What’s Missing?

Posted on May 12, 2013 // Leave a Comment

Who You Are  –  II

There are between 30 and 40 million Americans with a learning history that looks something like one of those below.  You may be one of them.

University -> Major 1 -> Major 2 -> Major 3: No degree
or
University 1 -> Major 1 -> University 2 -> Major 2 -> University 3: No degree
or
Community college -> University -> Start over -> Out of money:  No degree

Some in the blogosphere are debating whether earning a degree is worth it.

 Buzz TodaySource:   Your Future is Calling.  The number of jobs available is directly related to a person’s level of education. The number of jobs available if you have a bachelor’s degree has grown 82 percent since 1988. The number of jobs available if you have an associate’s degree has grown 42 percent, while the number of jobs available to those with only a high school degree actually declined by 14 percent.

Although having a degree does not guarantee you’ll enjoy a well-paying career, this information highlights that job growth occurred only in those jobs requiring degrees. The data are true through good times and bad—recessions included.

On this issue the data is very clear.  On average, those with a degree make more money, were better at retaining their jobs in the last severe economic downturn and degree holders have about one half the unemployment rate as those without a degree.

But even these facts are not the heart of the issue if you are one of the 30 – 40 million cited above.  For you the issue is much more personal.  This is about you.

At some point in their lives, every one of these 30 – 40 million individuals had decided that a degree was something they wanted in their future.  The question is not so much about whether a degree is “worth it”.  The important question for you is “what went wrong on the way to that degree?”

There are many reasons individuals are not able to reach their personal degree goal.  Simply put, life gets in the way.  I talk about these issues in the chapter “You Are Not Alone” in my book Your Future is Calling.  What is striking is how common the reasons are that people stopped out on their path to their degree.

One of the conclusions we might draw from the university -> major sequence, and the tens of millions of stop outs, is that there could be something else going on here.  Missing from this conversation is what I think are some of the most important pieces in this conversation.  Missing are “who you are” and careers.

My suggestion is that the decisions of university and major are means to an end.  The outcome you are trying create is the match between “who you are” and career.  It is this match in the future that will provide the satisfaction of a fulfilled life.

More on these two factors in future posts on this blog.

Filed Under: Adult learning, Career, College degrees, Income // Tagged: , , , , , ,

How to Make Sure College Fits Who You Are

Posted on May 10, 2013 // Leave a Comment

Should Everyone Go to College?  The answer is, of course NO.   But the no answer may be for a different reason than you think.  It is about matching what you do with who you are, not how much money you will make.  If you can earn a degree that earns a healthy income and matches what you want to do with your life then do it.  If that’s not possible, pick what fits you.  Actually it is nearly as easily done as said.

There is a huge debate raging about the advice to go to college.  Like so many things in our society today, this conversation has become politicized around national political agendas and public policy.  The politics is about other people.  What we are talking about here is you and your future.

Buzz Today Source:  Inside Higher Ed. Free for All Over “College for All” “Should Everyone Go to College?” is the title of the research brief co-written by Sawhill and Stephanie Owen, a senior research assistant at Brookings. The paper — essentially a review of existing literature on the topic — is facing sharp criticism, both philosophically and methodologically, from ideological friends and foes alike.  Averages mask enormous variation that means that many individuals do not fare so well, and the authors spend the rest of the paper documenting the ways in which students’ return from their higher education may fall short based on the colleges, majors and careers they choose.

Some in the media and many on the Internet are passionate about the political implications of the policy debates.  But I want to return to what it all means to the individual prospective student like yourself.  In the end, what law makers and policy wonks think about your personal decision is not critical to your future.  What is most critical to your future is starting with “who you are”.

I want to take a few lines to talk about “who you are”.  In Your Future is Calling, I point the reader to several instruments that will help you answer this important question.  The answers are the starting point for you to lay the road-map out to your future.  These are scientific instruments that have been proven with hundreds of thousands of users.  What these instruments do is take your answers to a number of questions and provide information back to you about what it all means.

