Projecting You as a Social Entity

How many hours a month do you spend on the Internet?  How much time are you using it for education, entertainment, work, purchasing services or products, or connecting with friends and family?  The average American spends 32 hours per month on the Internet.  A tidbit I learned on a recent webinar hosted by Juicy Results, a terrific web marketing company.   And as I thought about that number, I realized I probably spend that much time per week on the Internet!  If the nature of jobs and careers in the future is changing, then this is important information to know.

Do you have a social media presence?  What does it look like?  Universities and employers alike are using social media to “check out” their candidates.  Everything from your email address and voice message to your pictures and comments on the Internet are available for public scrutiny and feed into your public image or “social entity.”

Just as different people have different perspectives on issues, different generations view and address issues differently.  In regards to social media, there is a great article and some interesting data that specifically address the issues of school and job impact.  Click here to read the article and be sure to scroll down to table 2B and note the difference between Baby Boomers and Echo Boomers.  While an Echo Boomer may see nothing wrong with a particular message posted on a social media site, the individual responsible for your admission to college or hiring you may be a Baby Boomer and the posting is offensive.

Now ask yourself the question again and consider who may be on the other side of the computer monitor checking you out.  What does your “social entity” look like?  What do you need to do to create the kind of social image that characterizes you but doesn’t jeopardize future opportunities?  Contact me if you need assistance or want more information.

Quality Decision Making or False Fronts

How does making the right career choice affect the rest of your life?  When you decide to go to work or attend class are you going based on need or desire?  Do you want to be one of the 40% of the population who enjoy their work or the 60% who are unhappy with their career choice?

Making decisions about your career direction can be connected to your passions and the things that drive you internally in order to get the greatest satisfaction or they can be driven by something altogether different.  A colleague and specialist in the area of connecting high school student athletes with college sports opportunities, Hans Hanson of College Sports Track, often talks about “false fronts” in the recruiting process.  “False fronts” are statements and actions that do not reflect the true picture of a situation.  So in making decisions about your career path, are you being influenced by “false fronts” or sound data and information about you?

How important is it to you that your career outcome be satisfying, financially rewarding, and aligned with your goals?  Are you ready to start the process of identifying an effective career direction and plan for achievement?  Click here to get started now with a complimentary consultation.  The choice is yours!

Career Decisions – 3 Family Dynamic Issues

Making career decisions is never easy and especially when it involves and affects other people.  High school students are influenced by parents, extended family, friends, teachers and coaches, and media.  College students continue to be influenced by similar factors and by the growing need to become financially independent.  So what family dynamics influence decision making and how much should they weigh in on the final decision for a career path?

Issue #1 – Time Frame- Every individual manages decision making about a career choice with a different level of intensity and time frame for making their decision.  Within a family, there are no exceptions.  The dynamics can create great tension when the expectations of time frame for making a decision differ among the family members.  Parents get anxious when students appear to fail to get engaged in the process.  Students get frustrated and avoid parent confrontations when pressed too hard.  The gap can grow and communications get stressed.  To reduce the potential of a family melt down, understand the time frame needs of each person involved in the decision.

Issue #2 – Values – Recognizing and respecting the values of each person in the process can lead toward a smoother transition to a decision about a career path.  For some, career decisions and ideas about future success are made on the basis of monetary reward while others place greater value on helping others or protecting the environment.  Legacies within families may influence decisions to pursue medicine, law, education or entrepreneurship.  Each family approaches the process differently, but the stress is common and the need to communicate openly remains the same.

Issue #3 – Finances – Paying for college, a trade school or starting a business all require tremendous investments of time and money.  Expectations within families regarding who pays and how much can create a whole separate set of issues and communication breakdowns.  As a part of the on-going family discussions, talk openly about affordability, scholarships, work study programs and student loans.  Understand the expectations of each person involved in making the decisions.  While finances should not be one of the first decision making hurdles crossed when thinking about a career path and school applications, it should be part of the conversation along the way.  The cost of college tuition, trade school tuition, or starting a business impacts an entire family.

