Michael Jackson and My Career Flashback

I was pretty shocked when Michael Jackson died – not because I thought he was in the best of health, but he was such a big part of my teenage years. I wasn’t a breathless fan with his poster on my bedroom wall but I did enjoy his music.

In 1992, I remember listening to a concert of his in Munich from a nearby hilltop, with several thousand other penniless fans. It’s one of those memories that takes you back to where you were in your life. I can clearly picture the stormy evening sky, warm but a little threatening. Unable to afford study abroad, I found a way to pay for my summer in Europe as part of a university work abroad program. I worked in Siemens' corporate legal department. That summer was lonely, wonderful and a big influence on me.

At that time a junior in college, I hadn’t decided whether I wanted to be a lawyer or a professor like my father. I’m now surprised how few career options I gave myself. It was an exciting international time – the Berlin Wall had come down and I had recently returned to Checkpoint Charlie, 12 years after I’d lived in West Berlin as a child. Gone were the mines and anti-tank “crosses” and in their place… grass.

I can think of a lot of school and career advice to give myself back then – be more confident in yourself, take a little more time to smell the roses, give yourself more options, don’t be too influenced by what your friends are doing, etc., etc. – the usual cliches. But if I knew all those things from the beginning, then life so far would not have been as interesting. Being too wise would’ve been predictable and boring.

I didn’t tune into the Jackson memorial service today; I’ll stick with my own memories of that time period in my life and how his music was a part of it. The funny thing is that the energy his music brought out in me is still there. So I'm confident that 2 career paths later – and more to come, it will be there to power me forward.

Should you go to graduate school?

Many people are now considering whether to attend graduate school - recent college grads facing a poor job market, people considering a career change or upgrade, and unemployed B.A. holders looking for something to tide them over until the recession ends. If you do it, make sure you have a clear, well researched career goal in mind for how to use it.

In the early 90s, I was in the first category - a college grad facing a job market where it seemed like a Liberal Arts B.A. was no better than a high school diploma for getting a good paying job. But I had a clear career goal - being a labor or maritime lawyer. I took several valid interest inventories like The Career Key, worked as a clerk in a law office during college, did informational interviews with other lawyers - to learn more about it and to be sure it was right for me. And it was - for 10+ years - I still work at a legal clinic.

I came across a great "pros and cons" discussion that you should read if you are thinking of going to graduate school. "What is a Masters Degree Worth" is a June 30 NYT blog panel discussion, with more links to other resources like MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston's column "Is your degree worth $1 million - or worthless?"

The big mistakes that people make with grad school is that they enroll because (1) they think they have no other options and don't know what else there is to do, and/or (2) they don't have a clear, well thought out and researched career goal in mind.

Here is an example of such a mistake: say you decide you want to work in Washington D.C. as a policy researcher for a think tank by getting a masters or Ph.D. in political science - without doing a lot of research about how much you would be paid, how long it would take to pay back your loans, and where you (seriously) would have a good chance of getting a job. And without talking with several people in the job of your dreams to get the real story about it.

You avoid these mistakes by choosing a career that matches your personality using a science-based process for making a decision. It takes a little work, but it is straightforward and intuitive. My choice to go to law school wasn't perfect, and it wasn't like I didn't doubt it in tough times. But I knew I'd done a lot of soul searching and research to make the decision - that ultimately proved to be the right choice and one without regrets. I hope you'll do the same.

3 Cheers for Student Loan Repayment Reform!

Good news for career planners looking at education options and financing their next career move. If you have or will have U.S. government guaranteed student loans, your repayment plan may be based on your income level. What a concept! – and hard to believe it has taken this long to implement. You can learn more about the new plan and eligibility at the studentaid.ed.gov website. Jonathan Glater also wrote an excellent article about the new plan in The New York Times today.

And please make sure you max out your federal loan eligibility before turning to higher interest private loans.

Yes, there may be more paperwork to fill out but if you want to go to school, you’d better be able to fill out paperwork. Maybe that should be a foundation skill!

You can learn more at The Career Key website about resources for financing your education – and also at the Career Key Canada website. Canadians: After checking on CanLearn's section on repayment, it doesn't look to me as if Canada has a similar income based option for repaying loans. Please let me know if I'm wrong about that. Thanks!

Congratulations to Zumeo.com!

Our newest partner, Zumeo.com, just received a 2009 Webby Honoree award for their website in the Employment category. If you haven't checked out their Generation Y career discovery tool and professional social network, you should. It is truly unique and powerful.

They are the ONLY job search and networking website to use a scientifically valid test and career theory to match users with jobs and fellow networkers.

They also have a very cool user interface (hence their Webby award) to deliver this high-quality content. You can see video on their YouTube channel.

Yes, I'm biased because they are our partner but I've seen a lot of time-wasting junk out there and Zumeo really does a fantastic job. Okay, enough said.

Getting The Degree or Certificate

The dropping rate of degree completion is a growing problem, not just at 4-year colleges but at community colleges as well. According to a Futureworks paper sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, the rates of 2 and 4-year college completion have declined from the mid-1980s; two-year college completion rates have declined from about 44% to 39%.

