In my last two posts, I talked about nine great ways for a student to get into a lousy career. Now it’s time to find the tenth way… the way that actually works to get a student into a career they’ll love.
It’s ironic I blogged about this topic when I did. I spent a couple of days last week in a major university’s career services office. This is a great university with a very good career service program.
As I learned about how career services works today, and reflected back to what I went through over 30 years ago, I was struck with irony of it. The basic procedures haven’t changed much in 25 years, and they don’t work any better than they did before. Here’s what I mean…
The career services office of most major universities is an afterthought. Students are introduced to it during orientation, and then the majority of students never come back until their senior year (if at all). Why don’t universities insist on finding the perfect career for the student during orientation or even in the first year of college? Why do they leave that very important decision to chance?
Some would argue that it is not possible for a student to know the right career without going through the trials and tribulations of life. To that, I say BALONEY!! There is more than enough information when a student leaves high school to make their career decision at that time.
We work with students all the time in their career decisions. The basic human psyche is more than enough established at that time for the student to choose the right career. Here’s an example of why I know that’s true (this is just one of dozens of real life examples that I could share to prove the point)…
Brian was a junior in high school when he decided to discover his Given Talent with us. Brian’s Given Talent is that he constantly breaks things down into smaller parts. He looks at something and breaks it down into small pieces and asks the “why” about the smaller pieces. Then he looks at the small pieces and breaks them down into smaller pieces and asks the “why” again. Then he breaks those pieces down and asks the “why” again. He told us he would go all the way down to the atomic level if he could. That in a nutshell is his Given Talent.
Before Brian came to us, he wasn’t sure what career to get into. After he discovered his Given Talent through our work, it became clear what career using that Given Talent. He decided to get into crime scene investigation (CSI) work.
He talked to someone who was in CSI work to make sure his Given Talent fit that career. It did. So Brian took classes to get into that field. When Brian graduated, he found CSI work was a match made in heaven because his core way of thinking (his Given Talent) fit his career so well.
Brian’s Given Talent, just like yours, is present and identifiable long before college days. We’ve taken people through The Clarifier in junior high, and it’s alive and well then. That’s why it makes perfect sense to do career counseling before the student gets into college. But why don’t schools do that?
Don’t make the same mistake. If you’re going to college, visit your career center before your senior year. Find your Given Talent and know for sure which career will use your Given Talent.
You don’t have to leave it to chance. Your Given Talent, your core way of thinking and acting you do each and every time you’re doing something you love, is present when you’re in high school, and even back in grade school. So why not find it and act on it today?
Have some fun with just being YOU!!!
Author:
Dave Dutton – Founder of Dave Dutton – Founder of stuckinarut.com – Answering the question for all ages, “What do I want to be when I grow up.”
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Perry Newman 
Joshua Waldman 
Agree with the advice to utilize a Career Center throughout your college years and not just in the end. Disagree with the line " why don't most major universities insist on fidning the perfect career for the student during orientation…."
Students' are ultimately responsible for finding their careers, not universities. We can coax and cajole a student to make use of the free Career Services every semester, but many, still do not.