What these instruments tell you is “who you are” based on the science of the instruments and your personal inputs. They paint a picture for you that lays a foundation for the rest of the decisions you need to make. In Your Future is Calling, I help you take that information and map it to careers, majors and colleges. This approach focuses on you and not the politicians and policy makers in Washington. In the end we are talking about your future, not theirs.

Filed Under: Adult learning, Career, College degrees, Income // Tagged: , , , , ,

One Reason Where You Decide to Get Your Degree Makes a Difference

Posted on April 28, 2013 // Leave a Comment

Colleges find a new way to get grads hired

One of the realities of the world we live in today is that it is changing faster than ever before in history.  The challenge for you is to make good decisions about what to study.  Buzz Today Source:  CNN Money.   Based on real-time labor-market information, the Lone Star College System in Houston will close three programs next fall, in aviation management, hospitality management and computer support.  The community college found that employers prefer four-year to two-year degrees in the first two cases, and were outsourcing work in the third in order to lower labor costs. But the school is adding programs to train oil and gas drillers and CT-scan technicians, for which there is burgeoning demand.

Some of the debate about what to study is between the academics.  STEM vs. liberal arts is a long running battle between professors.  There are good points to be made on both sides of this debate.  One of those arguments made by the liberal arts professors is that there is more to life than simply making more money.  They are right.  I agree, there is more to life.  And there is some great information that a broad liberal arts can prepare one to be a good decision maker.

The challenge you face is not what others think about what to study.  What is important is for you to make your decisions based on “who you are”.  This is a topic we explored in an earlier blog post and is further developed in Your Future is Calling.

The labor market data clearly shows that STEM programs pay higher wages than liberal arts degrees on average.  But it may be far more important to you to take a lower paying career that fulfills “who you are”.  Jobs that are in green industries may be such a choice. For details on green job choices see Chapter 7 of “Your Future is Calling”.

But this conversation is not just about you and the career choices you need to make.  As the title of this blog implies, this is about how the college you select relates to job placement.  Not all colleges are equal on this issue.  Universities can be very slow to change when it comes to terminating degrees and programs.  Professors have personal interest in what is taught.

Some colleges are slow and reactive.  Others are proactive and aggressive at changing what they offer.  The information in today’s BUZZ Today shows how program decisions can be a part of some colleges.  The challenge for you is to know which colleges and universities are offering new programs that fit a rapidly changing world and most importantly, “who you are”.

Filed Under: Adult learning, Career, College degrees // Tagged: , , , , ,

New Shoes

Posted on April 12, 2013 // Leave a Comment

The next series of posts on this blog will look at the three key parts of your degree completion decision:  “who you are”, careers, and universities.      Buzz Today Source:  Your Future is Calling.   The book is a road map for you to earn your degree quickly and efficiently.  It is important that you do the work to find the right fit for you.  Think of your task as if you were shopping for a new pair of shoes.  You have to shop around to find out what is available.  You have to try on the shoes to make sure they don’t hurt your feet.  You have to look at them in the mirror. You have to examine the price tag to see if you can afford them.  The important point is that, in the end only you can tell if those new shoes fit you.  The only difference here is that the new shoes you are shopping for (your degree) you will wear every day for the rest of your life, and if they do not fit, they will not only hurt your feet, they will create pain in every part of your life. 

It is important to begin at the beginning – with “who you are”.  The BUZZ Today talks about why it all needs to start with you.

“Who you are”:  In many ways we are all different.  Our lives and experiences mold us.  What I enjoy may not at all appeal to you.  I like standing in a cold, fast flowing stream and casting a fly over and over again trying to tempt a trout I cannot even see into biting on a glob of thread and feathers only to release the fish once I have landed him in a net.

Most of you would not find this appealing at all.  Some might find it revolting, even barbaric.  But that is exactly the point.  We are all different.  What motivates each of us to do what we do, to be “who we are” is very much about each of us.

When it comes to deciding on a degree, a college, a career you need to start with yourself.  In the end, all of these have to fit you, just as the shoes in the BUZZ Today have to fit you.  No one else can tell you if they fit.  You have to try them on.  To do that you have to have good information.  We will come back to this in posts here over the weeks and months to come.

Filed Under: Adult learning, College degrees, Famous careers, Uncategorized // Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
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