A couple of weeks ago I attended an interesting forum, “From the Work Station to Graduation: paths to college success for Washington’s working adults” sponsored by the Seattle King County Workforce Education Collaborative and Port Jobs.

My primary interest in attending was to learn more about strategies to help students complete their programs.

There was an emphasis on what “best practices” public colleges can learn from private ones – a topic sure to provoke emotions and reactions, and it did – in a productive way.

I heard students need:

• consistent, practical career and academic guidance and follow up from schools (a.k.a. “success coaches”)
• flexible, predictable course schedules so people can enter and leave programs easily in a temporary life crisis (child care issues, divorce, etc.)
• short term, clear academic paths to careers (certification or degree to do _____ job)
• more training on soft skills (behavior, communication)
  

Career services plays a big role in helping students plan out their coursework, and yet either students don’t take advantage of what’s offered or career centers have insufficient funding or personnel to do their work. Or they’re sometimes related.

You can’t blame students for not going to Career Services if there is very little help or the help given is inconvenient, confusing or unattractively presented. By the same token, you can’t blame counselors for not being able to help students who give them the brush off or ignore them. Ultimately students need to take initiative and control over their own future.

I don’t begin to have all the answers to the degree completion problem. But what I do know is that there is a scientifically proven way to increase degree completion rates using Holland's Theory of Vocational Choice.

This Journal of Vocational Behavior study is just one of several recently published articles in national peer-reviewed journals that shows the impact of "interest/major congruence" - or a little more simplistic way of saying it, "personality/major match." By helping people choose a college major or training program early that matches their Holland personality type(s), you improve students' college success.

And now Career Key offers an affordable way to offer it to students choosing a career cluster, pathway or field and those choosing a college major or training program.

We’ve matched The Career Key test results to Career Clusters and Pathways and 1,500+ college majors and training programs in a way that can be adapted for any college or institution trying to guide students in the right direction. We’ll be releasing it to the public in a few weeks and updating the "choose a college major" link above.

If you want to learn more, please contact me. This is a topic I love to discuss!

Bad Work Days in Perspective

Sitting on a Seattle (see the Space Needle in the distance) beach with my family this weekend, I had the pleasure of watching lots of people soaking up the sun and BBQing in the park. My 2 year old son, thanks to his father’s love of grilling, was really excited by the charcoal fires. He ran happily on the sand beneath the sea wall, giggling and dragging seaweed behind him. It was one of those moments when you catch your breath and feel the warmth, figuratively and literally.

In my careers, I have had a few days feeling cold, dread, and anxiety. They make me appreciate my warm, carefree days. From age 16 to the present, I’ve cried, been enraged, hated my life – my work – you name it. But everything passes – whether it’s because I hunker down and wait it out, or I leave a job or career.

It’s cliché to say “life is a journey” – but ups and downs are what it’s all about. I wouldn’t give up those cold days for a comfy career in a cubicle with no demands or stress. Boredom would drive me crazy.

When it comes to your job and your career path, it pays to see your level of satisfaction with them in the proper perspective. Are you consistently in “hell” in your current situation? Or is it a rare bad patch? Is it related to personality conflicts with your work and coworkers or a temporary glitch? You can learn more about the different types of job satisfaction at The Career Key website.

As time goes on, I know more about what success means for me. Success is about being able to recognize those warm days and enjoy them. And being able to handle cold days when they come – by letting them pass, or taking action.

5 Free Career Choice Resources You Should Be Using (besides The Career Key)

If you are choosing a career, make sure you are taking advantage of the high-quality, free resources available to you. We have a lot of great, professionally developed career advice articles at The Career Key, but we are only one stop on your career exploration itinerary. Below are my favorite free career resources (and no, I’m not getting anything in return for these recommendations):

Your Public Library. I’m continually surprised at the number of people who do not use their public library. 2 news flashes for nonusers: (1) the public library is for everyone – not just students or “down on their luck” people, and (2) libraries are carrying more and more eBooks, databases, and other resources you cannot get anywhere else for free. If you have a library hang up, get over it!

Khake.com. First built for educators, this non-commercial resource has tons of great links for many different careers you won’t find anywhere else.

Occupational Outlook Handbook. Yes, we recommend and link to it all the time on our site but there is a reason. It is the best, most up to date government resource that describes careers, related careers, and all sorts of helpful information.

National Career Development Association. Many of NCDA’s list of Internet Sites for Career Planning are from The Riley Guide’s Margaret Dikel’s well known and respected book, The Internet: A Tool for Career Planning. You can also get her book from your public library or purchase it online for $10 at the NCDA site. Not free, but very reasonable.

NCDA's site also has excellent advice for finding a career counselor and what to expect from one.

College Navigator, National Center for Education Statistics. If you are researching your education and training options (all schools, from less than 2 year degrees to advanced degrees), this is a great site. Once you match your personality to careers and your course of study, and after reviewing our recommended free resources, use College Navigator to find schools that offer the degree you need.

I hope these suggestions are helpful and I welcome your feedback!