At points in your life you find yourself at both literal and figurative crossroads – at times even questioning “Am I on the right path?” As throngs of knowledge-seekers make the pilgrimage back to their schools this fall, taking stock of current reality and what career goals they wish to achieve should be on all students’ minds.
A number of publications have recently highlighted something that’s not new news: the colossal gap in earning potential that exists between career fields post Bachelor’s degree.[1] [2] The point here isn’t to debate whether the top earning career right out of college (Petroleum Engineering - $110k median) is justified or the 5-fold gap between the earning potential from that major of study and those at the bottom of the spectrum are warranted. Rather the point is: are students aware of these facts and taking them into consideration when they select their majors of study (considering the amount of tuition money they are paying) and the eventual return on that investment they’ll receive when they enter the workforce?
In 2013, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce published a grim study: Failure to Launch, which highlights how the economic recession and current practices in higher education have left a generation adrift with little traction in their career progression. In the study[3], authors note:
- Depressed rates of labor force participation (young adults 21-25 are at employment levels not seen in 40 years)
- Progressive decline in labor force participation for individuals 21-29 from the year 2000 to 2012
- Increased wage gap between the median salary and those of individuals entering the workforce (for young men - 85% of median in 1980 versus 58% median in 2012)
- Pronounced delay in age to reach median wage (increasing by 4 years from 26 in 1980 to 30 in 2012).
These are clear indicators that young adults are no longer entering into the labor force as early or as successfully (financially speaking) as has been the case historically.
As with any multi-factorial challenge, there are multiple ways to explore. A combination of awareness, education, vision, navigation, and access, will allow students to take firmer ownership of their own educational path and eventual career outcome. Let’s explore what this might look like in action:
Awareness: Students need to understand the variability in college degrees in terms of the financial outcome. Recognizing the debt versus return on investment using data from articles like the ones highlighted above better prepare students entering and working through college to choose wisely on what to study. There are a number of avenues to pursue that can limit debt regardless of which major is selected or career pathway is followed[4]. One example: start out at a community college or other low-cost options and then transfer into a four-year degree granting institution for final coursework. Comparing four-year publics versus two-year publics, tuition is approximately two-thirds less in the two year. When you compare against four-year private schools, the yearly tuition is almost ten times greater than the two-year institution.
Education: Have you ever heard the phrase ‘it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey?’ The same holds true for choosing career(s). With increased rate of innovation and advancements in technology, students must stay educated about societal trends and job prospects on the horizon (not what’s current or historical)[5]. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics calls out career fields likely to flourish/expand over the next few years – new fields like working with big data and areas of scientific research (nanotechnology, robotics, 3D printing) emerge and demand for even some of the more traditional career areas like mental health counseling and veterinarians is anticipated to increase. At least domestically here in the United States, predictions are that the need for jobs that can be shipped to cheaper locations around the world (manufacturing) and those that can be replaced by technology (call center operations) will decline. While it should not be the sole driver of college/career selection, selecting to study and work in an area predicted to rise versus decline makes the best financial sense.
Vision: Consider the famous exchange between the Cheshire Cat and Alice in Alice in Wonderland:
ALICE: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
CHESHIRE CAT: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,”
ALICE: “I don’t much care where–”
CHESHIRE CAT: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,”
ALICE: “So long as I get SOMEWHERE,”
CHESIRE CAT: “Oh, you’re sure to do that, “if you only walk long enough.” [6].
Imagine if 21st Century visionaries like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk took the same approach? Would we be closer to manufacturing products in space[7]? Colonizing Mars[8]? Ubiquitous access to more information than has ever been available to the total of our ancestors[9]? Without a specific target to shoot for, hitting it is nearly impossible. Applying the same thinking to college majors and career selection – it’s far easier to achieve a successful outcome if you start by clearly envisioning your long-term career goal(s). So pick a target and get to work!
Navigation: On the pathway to prosperity, how does one stop at the gas station and ask for directions? Seriously - don’t laugh – it wasn’t too long ago that individuals used paper maps and verbal directions to find their way from place to place. Now we place our trust in Siri to take us the shortest, traffic-free route to our destination. For career navigation, students should be seeking inputs from multiple sources (career center, internet research, word-of-mouth) and constructing their own set of milestones to work toward. Saying you want to be the head of sales at Google is one thing; mapping out the steps needed to do so and working toward them is another. You can start by constructing an action plan by backwards planning from your end goal. What accomplishments do you need to achieve in the next six months? 1 year? 3 years? 5 years? That will lead you to your ultimate career end goal.
Access: Exploring tools, tips, tricks, and guidance on how to best prepare yourself for a given career can be the largest stumbling block for students. The good news – O*NET (Occupational Information Network) is a publically available, free to use database developed by the United States government that contains hundreds of occupational definitions and should be the “go to” for career seekers to align their personal skills, abilities, interests, and values with those required for specific occupations and desired by employers in those fields[10]. Take ten minutes this week, select a career that you’re interested in and find it on O*NET. Do the skills match your strengths? If not, don’t get discouraged. Simply add development of these skills to your action plan above.
Taken independently, each of these steps is valuable. Considered collectively, they will prove invaluable in helping decrease the career launch delay that’s currently holding back a generation of workforce entrants by giving them the permission to own their educational and career pathways. When establishing a career vision and college pathway, students should take great care to consider all angles, including career earning potential and college debt burden to help ensure they truly are ‘on the right path.’
Written by Jan Sikorsky, Ph.D., M.S.
Vice President, Education
Envision Experience
References:
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