Careers

If there’s one thing The Great Recession has taught us, it’s that a college degree is becoming increasingly important in order to land a well-paying, stable job. Gone are the days when you can work your way up the corporate ladder with just a high school diploma. Instead, employers are becoming more and more selective in whom they choose to interview and eventually hire.

With this in mind, it should be obvious that college degrees should be oriented around how to find the best job with your particular skill set. Flexibility is a must! For many, this is simple: many degrees, such as a marketing degree, mathematics degree, or engineering degree are useful in several different areas, rather than being confining in nature.

However, what if you have a more creative bent of mind, or are interested in studying what you’re passionate about, rather than what “makes sense”? Does the new economic climate make these studies impractical or—even worse—obsolete?

In a 2008 article, Michael Roth argued that a liberal arts education is valuable regardless of the job market. “A successful liberal arts education develops the capacity for innovation and for judgment,” Roth wrote. “Those who can imagine how best to reconfigure existing resources and project future results will be the shapers of our economy and culture. We seldom get to have all the information we would like, but still we must act. The habits of mind developed in a liberal arts context often result in combinations of focus and flexibility that make for intelligent, and sometimes courageous risk taking for critical assessment of those risks.”

While this sounds good, how can current and future college students study what they love while still keeping an eye to the future? While it may seem ideal to study what you’re passionate about, it is more feasible to minor in what you love and major in something more practical (as painful as that sounds).  This isn’t to say that you should study something that is completely uninteresting to you, however.

For example, you might want to be a world-famous poet. You could minor in creative writing, but major in marketing. That way, when you have finished your first book, you will know how to take your work and market it to the world, rather than relying on others to do it for you. The same applies for any artistic endeavor. There are millions of artists out there who no one has ever heard of, for the simple reason that they do not know how to get their work noticed.

Conversely, if your interests run more toward the intellectual—philosophy, history, literature, etc.—and you entertain thoughts of teaching, be prepared to major in education and minor in your favorite subject, or to head directly into graduate school. While most schools do not require a master’s degree to teach at the elementary or middle school levels, some do require an advanced degree to teach at the high school level.

The thing to remember when deciding on your course of study at college is that you want to study something that you are interested in, or you will have little motivation to succeed. If you spend four or more years studying a subject about which you have no passion, then you will spend the rest of your life pursuing a career that will be lackluster at best.

So go ahead and study what you love. Just be smart about it, and be sure that you have thought well into the future as to how you will best be able to use your education in the job market. While it may seem romantic to be a struggling artist who lives on love, the reality is that this grows very old, very quickly. So think ahead, and make the most of your education. Best of luck!

The health care industry plays a vital role in America’s social and economic well being. There are a ton of options out there for anyone considering a career in health care and choosing the right area of study can feel like a daunting task.

Before choosing a college degree, it’s important to consider several factors. For instance, are you someone who wants to work directly with patients, or do you prefer administration and management? If you’re a sports fan, maybe massage therapy or physical therapy is a good choice. Here are a few of the top healthcare college degree options.

Health Care Administration

There’s more to the heath care industry than treating patients directly. In fact, there’s always a need for talented health care administration professionals. Health care administrators plan, supervise, coordinate and direct the delivery of health care services. It’s complex, but very rewarding work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the field of health is growing at a faster-than-average rate. A degree in this field will help you develop a keen business sense and provide the pleasure of knowing your work is saving lives. To meet the future demand, many colleges offer online health care administration degrees.

Medical Assisting

For those who are interested in online healthcare administration degrees, but also have a desire to work with patients, medical assisting is a great choice. The job prospects are described by the BLS as excellent and practitioners get to work closely with physicians and patients. There’s also an administrative side, which includes tracking insurance, admissions and laboratory forms. Clinical medical assistants perform a number of important tasks and work directly with patients. It’s a broad field that will cater to your business goals and desire to help people.

Massage Therapy

This degree path draws those with a passion for healthcare and an entrepreneurial spirit. A large percentage of massage therapists are part-time and self employed. Practitioners treat patients for any number of issues, from injury recovery, stress reduction, muscle rehabilitation, sports injuries and plenty of other afflictions. Massage therapists generally specialize in one of more than 80 types of massage ranging from deep tissue to acupressure. Like many healthcare professions, the industry is expected to grow, making this a great choice for a health care degree.

Nursing

Nursing is a highly rewarding profession with a lot of flexibility, specialty areas and opportunity. Choosing to study nursing in college also comes with several choices. Those interested in an associate’s degree will be ready to enter the workforce in two years. Bachelor’s degrees and three-year nursing diplomas are also popular options for anyone interested in the nursing field.  If you are caring, kind and enjoy the thought of working closely with doctors and patients, nursing is an ideal career path.

Medical Records and Information

This is yet another option for anyone who may be interested in health care administration schools. If you have a keen eye for detail and in interest in protecting patients’ private medical information, medical records and information technology is a solid choice. This also would include billing, coding, managing sensitive data and checking documents for accuracy. Medical records workers usually enjoy a comfortable office environment and work in a field expected to grow at a much faster rate than average.