Ultimately, the career path chosen by an individual has to come down to their values, interests, abilities, skills and passions in life.  But the impact on others is far reaching within families and the dynamics in making that decision can create situations that feed effective decision making or paralyze the process.  According to Napoleon Bonaparte, “Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”

Where are you in your decision-making process?  What made the difference for you?  If you need help with the process or determining career direction, contact me.

Informed Decisions for Future Success

Have you ever noticed how much time, focused energy, and money goes in to preparing to take the SAT, ACT or a re-test to get a better score?  So much of it is driven by the desire to have qualifying scores for a specific university or college of choice.  Imagine the hours invested in AP or IB courses for the purpose of positioning one’s self for that perfect college.  In making the selection to take a prep course for these tests, students and parents use their network of other students and parents to get recommendations for individual tutors or organizations.  They will spend countless hours to go on-line and search options.  So much effort and resource is spent on this one piece of preparing for college and the bigger picture of a career direction becomes a second priority or maybe third or fourth.

With the national average being six years to get a four year degree, the indicators point to students not being prepared to make a decision about their career direction and therefore the result is greater use of personal resources or student loans and lost earning potential.  That’s not to say that students can’t change their mind about a career major once they are in college, but they can make informed decisions that use both their time and their resources wisely and reduce the potential of increased time to get a bachelors degree and increase the likelihood that they will be happy with their career choice.

Making informed decisions means collecting the best possible information in multiple directions.  In order to do that with a career decision, the information needs to include personal interests, an assessment of values, an inventory of skills and a quantified measure of natural abilities.  If there are influencing factors like family legacies or expectations, those need to be addressed as well.

Adults in the workforce or preparing to return to work should also pay attention to these factors.  Making decisions about career changes whether it is a promotion opportunity or a totally new direction should be carefully and strategically structured.  Too often adults stay in a career field they discover to be less than satisfying and not rewarding financially or personally.  Yet they are paralyzed to make a move and often due to lack of information.  According to an Unknown Author, “Indecision becomes decision with time.”

Don’t be paralyzed by indecision.  Collect the information, assess your situation and goals, and if you need assistance, send me an email.  I can get you going in the right direction!

Values in Decision Making

Whether you are a high school student making a decision about your college selection, a college student interviewing for that first post-college job, or a member of the workforce trying to determine your next directional move, Values need to be a part of your thought and decision-making process.  Values play an important part in our work life satisfaction and they can shift at various points in our lives causing increased joy in our work or “values disconnects.”

During these transition points in life, it is a good time to assess personal values either by making a list or completing a values survey/inventory.  That way, the values that are most important are clearly in focus and part of the consideration process or even the interviews themselves.

I frequently remind clients that when they are being interviewed at colleges or for jobs, they too should be conducting an interview.  Part of your responsibility through that interview is to determine the level at which your values will be satisfied through participation with that organization.  On a scale of 1-10, where is money on your value scale?  What about time with friends or family?  Religion?  Recognition?  Fun?  The list here could go on, but the important list is your list and the important point is that you structure questions to provide the answers you need to know in your process.  When your list does not match with the college or the job, there is a “values disconnect” and dissatisfaction sets in.  Dissatisfaction leads to diminished performance and reduced productivity.

There are no guarantees for any of the decisions we make regarding our schools of choice, the jobs we take or the directions we set for career paths.  But we can be proactive, employ good decision-making strategies, and feel confident about the choices we make when values are part of the decision-making process.

Investing Time is Elementary

If you’ve been in an elementary classroom in the last twenty years because you are that young, you have children or are an educator, you might have heard a teacher say, ”Ask three before me.”  They are encouraging the students to ask their peers their questions before asking the teacher.  It serves multiple purposes.  Research has proven that peer instruction is highly effective.  It also provides the teacher more time for uninterrupted small group instruction.  Now you are probably asking yourself, why are we talking about elementary classroom instruction?  Because the concept of “Asking Three” is a great way to learn more about a career path.

We hear a lot about the financial investment of college or technical programs, but we don’t hear a lot about the investment of time.  Internships provide time and experience in learning about a profession, but you can improve on that process by asking questions up front and long before an internship might be available.

