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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?
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Playing and Planning for Success

A retired educator, I wish I had a penny for every student I have ever heard say, “I want to be a professional athlete.”  Not that I would be so wealthy, but the sheer volume would be impressive.  That volume struck me profoundly this week as I watched an HBO special sports presentation made by Bryant Gumbel.  During the hour long piece, he chronicled the lives of two athletes who had played in the NFL.

The athletes had each played for more than 4 years and each had contracts of over 5 million dollars per year in the 1990’s and early 2000.  Over 5 years, they had both made in excess of 20 million dollars.  However, both had since lost all of their money and one had filed for bankruptcy.  Neither had careers to fall back on and neither had a plan for moving forward.  Even more astounding was the frequency this story is repeated across the NFL.  Gumbel reported that over 60% of NFL players lose their fortune after retirement and most do not have a plan to recover.  Many have not completed their education so an immediate transition to another career is not even an option.

Imagine, 60% of retired NFL players lose their entire fortune.  That’s just the NFL.  What about the numbers in other sports?  How can that happen?  How can individuals perform at that level and then lose everything with no means to replace even part of their once highly lucrative earning power?

Students, this is the message I want you to hear loud and clear today.  Plan for your future.  Live your dreams, set your goals and have a plan for your future.  Your education is the key to transitioning throughout your life.  It can provide a satisfying and rewarding lifestyle and open doors when otherwise you may have thought them to be closed.  If you are a high school or college athlete dreaming and working hard to go professional, enjoy the ride.  Just remember, at some point, the ride comes to an end for everyone.  Your plan will provide the next opportunity and help to protect you from being an economic casualty.  It will provide your next great ride!

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Paying Attention to the Trends

Throughout history there have been individuals who proved they have a great sense of vision.  Not the 20/20 vision, but the kind that requires an ability to foresee what the future may look like in a particular frame of reference.  People who are visionaries in given fields have contributed significantly in the development of businesses and organizations in our country.

Peter Drucker was a business management visionary.  He was able to see the possibilities of individuals and organizations and lead them to greatness.  In his final book, Managing in the Next Society, he spoke about the factors that would be important in the “Information Age” as individuals considered career options.   One of those factors….look forward 50 years and imagine how your career will change.

Most of us do not possess a crystal ball nor have the capability to foresee the future.  But we do have the ability to access resources.  A great resource for keeping current on job trends is the website for the United Stated Department of Labor Statistics, http://bls.gov/home.htm.  This site provides information on the outlook of jobs and what the trends look like quarterly as well as long term.  This kind of information can assist in the process of “looking forward 50 years.”  While it shouldn’t be the only data used in decision-making about a career, it is an important factor to consider and worthy of spending some time checking out the website.