Find Your Career Yourself
For as many years as I can tell that our education system has been in existence, students have found their guideposts to higher education leading to their chosen career laid out for them based on test scores, family input, friends, false equivalency of school to work and other external factors ending in a career they often come to hate.
I worked in the human resources field for over thirty years and engaged in career counseling discussions with engineers, painters, nurses and many other professional and non-professionals. A very large percentage have found themselves in career fields in which their dislike bordered on hatred. They were looking to move into other areas and often had developed an interest in career fields radically different from the one they had been educated and trained in. This usually happened after five to ten years or more of work in these "hated" jobs. But changing careers at this late point when their education and experience is not closely related is very difficult and when it does happen, normally a cut in pay and return to entry level positions is required
When I asked these employees why they had gone into the fields in the first place, they shared many stories of prep-school success with high test scores and grades in these areas. Our young are being pressured to excell and start focusing on a career field at earlier ages when the only idea they have of a career is what they either were told or what they learn in a classroom setting. Often this was added to by parents who looked at successful people in the various fields these scores represented and pushed the student into a specific area.
My old-school answer to these lost workers could be, "shut up and get back to work, at least you have a job that pays well!" But the counselor in me wants people to be as happy in their jobs for their careers as I was in mine. Unfortunately, I did not follow a well examined path to human resources that I am advocating, but through dumb luck I found myself in the right job for me and generally enjoyed the work for most of my professional life. I actually started down the path I mentioned above. I got good grades and SAT scores in math and sciences and found it "interesting" and had family role models that were high paid engineers so my parents said, "that's what you should do" and my school guidance counselor looked at my scores and transcripts and heartily agreed.
However, when I entered college I found the college courses boring, the material hard to follow and uninspiring and the idea of an engineering job increasingly unpleasant and not suited to my real interests and temperment. I also took courses in psychology and sociology as well as philosophy and found these courses fascinating in their lack of black and white answers. I changed my major to psychology and sociology and graduated with a double major. But when I talked to my guidance counselor she said, "now get a masters." Well that was not going to work and I was not very interested in working with the mentally or emotionally disabled. So I worked in a succession of blue collar jobs until I found a federal merit test to take and that got me an interview in a personnnel office. I didn't even know with personnel was, but quickly found it stimulating and worked in the field until my retirement.
So, what do I suggest for our young today to prevent them from ending up in the wrong career they hate that can lead to burnout or worse? A bit more exploration starting early is in order and here is how we should approach it:
1. When your children are young try to expose them to lots of different things in educaitonal and non-educational settings. Almost none of them are going to become famous professional athletes or artists, but expose them to sports, the arts as well as the other skill areas. This can be done to some extent in elementary school and should be done at that age, but also can be done in organized activities outside school, clubs, church and civic activities. But here comes the hard part, don't push them, observe them. Look at the homework, art work and listen to the stories about the various events and outtings. Ask them what they liked and didn't like. See where they excelled, certainly, but also where they may not excell at first, but where they have strong interest as their hard work may make them successful, even if the early results don't look promising.
2.When you do see areas they seem to be interested in, find local places of business or communities of interest that engage in that field and take them on a field trip to where these adults do their thing. And do it more than once looking for variety within the field. To do this right, find places that are open to visits and observations by children and don't just go to one place or one type of place. For example; if the student seems interested in engineering, don't just take them to an office with a bunch of people hunched over drawing or desks. You also need to find an place actually in a plant, out in the field or some other hands on options before you mark it off the list. And, again, talk to them after the visit. Ask them what they liked and what they didn't like. Ask if they could see themselves doing that job. Also check out books with photos in the areas and have them around for them to look at to help them see what is available in the various fields.
3. When they get in middle school and high school, see if they can spend a few hours with individuals in the fields of interest. If they can follow them around, observe, ask questions and otherwise do more exploration (without you present) it with further allow them to see themselves in the career, or not as the case may be. As they focus in, find part-time employment either working with or near those in the field, even of unpaid for a few hours a week. This last step will further expose them to the details of the field and will be invaluable as references, work experience and possibly even job prospects after graduation.
4. Find a college that has a good department in their chosen fields and maybe even interview the guidance counselors as part of the tour to see what the classwork will be like. It may only be 4 years or so that they have in college, but if they find the course work boring and not relevant, you may find their grades and interest falling early on. Also try to get them to not be too focused too soon. They may enter thinking they want to be a research chemist but find they want to teach chemistry in high school as they move on. Sure, a research chemist makes much more money, but if they hate it, problems are sure to ensue.
5. Be prepared for them to change their minds during college and even after they graduate and don't freak out when they do. They may find their chosen field in a down-cycle when they graduate and jobs are hard to come by. This can be temporary and can also lead them to another more enjoyable career.
I write this to help students and parents navigate and help the child find their passion by the time they graduate. I have seen too many experienced and skilled employees lose interest, which lead to lower quaity of work. This then can lead to limited advancement or even discharge by the employer. The new graduate that finds a career field they love, will be more successful, find their income growing faster, their opportunities greater and their life more fullfilling all the way to retirement. And with any luck, that in turn will pay dividends to us when we visit our happy and well off children.