Try this as a rule of thumb….Ask Three.  Identify three individuals who are currently working in a field that you have interest.  Contact them and ask if you can have a 15 minute interview with them as part of your career exploration.   People in general like to talk about their work, so start with these questions and see where they lead:

  • Why did you choose this profession?
  • What do you like best about your work?
  • What do you like least?
  • What would you change?
  • What is it about you that makes you good at your work?

Investing some time up front helps to narrow the path and increase your own satisfaction in the process.   It’s elementary, but it works!  Need more help in identifying the path?  Call me or write to marla@marlabrady.com.

Investment, Risk and Reward

Investment, Risk and Reward …it sounds like I have turned financial planner.  Nothing could be further from the truth…..but, I am all about the plan.  Some of my earlier Blogs were about the importance of having a plan.  The plan I referenced was a plan for identifying career direction and using effective tools to meet that goal.  But for the last three weeks I have written about the importance of watching trends and aligning your career choices with marketable degrees.  I have also promoted the importance of completing that degree in four years.  But today, I want to take you further down the planning path and look at the impact of paying for college as an investment, reward and risk beyond completion of the degree.

In the Winter 2011 Newsweek Kaplan, Linda Stern wrote an article, Strategies to Help You Pay the Bills.  In it she says, “During the 2009-10 school year, tuition went up 6.5 percent at public schools and 4.4 percent at private schools, while the consumer price index actually fell 1.48 percent, continuing a long trend.  Since 1991college tuition has risen 163 percent and household income has gone up 23 percent, according to College Board and census figures.” While the numbers are alarming, she points out that thoughtful planning, effective questioning and reasonable judgment can result in controlled spending and available funds for advanced degrees or creating career opportunities.

So why am I talking about financial planning?  Because student loan debt is out of control and the ramifications are extensive.  Going back to the concept of marketable degrees, how marketable are you if you default on a student loan and create a poor credit rating?  Did you know that there is an increasing trend of employers who monitor credit ratings as part of employment prospects?  In an article published this past week in the New York Times, Laura Asher states some of her concerns regarding the student loan crisis as, “Things like buying a home, starting a family, starting a business, saving for their own kids’ education may not be options for people who are paying off a lot of student debt.”  The article addresses the fact that student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt for the first time ever and that in 2008 two-thirds of bachelors degrees awarded also carried student loan debt.  Click here to read the entire article.

Getting and paying for an education is an investment.  It is an investment in earning potential, social and cultural opportunities and self satisfaction.  It can have great reward both financially and in personal fulfillment.  The risk is how to balance paying for the education without using all of your resources and without loan debt that exceeds your earning potential and creates negative lifestyle impact.  When making decisions about schools… investment, reward and risk are definitely part of the equation.

What is It Worth?

When I write each week, my goal is to bring you thought provoking information, calls to action or information on tools that can help you make informed decisions about your major area of study or career direction.  Last week we talked about choosing marketable majors and the week before was about spending your education dollars wisely.  I’ve provided websites and insight to watching trends for careers.   Asking the question, “Is my degree marketable?” is effective, but you also have to know where to begin to find the answers.  That’s where watching trends becomes effective in knowing, What is It Worth?

In the Winter 2011 edition of Kaplan Newsweek, there is a great article that lists the “Top 10 Undergraduate Careers by Salary.” Here they are:

Rank                                        Median Starting Salary         Midcareer Median Salary

  1. Engineering                           $61,000                                             $105,000
  2. Economics                                50,200                                                101,000
  3. Physics                                       51,000                                                  98,800
  4. Computer science                 56,400                                                   97,400
  5. Statistics/Math                      48,600                                                   94,500
  6. Biochemistry                          41,700                                                   94,200
  7. Construction Manag.           53,400                                                   89,600
  8. Finance                                      48,500                                                   89,400
  9. Information Sys.                    51,900                                                   87,200
  10. Geology                                      45,100                                                   84,200

The important factor to remember when reading articles like this one is to pay attention to the source.  Where is the data coming from and are there any qualifying circumstances?  In this case, there are, click here to read the brief but beneficial article.

