Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Choosing a Career

Beyond Ready is Horizon Point’s line of resources for students preparing for college and/or career. This category archive specifically features blogs about Choosing a Career.

  • Career Spotlight: Geneticist

    Career Spotlight: Geneticist

    Do you enjoy biology? Do you also like chemistry and mathematics? Do you think working in a lab conducting experiments and doing research is fun?

    If any of these things describe you, then a career as a Geneticist might be for you!

    What do you need to be a Geneticist?

    Education:

    Becoming a geneticist requires at least a Bachelor’s degree and most likely a Master’s degree or beyond.

    If you are a high school student, make sure you are focused on taking biology, chemistry and mathematics.

    Skills:

    Geneticists know how to:

    • Use scientific rules and methods to solve problems
    • Be active listeners and successfully communicate orally and in writing
    • Be critical thinkers and complex problem solvers

    Is the field growing?

    The projected growth is approximately 2%.

    What is the pay like?

    Graph Geneticist

     

    What’s the Holland Code* for a Geneticist?

    Interest code: IAR- Investigative, Artistic and Realistic

    Investigative — Investigative occupations   frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of   thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out   problems mentally.
    Artistic — Artistic occupations frequently involve   working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression   and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
    Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently   involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and   solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials   like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working   outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with   others.

    Source: http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-1029.03

     

    If you are interested in learning more about Geneticists, check out ONET.

    Would you want to be a Geneticist? Why or why not?

    *Holland Codes are a way to classify a person based on their skills and interests as well as jobs based on the nature of the work. If you have an interest in knowing what your Holland Code is in order to match yourself to careers to pursue, you can read more about our assessment process.

  • Career Spotlight: Legislative Aide

    Career Spotlight: Legislative Aide

    Are you a good communicator? Do you enjoy doing research and analyzing data? Is making arrangements and planning trips something you love to do?

    If so, you should consider a career as a Legislative Aide!

    Legislative aides work with representatives, senators and government officials to manage communication with constituents, organize representatives’ schedules, research legislation and typically direct activities in their offices. The requirements for a position as a legislative aide often vary according to the office and needs of the legislator.

    Education Required:

    Associate Degree or Bachelor’s Degree

    Skills and Personal Abilities:

    Written and Oral Communication

    Organization

    Critical Thinking

    Monitoring

    Pathways and Salary Information:

    Most employers require that legislative aides have a bachelor’s degree. There is no specific degree of study required to work as a legislative assistant, but degrees in fields of political science, social science, business or public administration may be preferred. So, one pathway to becoming a legislative aide is by obtaining an undergraduate degree. You may also want to enroll in a graduate program, pursue internships and volunteer opportunities as well as obtain experience in administrative support. If you would like more information about legislative aides, check out this article from Chron.

    Legislative aides carry different titles as well as salaries. Check out Congressional Staff Salaries here.

    Legal assistants and paralegals are often grouped in the same category as legislative aides. Another pathway to becoming a legislative aid is to become a paralegal. The median wage for a paralegal is $47,570 in the state of Alabama and the field is growing. Several community colleges offer a 2 year degree for legal assistants/paralegals. If you are interested in learning more about paralegals/legal assistants, check out this BLS website.

    Would you want to be a legislative aide? Why or why not?

  • 3 Ways to Keep Your Adult Kids from Moving Back in with You

    The statistics are startling.  In 2009, 80% of college graduates moved back in with their parents according to CNN Money.  That’s just because the economy was so bad then you say.

    Probably not.

    Market Watch reported that a Pew Research Center Analysis determined that in 2012, 36% of adults ages 18-36 live at home with their parents.   That’s more than 1/3 of young adults in America not out on their own.  If you consider someone over 30 a “young adult”.  And Tim Elmore reports in his new book, 12 Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid, that in 2013 85% of college students planned to move back home after graduating.

    Many parents ask me what they can do to help their student be successful in college.  I think the better question is how can we help college prepare them to be successful as independent adults?

    In order to enable flight into the real world instead of a retreat back home, there are three things we need to focus on:

    1. Help them find a career path where their skills and talents are needed in the market place.  Not having a job or not having a job that pays enough to afford to live independently causes students to move home.  If we help them determine career direction and set them up to pursue that direction through their college experiences, then they will be more likely to find quality employment.
    2. Make them work.  With the above being said, just having an educational credential that is linked to a marketable field is not enough.   I recently had a parent of a college graduate call us to ask for help in getting his son’s resume in order to help him to pursue a job.  He had graduated from a top program in a marketable field, but had no job prospects.  He had moved back home with his parents.   When we got an initial draft of his resume from him, it was obvious why he wasn’t having any luck.   At age 24, the kid hadn’t worked a day in his life. On top of that, he didn’t have much involvement in student or leadership activities while in college.   We couldn’t make up experience for him to put on his resume. Simply pursuing an internship in the field of his major at the very least (where I know for a fact there are firms all over the campus he attended clamoring for interns and full-time employees) would have given him opportunities in his field and potential job prospects post graduation, not to mention the opportunity to learn skills and garner experience that can’t be developed only in the classroom.  As Dr. Elmore says in his book, “Work shapes us. Being productive is innately good for human beings.” In addition, working and being responsible for some of their own finances teaches valuable skills and can help with one of the reasons students can’t afford to go out on their own- student loan debt.
    3. Don’t do it for them.   The kid that couldn’t get a job in his field wasn’t calling me about his resume. His dad was.  After talking to his dad two or three times to try to arrange things, I finally asked him to tell his son to call me directly.   If his son had been given responsibility for his future without the crutch of his parents couch and his dad calling to get his resume drafted and pay for it, he might be out on his own now.  It’s just an example of a larger pattern in promoting lack of motivation and drive by doing and fixing everything for our kids.  We enable a can’t do instead a can-do attitude.

