High schools and colleges are having commencement ceremonies as thousands of young graduates leave the comforts of school for the real world.\u00a0 Many graduates have developed strategic plan for their careers, while others are struggling to figure out what to do next.<\/p>\n
Many students believe that something magical happens when they graduate to conjuror up opportunities and career options.\u00a0 Although many start looking for a job prior to graduation most join the ranks of the unemployed.\u00a0 Especially in these times of high unemployment finding work can be difficult.\u00a0 There are several applicants for every job and employers can choose from a large slate of candidates.\u00a0 Often it takes an outstanding resume to get an interview, and then exceptional skill to land the job.\u00a0 What if you did not graduate summa cum laude<\/a><\/em>, magna cum laude<\/a><\/em> or cum laude<\/a>? <\/em> What if you were just an average student with no real plan on what to do after graduation?<\/p>\n While those who developed strategic career plans along the way have a head start on the others all is not lost.\u00a0 It is surprising the number of students that did not even consider going to college while in high school.\u00a0 Some have poor grades and other lack the prerequisite courses to enter college.\u00a0 Junior college may offer a solution to those who decide late in their high school career or after graduation to attend college.\u00a0 Most state junior colleges will accept any one who is out of high school.\u00a0 If you did not graduate from high school you may need to earn a GED \u2013 General Education Development which consists of five subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American<\/a> or Canadian<\/a> high school<\/a>-level academic skills. There are night classes available for those who work or have other commitments.\u00a0 There may be a lot of make up work to prepare you for college level courses but it is worth it.\u00a0 Pay attention this time around as grades are very important to your future.<\/p>\n The great thing about state junior colleges is that student can transfer to any four state college after successfully completing the first two years of junior college.\u00a0 This saves students money on the first two years tuition, and enables them to graduate from a college that may not accept them right out of high school.\u00a0 This is also an option for students attending four-year state colleges that would like to transfer to a more prestigious state school.<\/p>\n Although there are a lot of basic course requirements in college, most students choose a course of study, which requires taking courses in a particular field or discipline such as business, communications, engineering, computer skill, government, etc.\u00a0 This requires some careful thought to select a course of study that will prepare you to enter a career field.\u00a0 This may be a difficult choice for some who are not really sure what they want to do.<\/p>\n This is an area that needs more attention.\u00a0 There are few sources available to coach a student in selecting a career.\u00a0 High school guidance councilors are tasked with aiding students in choosing a career path but they have limited resources.\u00a0 In addition, most students do not seek out advice.\u00a0 Perhaps a good personality and aptitude test in the sophomore year of high school would be beneficial in guiding students toward a successful and enjoyable career.\u00a0 There are several free on line for those who are interested.<\/p>\n It is important to do some research to determine what careers interest you.\u00a0 There are a lot of facets to career fields.\u00a0 For example, not all policemen are involved in CSI (Crime Scene Investigations).\u00a0 If you notice on TV there are usually a lot of patrolmen putting up the police barricades and directing traffic.\u00a0 Most careers require experience and additional training to reach the top rungs of the career ladder.\u00a0 There are a lot of opportunities in most career fields for those who apply themselves.<\/p>\n For those who have decided that college is not for them there are still a lot of choices. Most require a training certification or license but the time and money spent in training will pay dividends over the course of your career.\u00a0 There are a lot of jobs that did not exist just a few years ago, it is worth your while to do some research and to observe the trends.\u00a0 For example, the medical field will continue to need more workers as the baby boomers begin to age.<\/p>\n The sooner you begin to develop a career strategy the better.\u00a0 College and tech school are a lot of work to complete.\u00a0 The sooner you begin the sooner you will finish and begin on your career path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" High schools and colleges are having commencement ceremonies as thousands of young graduates leave the comforts of school for the real world.\u00a0 Many graduates have developed strategic plan for their careers, while others are struggling to figure out what to do next. Many students believe that something magical happens when they graduate to conjuror up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,6,22,21,23,18,7,19],"tags":[209,51,5,9,33,52,50,54,38,53,208,27],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aptitude","category-career-challenges","category-challenges","category-fear","category-interview","category-mentor-advice","category-personality","category-success","tag-abundance","tag-career","tag-career-advice","tag-career-strategies","tag-college","tag-education","tag-graduation","tag-guidance-counseling","tag-job-experience","tag-junior-college","tag-success","tag-tactics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalmentor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}