Is That Degree Marketable?

Making a decision about career direction is one of life’s bigger game plans.  After all, it is the way in which you will spend at least 8 out of 24 hours for 30 years and in some cases much more.  Some career paths won’t be defined by traditional work hours and will shift directions in the course of a lifetime.  How will your values influence your choice of a career path?  How will your earning potential influence that choice?

In making a decision about a college major or a return to school for job changers, it is important to consider your skills, interests, natural abilities, your passion and values, and is there a market for what you see yourself doing in the future?  Paying attention to the trends can be a valuable tool in determining if that degree is going to be marketable.

There are great tools to help research the trends of career markets.  One is career articles on careerbuilder.com.  In a recent posting they addressed the issue of marketable careers, college majors and projections of job markets to 2018.  Click here for the entire article.  Another is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook at www.bls.gov/oco/.   This is a great website for watching the trends of careers from six months to ten years in the future.  When sites like these post their forecasts, they are depending on data to make the predictions.  That data comes from experts in the field watching and collecting information from the national census, job growth or losses, geographic influences and a host of other data sources.

Recently, I have had a number of families ask, “Is it really a good idea to become a teacher if the market is so difficult and so many teachers are being laid off?”  Without even beginning to talk about the student’s ability to be an effective teacher, my response was strictly about the trends.  This was essentially my response…”Over 30 years I have experienced the pendulum swing from shortages of teachers to laid off teachers.  When the economy of the country gets challenging and education budgets get cut, jobs are in jeopardy.  But the pendulum will swing the other direction and jobs will increase.  In addition, within education are the specialty areas in which there seems to always be a need…math, science and exceptional student education.”  The bottom line is this, for a student entering college today; the job market today is difficult.  But the market of opportunity four years from now will look quite different.  By paying attention to the trends, you can begin to get a sense of where the greatest opportunities will exist both in a career field and geographically.

When you choose a college major, consider your interests, passions, abilities, values and ask yourself:

  • Is that degree marketable?
  • What are the career directions I can go in to use that base of knowledge?
  • What are the trends for that career in one year and five years?
  • What internship opportunities will be available for me to “test the waters” during my college experience?

The Biggest Bang for Your Education Bucks

The process of deciding on a college or university is a time consuming and daunting task.  From the time you begin the search to the time you walk on the campus as a freshman, the process is enormous.  But so is the responsibility of paying for college.

Students across the country are receiving their acceptance letters and making decisions on where they believe they want to spend the next 4-6 years of their lives.  That time frame is based on acquiring a bachelor degree and the national average to complete that four year degree.   But the national statistics indicate that less than forty percent will complete their degree in four years.  The average is 5.8 years.  Did you create a college savings plan that accommodates six years of tuition, room and board for that bachelor degree?

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article wherein they addressed the issues of financing college.  In five perspectives of advice to parents from five financial advisers, the first recommendation was, “Encourage your child to select a career first, and then a school.”  One of the advisers interviewed, Greg Gilbert, a financial adviser based in Atlanta, went on to make a statement so similar to what I have blogged about over the last month when I encouraged students to seek out internships and volunteer opportunities.  He said, “The key is not just saying ‘Oh, I want to do this,’ but instead, really actively vetting out the [career] idea to see if it’s the right choice.” 

Funding a college degree is an enormous commitment.  It can become bigger than expected if it is not managed effectively.  Investing in a career professional may mean spending a little up-front, but it will be a fraction compared to the extended tuition payments made when a four year bachelor degree becomes a 6 year bachelor degree  as a result of a student trying to “find himself” in the process.  Even students who believe they know the direction they want to take can be blindsided when the courses or internships turn out to be vastly different than they expected.

The business of running colleges and universities is big business.  Part of that business is your tuition dollars.  You can choose to make it a four year plan or an extended plan.  So, before you choose that college, make sure you have a career plan and that the college you choose will provide the biggest bang for your buck!