Physical Therapy Assistant

Becoming a physical therapy assistant is a good choice for people who plan on getting an associate’s degree and entering the workforce two years after staring school. Degrees are offered through several online and brick-and-mortar campuses. The job outlook is very good with the field expected to grow 38 percent by 2018. Physical therapy assistants work under the guidance of physical therapists and are often responsible for maintaining records and monitoring progress.

Have you ever wondered how important is to have a good teacher in our lives? Most of us will always have a memory of that one great teacher that motivated and inspired us to believe in ourselves and always seek to challenge our own potential and become better human beings. For those people looking into joining an educational program as a career, the options are plenty, and the need is massive. On his State of the Union Address, President Obama stressed the importance of having well prepared teachers in the country; preparing the youth of a nation drives its success in the future.

For some, teaching comes as a gift, weather it is with children or MBA graduates, education is a skill that, if mastered well, can transform a student’s life, enable him/her to discover new passions, or develop strengths and reinforce weaknesses.  For others, becoming a good teacher is an acquired skill that takes years of experience to be mastered. The truth is no teaching is worthwhile without passion, passion for knowledge, for people; the main force that drives educators is to seek and harvest the best out of every student. Therefore teaching is for those few, passionate men and women that seek to help reach others their highest potential, and take pride from helping others succeed. If you are compromised into shaping the future of your nation through teaching, then an education degree is the way to go.

Education is also for those interested in taking full responsibility with great creativity. Classroom autonomy is a great benefit for these people: every time a teacher closes the classroom door and begins class, he or she has full control over how to run the day. Creativity comes into play in every activity, and this profession is one that allows the individual to express thinking through many different ways. Some famous educators also indicate that staying in touch with young people keeps teacher young, and help them learn too. When you teach a subject, you learn yourself too! Therefore, you never stop being a student yourself.

An educational program is also for those people who like a family environment, directing a class is somehow working as a family, and teamwork is essential. Let us not forget, when you are a teacher, you have summers off! This time can be best invested in other activities, summer courses, travelling, or just dedicating your time to your loved one.

On the other hand, the scope of earning a degree in education goes far beyond a classroom. Teaching applies at business level too, many speakers, motivators, and business coaches have pursued to some level teaching degrees. Teaching is also a great investigation subject that is greatly tied with psychology and human behavior.

As to where to study, the options are many, most future teachers like to go for schools that are preceded by their reputation of having strong educational degrees. Many look for colleges in the west coast, especially in California.  A good California College usually offers a variety of opportunities, within reasonable time periods (some offer shorter, more intense programs) and has great reputation for their educational programs, plus a very decent weather.

As the dwindling market leads to fewer opportunities for graduating law students, many of them may be considering starting their own firm straight out of the gate. Doing this can have its advantages, including avoiding the loss of a job due to downsizing, and the opportunity to compete with smaller firms, rather than trying to go up against the “big boys.” However, anyone who watches TV, reads billboards, or otherwise comes in contact with any type of broadcast media knows that there is such a thing as too many attorneys.

Having a legal mentor can help keep law students on steady ground, especially those who are brave enough to try to start their own firm. A mentor will share his or her own experiences and will also offer valuable advice.

A mentor can help the law student expand upon relationships formed through intern and externships, which can help a lot with future job opportunities; not to mention that the mentor will have contacts that can help those just getting started. He or she can also show the law student how vital establishing these relationships will be to starting a solo practice.

Large firms can provide more opportunities for career advancement; however, it’s unlikely that a recent law school graduate will get the opportunity to work within a large firm. Utilizing smaller firms, however, does provide more opportunity to actually work on cases, even if it is only in a research or second chair capacity.

The mentor who uses the resources of smaller firms provides advantages for both the mentee and the smaller firms themselves. As mentioned earlier, the mentee has a better opportunity to “get his feet wet” while the smaller firms may enjoy participating in the mentee’s efforts to get started in the legal field. The relationship may turn out to be mutually beneficial to both parties, as the mentee will have a chance to prove that he is capable of performing legal duties, and the smaller firms won’t have to compete with larger ones for experienced, available lawyers when the time comes to implement staff additions.

Having a legal mentor is not only invaluable in terms of the law and its real world application in given specialties but also in the mechanics of running a firm and employing marketing strategies. These strategies can include:

• establishing and building up client bases;
• determining the number of employees needed to operate a small firm;
• computing and obtaining the necessary operating capital needed.

 

All the law school education in the world cannot teach everything; the complexity of learning the law and applying it to real-world cases and situations continues even after graduation. Add to that the necessity of proving to others that the law student, soon to be a fledgling attorney, has the expertise to take on legal cases and begin serving clients. Who wouldn’t need an experienced mentor to help with all of that?

A person who decides to offer his services as a mentor to a recent graduate can help him in all the areas mentioned; but that isn’t where the assistance ends. Along with the practical assistance, a mentor can also provide emotional support during the graduate’s first days as a true practicing attorney.