I worked in the human resources field for over thirty years and engaged in career counseling discussions with engineers, painters, nurses and many other professional and non-professionals. A very large percentage have found themselves in career fields in which their dislike bordered on hatred. They were looking to move into other areas and often had developed an interest in career fields radically different from the one they had been educated and trained in. This usually happened after five to ten years or more of work in these "hated" jobs. But changing careers at this late point when their education and experience is not closely related is very difficult and when it does happen, normally a cut in pay and return to entry level positions is required
When I asked these employees why they had gone into the fields in the first place, they shared many stories of prep-school success with high test scores and grades in these areas. Our young are being pressured to excell and start focusing on a career field at earlier ages when the only idea they have of a career is what they either were told or what they learn in a classroom setting. Often this was added to by parents who looked at successful people in the various fields these scores represented and pushed the student into a specific area.
My old-school answer to these lost workers could be, "shut up and get back to work, at least you have a job that pays well!" But the counselor in me wants people to be as happy in their jobs for their careers as I was in mine. Unfortunately, I did not follow a well examined path to human resources that I am advocating, but through dumb luck I found myself in the right job for me and generally enjoyed the work for most of my professional life. I actually started down the path I mentioned above. I got good grades and SAT scores in math and sciences and found it "interesting" and had family role models that were high paid engineers so my parents said, "that's what you should do" and my school guidance counselor looked at my scores and transcripts and heartily agreed.
However, when I entered college I found the college courses boring, the material hard to follow and uninspiring and the idea of an engineering job increasingly unpleasant and not suited to my real interests and temperment. I also took courses in psychology and sociology as well as philosophy and found these courses fascinating in their lack of black and white answers. I changed my major to psychology and sociology and graduated with a double major. But when I talked to my guidance counselor she said, "now get a masters." Well that was not going to work and I was not very interested in working with the mentally or emotionally disabled. So I worked in a succession of blue collar jobs until I found a federal merit test to take and that got me an interview in a personnnel office. I didn't even know with personnel was, but quickly found it stimulating and worked in the field until my retirement.
So, what do I suggest for our young today to prevent them from ending up in the wrong career they hate that can lead to burnout or worse? A bit more exploration starting early is in order and here is how we should approach it:
1. When your children are young try to expose them to lots of different things in educaitonal and non-educational settings. Almost none of them are going to become famous professional athletes or artists, but expose them to sports, the arts as well as the other skill areas. This can be done to some extent in elementary school and should be done at that age, but also can be done in organized activities outside school, clubs, church and civic activities. But here comes the hard part, don't push them, observe them. Look at the homework, art work and listen to the stories about the various events and outtings. Ask them what they liked and didn't like. See where they excelled, certainly, but also where they may not excell at first, but where they have strong interest as their hard work may make them successful, even if the early results don't look promising.
2.When you do see areas they seem to be interested in, find local places of business or communities of interest that engage in that field and take them on a field trip to where these adults do their thing. And do it more than once looking for variety within the field. To do this right, find places that are open to visits and observations by children and don't just go to one place or one type of place. For example; if the student seems interested in engineering, don't just take them to an office with a bunch of people hunched over drawing or desks. You also need to find an place actually in a plant, out in the field or some other hands on options before you mark it off the list. And, again, talk to them after the visit. Ask them what they liked and what they didn't like. Ask if they could see themselves doing that job. Also check out books with photos in the areas and have them around for them to look at to help them see what is available in the various fields.
3. When they get in middle school and high school, see if they can spend a few hours with individuals in the fields of interest. If they can follow them around, observe, ask questions and otherwise do more exploration (without you present) it with further allow them to see themselves in the career, or not as the case may be. As they focus in, find part-time employment either working with or near those in the field, even of unpaid for a few hours a week. This last step will further expose them to the details of the field and will be invaluable as references, work experience and possibly even job prospects after graduation.
4. Find a college that has a good department in their chosen fields and maybe even interview the guidance counselors as part of the tour to see what the classwork will be like. It may only be 4 years or so that they have in college, but if they find the course work boring and not relevant, you may find their grades and interest falling early on. Also try to get them to not be too focused too soon. They may enter thinking they want to be a research chemist but find they want to teach chemistry in high school as they move on. Sure, a research chemist makes much more money, but if they hate it, problems are sure to ensue.
5. Be prepared for them to change their minds during college and even after they graduate and don't freak out when they do. They may find their chosen field in a down-cycle when they graduate and jobs are hard to come by. This can be temporary and can also lead them to another more enjoyable career.
I write this to help students and parents navigate and help the child find their passion by the time they graduate. I have seen too many experienced and skilled employees lose interest, which lead to lower quaity of work. This then can lead to limited advancement or even discharge by the employer. The new graduate that finds a career field they love, will be more successful, find their income growing faster, their opportunities greater and their life more fullfilling all the way to retirement. And with any luck, that in turn will pay dividends to us when we visit our happy and well off children.
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