    I say this just as much as reminder to myself as a parent than anything. As I listen to my three-and-a-half year old scream that he can’t put his shoes and socks on by himself when I know his is fully capable of doing it on his own my mind flashes to him as a 30 year old at home on our couch.   I calmly tell him he can do it himself and walk away, hoping this doesn’t make us late. I haven’t always chosen this route.

    If your student is headed to college, who is filling out their college applications, writing their scholarship essays, asking for recommendations from teachers and scheduling college visits?  If we are doing all this for them as 17 and 18 year olds, what makes us think they are going to take ownership of things when they graduate from college (if they are even able to graduate by their own efforts) at 22 or 23?

    It’s sometimes easier said than done, but if we all want our kids to be successful in life, not just in college, we need to remind ourselves to think long term by helping them:

    • Discover who they are and help them match that to a need in the marketplace
    • Make them work to help them learn the value of being productive early on
    • Provide them with opportunities to do things on their own, without us constantly rescuing. This includes allowing them to fail when they don’t take responsibility for doing things on their own.

    Interested in more related topics? You may also like:

    Help Your Child Discover

    College Prep Checklist

    Help Your Child Create a Pros and Cons List not a Good or Bad List

    Be a Coach to Your Child

    What are you doing today to prepare your child for tomorrow?

  • Career Spotlight: Dental Assisting

    Career Spotlight: Dental Assisting

    Have you always known that you wanted to work in Healthcare, change peoples’ lives, and get to know your community better? Do you want to be a wife and mother who has Fridays off and gets to spend her nights at the ball field watching her children play? Do you want to serve others by providing them with a way to look and feel much better about themselves? Do you want the opportunity to [move up] in your professional career?

    If any of the above describe or are desirable to you, then Dental Assisting may be the career path for you!

    Education Required:  High School Diploma or GED

    If you are in high school, always strive to have strong grades and a solid foundation in Science, Math, English (Grammar) and Reading. All subjects will not only prepare you for college, but any kind of post-high school program. As a potential dental assistant, dentists look for someone who can learn quickly and can educate their patients about not just their teeth, but their overall health. The way you articulate and the grammar that you choose speaks volumes of your educational background and will therefore provide you with a greater chance of landing a job.

    Skills and Personal Qualities:  

    Focus on personal service

    Hard worker

    Punctual and dependable

    Strong ethical background

    Critical and quick thinking

    Ability to learn and move quickly

    Good personal hygiene 

    Ability to get along with others, especially other women

    Is the field growing?

    The dental field is always growing. At a growth rate of 22%, the field is growing much faster than average. As our society has become more educated on their oral healthcare, we have increasingly sought out professional dental care. Therefore, there is always a dental office looking for a trained dental assistant. 

    What is the pay like?

    image2

    In our area, the pay is typically $9-14 starting out. There is always an opportunity to advance in the dental field and to receive a much higher pay. Many assistants go on to become dental hygienists, office managers, or in some cases, dentists. 

    If you are interested in learning more about dental assisting, please visit:

    www.ada.org

    Today’s guest post is from Dr. Maggie McKelvey, DMD. Maggie owns North Alabama Dental Assisting. She graduated summa cum laude from The University of Alabama with a degree in Biochemistry and Math.  She cheered for the Crimson Tide during her time there and was a member of Alpha Chi Omega Sorority.  She received her dental education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she graduated within the top of her class. Following graduation, she enhanced her dental experience working in private practice and pediatric clinics in Decatur and surrounding areas.  Dr. McKelvey is a proud member of the American Dental Association, the Alabama Dental Association, and the Academy of General Dentistry. She is passionate about her profession and is so excited to help teach others about a career in the field of Dentistry!

  • 6 Places to Go to Tap into Job Shadowing Opportunities

    6 Places to Go to Tap into Job Shadowing Opportunities

    In a conversation with a university professor today, I was struck by his comment that his high achieving students know what general field they want to go into (finance, engineering, nursing) but they actually have no clue what different career options are available in the fields of study they have chosen and they don’t have a clue what working in these fields would involve on a day-to-day basis.  

    If this is the case, most of us, even the high achievers out there are making careers decisions based on hope and prayer, on what just sounds good, not actually on what we know to be good.  

    Practical learning is the best way to remedy this situation, but most people don’t get practical experience until they get a job in the field.  Once you’ve got a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed, it’s hard to change your mind and switch fields, especially when you’ve invested heavily in your education towards the field.

    As a way to encourage learning about career fields before actually embarking on them, we encourage students to job shadow, Co-Op and or intern. It’s like getting your feet wet before you dive in and realize you don’t like the pool you’re in. 

    To get an opportunity for practical experience, tap into: 

    Family and friends

    Your College Career Center or High School Guidance Office

    Teachers and Professors 

    Community and church groups you are involved in

    Your Community’s Chamber of Commerce or Business Organization

    Junior Achievement

    Bottom line, it doesn’t hurt to ask someone if you can learn more about what they do or to see if there is a program already set up in your area or at your school to coordinate a practical experience for you. Most people are willing to share their expertise and experience to help others make wise decisions and there are a lot of good organizations out there trying to foster this interaction. 

    Once you get an opportunity set up to learn more about a job, our job shadowing questionnaire can help you know what questions to ask to make sure you are getting the info you need to make wise choices about your career.