A mentor/mentee relationship may last a lifetime. Both law students in their final year of law school and recent graduates can find it extremely beneficial to take on a mentor. Not only will it help build an address book full of valuable contacts, it helps one learn the law field inside and out.

When I was a kid, the big question every adult posed was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The underlying assumption was that I would choose a profession, go to a University in pursuit of that profession, and work thirty-odd years as I climbed to the top of my profession’s ladder.

Kids my age wanted to be lawyers, doctors, teachers, and such. The only path to success was a solid education. The question was not if I would go to a University but where I would go and what I would study. Success was guaranteed to those who attained a Post-Graduate Degree, was possible (but not all that likely) for those with only an Undergraduate Degree, and impossible for virtually all others.

The concepts of working from home, being a consultant, or making millions on the Internet had not yet been birthed into existence. Unless you were born into a family business, working for yourself was an unheard of fantasy. Enter the information age, and everything changes.

These days, traditional job positions are difficult to fill. Potential employees expect to have the ability to telecommute (work from home), they require flexibility in work hours, they challenge the status quo. Slowly, employers are beginning to make some changes to accommodate this new generation of workers.

Ask a young person today what he or she wants to be when s/he grows up, and you may be surprised. You’ll hear words like “entrepreneur, athlete, artist, dot com millionaire, computer programmer, or consultant.” If you belong to this new generation, or if you have kids coming into this age, it may be time to let go of the traditional thinking that the only path to success is paved via higher education.

Here are three big reasons why a Post-Graduate degree may not be such a good idea.

I. Women

Half of the work force is no longer willing to sacrifice one dream in pursuit of another, and they’re changing the blueprint of traditional employment.

Not too many years ago, the women’s liberation movement insisted that, as equals, women should be afforded the same educational and career opportunities as men. Equality meant same. Now, equality means fair.

Women are inherently different than men, and are now realizing that being viewed as different is not an insult. Women these days want to have careers without sacrificing their dreams of having children. They are no longer willing to have their children raised in daycare centers and by nannies while they slave under the thumb of a 40 or 50 hour work week.

Today, fair treatment means having the ability to work around family. Employees and employers alike are recognizing this shift, and as such are changing what they look for. In order for our daughters to attain success in the workforce, we no longer have to insist that they pursue years upon years of higher education. They don’t want it, and many employers are no longer requiring it. (Granted, the requirements for physicians are unlikely to change. The thing is, your little girl doesn’t have to be a doctor when she grows up to be successful. Not anymore.)

II. Technology

En masse, employment seekers are discovering that there are different ways to make a fortune than spending half a lifetime in school.

If you were born before the 1990’s, you had the opportunity to see the Internet in its infancy. It was a strange concept, and not to be trusted. It was a fad that would ebb and flow like the popularity of bell-bottom jeans (which are on their way back in, in case you didn’t know). Career options were limited to three categories: professional, service, trades. Computers were simply a tool that the really successful career people used.

But the Internet stuck around, computers became indispensable, and technology grew in rapid fashion. A whole new world of careers opened up! Computers were being used in all sorts of professions and trades, and the need for people who understood their language grew exponentially. Technology has even made it’s way into the classroom through products like the Dell Interactive Whiteboard that aim to prepare students for their future in an electronics-heavy workforce.

The point is, you no longer need to go to University for eight years in order to have a hope of earning a six-figure salary. The world of independent consultants, computer technologists, web programmers, and telecommuters has cracked wide open.

III. Cost

Parents and students alike are rejecting the concept that one must pay out the nose in order to achieve success.

Have you looked into the cost of a University education these days? Across the board, tuition fees keep climbing, and textbook prices are out of control.

We used to be willing to invest in our education and that of our children for the sake of a higher goal – success, a lasting career, a high-paying salary. Because those goals are now attainable for many of us without that Post-Grad Degree, University tuition no longer seems like such a good investment.

Imagine that, at age 18, you begin your six to eight-year journey of higher education. For your Undergrad, you might be able to attend a nearby College and live at home, so let’s say your loans are only $10,000 per year. That Post-Grad Degree, though, it’s going to require that you move. Plus, your tuition fees will go up. It’s more likely you’ll need to borrow $20,000 per year. That’s at least $80,000…which goes into repayment about a year after you graduate (you’ll be 25). If you pay faithfully, those student loans will be gone around age 40.

It used to be that these years were the yellow bricks on the road to the Emerald City. Now, though, alternative options abound! Undergrads are working as consultants; Diplomas in computer sciences, web design, and the like guarantee a long and lucrative career; young entrepreneurs are attaining great success.

If your lifelong dream is to be a doctor, there’s no getting around it – you’ll have to buckle down for eight-plus years of higher education. If, however, your lifelong dream is to be wealthy and successful, becoming a doctor is no longer the only path. I’m not saying a Post-Grad Degree is the wrong path, I’m just saying it’s no longer the only path.

Which path will you choose (or encourage your kids to choose)?