD, Mel.
Ready or Not, Here Life Comes
. Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Leslie, Roger.
Success Express for Teens
. Bayou Publishing, 2004.

Benson, Peter.
What Teens Need to Succeed: Practical Ways to Shape Your Own Future
. Free Spirit, 1998.

Mentors

For a site devoted to web-based mentoring for teens, visit
http://netmentors.org
.

This site has general information about mentoring. Enter your zip code to find programs in your area:
www.mentoring.org
.

Articles on subjects ranging from how to select high school classes to Senioritis to balancing school and work can be found at this site:
www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/high-school/index.html
.

Miscellaneous

Education in the United States emphasizes academic intelligence, but there are other kinds of intelligence. One is emotional intelligence—a set of acquired skills and competencies that predict positive outcomes in relationships at home, school, and work. People who possess these skills are healthier, less depressed, and more productive at work, and have better relationships. This site offers a free test that gives a summary of your results and the option to purchase a more detailed report on your EQ:
www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=1121
.

For a good summary of Emotional Intelligence, visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence
.

For more: Goleman, Daniel.
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ
. Bantam, 1997.

Young people with AD/HD who would like help discovering fulfilling career options and completing the steps mentioned in this book can check out this site:
www.youthleadershipcareers.com
.

This how-to website for teens and twentysomethings is all video; it includes several videos of Carol Christen, coauthor of this book, explaining important career-choice and job-search topics:
www.igot2know.com
.

Volunteering

Becoming a volunteer helps you gain skills while helping others. There are probably dozens of organizations in your hometown that need volunteers. For ideas visit these sites:

www.dosomething.org

www.bygpub.com/books/tg2rw/volunteer.htm

http://life.familyeducation.com/slideshow/volunteer-work/29594.html

Travel is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. Leaving your hometown to volunteer can be sweet—you’ll learn more about your country or the world and more about yourself. If you’d like to both volunteer and get out of Dodge, check out these sites:

www.americorps.gov

www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/study/teen/
teen_volunteer_organizations.shtml

6

What Do I Do Next?

MAKING THE MOST OF COLLEGE

If you’re ready to go to college, that’s great! Ideally, you’ve arrived at this decision through explorations of yourself and your interests, and you’ve learned that a college degree (from a community college or university) is a prerequisite for your dream jobs. If you’ve decided that college is for you or is necessary for your target field or job, this chapter will help you get the most out of the experience.

In previous generations, students often went to college to discover what they wanted to do, and they were generally awarded a job after graduation simply because they had a college degree. But you’re living in a different world; today a college degree doesn’t necessarily guarantee either employment or high pay. Currently, just half of recent grads with bachelor’s degrees have found work that requires their level of education. Only a third of liberal arts grads have found jobs that need their education. The graduates of 2009 entered a very rough economy. Barely 20 percent had found full-time work five months after graduation (and three-quarters of those who did find work had done internships while in college), according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). This is not intended to discourage you from going to college
if you need a bachelor’s degree for the work you want to do. We offer this fact to underscore the need to continue paying attention to your career goals and expanding your contacts while you are still in school. Otherwise, you may find that you have treated your college education like a very expensive lottery ticket—you’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars for the chance at a good job.

By doing the exercises in
part 1
, you’ve gained a big advantage over many students beginning college. You know what’s important to you and what you need to do—not simply to find a job after graduation but, more important, to find work you love, which for you means getting a college degree. Many students drop out of college because they are not fully committed to completing their education. Career focus will give you that strong commitment.

College can be an exciting and fun time. You meet new people, face academic challenges, and enjoy new social, cultural, and sports activities. Your college friends may remain friends for life. If you remain serious about finding work you’ll love after graduation, then while you are in school you’ll want to take classes and participate in programs that help you build valuable skills and develop contacts that will enhance your professional career. Your college years
can be very rich and rewarding in many ways, but they also require a new sense of responsibility—not only for your personal life but also for your financial life. Your college education is an investment in your future.

INVESTING IN YOURSELF AND YOUR LIFE

Higher education is a classic investment—time and money spent now to help you get the qualifications you need to do the work you love in the future. Because higher education (both academic and career preparation) can cost so much, financial analysts suggest that the
cost of education or training be analyzed just like any other investment.

How do you analyze higher education costs?

• First, be a smart consumer. Talk with people in the field(s) you hope to pursue. Make sure the education or training you’re paying for will actually help you get the work you want.

• Second, examine all risks that could threaten your investment. Financial analysts have identified the following five factors as the most common threats to the value of your education or training:
Debt
Unfinished schooling
Low-paying jobs after graduation
Not using your college degree
Changing your major