Guidebook

YP: Questions to Ask Your Coach

• How can I find my passion when I have many interests or if I don’t know what I want to do?
• Why do I need to choose a career now? Why can’t I keep working and find a career later?
• During difficult times in life, what steps have you taken to overcome obstacles?
• How have you dealt with setbacks in your career?
• As a Return Missionary, how can I maintain my momentum while going to school or starting my career?
• How can I apply the skills I learned as a missionary while in school or at work?
• How should I use the information from a career assessment or career opportunities I see on the internet to help me find my career?

Coach: Questions to Ask Your YP

• Have you completed a career assessment? What did you learn from it? YPs can check with their school’s counseling center or career center to see if they offer it.
• What career options are you currently exploring?
• Have you researched online the growth projections and average salary for professions that interest you? (The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a great online resource.)
• Can we talk about how much your education will cost and how it will affect what you earn when you work in that field?
• Would you be interested in talking to someone for an informational interview in the professions that most interest you?
• Would you be interested in an internship, even if it did not pay?

Visit this article to learn how to successfully explore career options.

Visit this site to learn more about setting career goals.

Visit this site to learn about 10 career assessment tools.

Visit this site to Explore Career Options

Visit this site for Occupational Outlook Handbook

Monster.com: Career Tests: Our Top 10

Assessment.com: Take the MAPP Career Test and Find your New Career

Careerwise.com: 15 Free Career Assessment Tools to Help Clients Find Their Fit

Visit this site to learn about the six steps of informational interviewing.

It’s important when selecting a career to be fully aware of the future job growth potential as well as salary possibilities. What could be sadder than to spend four years of college and discover that your selected major or selected career does not sustain a family — or that there are only a few new job openings in that field.

A salary that is livable for a Young Professional may not be adequate for a family. A yearly salary in the mid-twenty thousand may look good – but, the federal government poverty rate for a family of four (two adults, two children) is $24,000.

Some college majors, and some careers, will not support a family! There are college majors that do not lead to sustainable careers and do not generate the funds to pay back Young Professional loans! Other careers may pay well but are fields that are not growing and are difficult to get into.  

WOWI

World of Work Incorporated (WOWI) has developed a skills assessment tool (https://www.wowi.com/ ). This one and a half hour online career assessment test measures skills in categories of verbal, numerical, abstractions, spatial-form, mechanical/electrical and organizing skill. It also measures job satisfaction indicators (workplace preferences) such as: isolative, gregarious, dominant, versatile, repetitive, etc.

Having measured skills and workplace preferences, the career assessment tool provides recommendations on career interest areas that would be suitable such as: sciences, public service, managerial, arts, clerical, service, sales, outdoor or industrial.

Finally, the WOWI career assessment provides specific job titles that would work for you based on your skills and workplace preferences. These job titles are organized according to required education and are linked to Department of Labor web sites that provide information on job growth for the next ten years and projected salary information.

The WOWI career assessment is a wonderful tool that provides specific career recommendations and allows you to determine if the projected job growth and job salary are sufficient to allow you to support yourself and a family.

Occupational Outlook Handbook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics “Occupational Outlook Handbook” is available at bls.gov/ooh. This document allows you to select occupations based on entry-level education, median salary, projected growth rate, on-the-job training and projected number of new jobs.

At each specific job title entry the OOH provides details on median pay, entry-level education, number of jobs today, number of jobs in ten years, and job outlook.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook also provides information on the type of tasks that are accomplished in this job, work environment, how to enter the field, pay, job outlook and links to similar occupations.

This document provides excellent information on job growth projection and salary growth.

O*Net Online

O*Net Online is sponsored by the US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The website, onetonline.org, organizes careers into categories such as green industry, bright outlook, STEM discipline, job family and job zone.

For each job title, the website lists typical tasks, needed tools and technology, knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, detailed work activities, work context, job zone, education, credentials, work styles, work values, related occupations, wage/employment trends and current job openings.

This website contains a very thorough description of thousands of job titles and a complete explanation of the tasks, tools and technology used in the job.

Career One Stop

Career One Stop is found at careerinfonet.com. This website contains career videos where people explain their work. There is also an excellent section on education and training options and a section on federal training programs and locating state educational resources.

Occupational information is very comprehensive and is provided state by state. Projected annual growth projections are presented for the U.S and for each state.

Educational resources and recommendations are provided for specific careers.

Majoring in the Humanities

Majoring in the Humanities may make the transition to the workforce challenging. All pathways to a career require diligent preparation and a clear strategy.

It’s crucial to have a plan for developing specific skill-sets which are attractive to employers. Become very familiar with the educational requirements of jobs listed in the Occupational Outlook Handbook or O*Net Online. Develop a firm career path towards specific employment or towards post-graduate school.

Conclusion

It’s important to carefully study career opportunities in respect to future employment projections and in respect to salary (will it support a family). There are a number of very good websites that provide this information. Also, the WOWI career assessment test can be helpful in determining your interests, skills and workplace preferences and providing detailed job recommendations.

As you study career opportunities, include your parents, relatives and others in your deliberations, to seek their wisdom. As you continue to study this decision out in your mind, take your conclusions to Heavenly Father in prayer for affirmation of your career choice. successful career choices consistent with what matters most to you.

The first thing to do when picking a career is to sincerely pray for help. Acting with faith and guidance from the Holy Ghost is always the best way to make correct decisions. When picking an occupation, consider your likes and abilities. The interests you have will help you determine what you would be happy doing and what you are skilled at. You should determine what kinds of careers require talents and skills like yours. Things to ask:

• Where do I want to be in five or ten years?
• What kinds of responsibilities do I want?
• What kind of job security do I want?
• What kinds of advancement opportunities do I want?
• What kind of work environment do I want?
• Is there work I do not want to do (ex. call center)?
• How willing am I to work and study hard?
• Do I want to work for someone else or for myself?

You should then determine what kind of education or training a career will require. Things to ask:

• How long will it take to train for this career?
• Where can I obtain the training?
• How difficult will the school/ training program be?
• How much work experience will I need to be hired in this career field?
• What will it cost to get the needed degree or certificate?
• How long will it take to pay off loans for schooling or certification?
• What disciplines will I need to know for this career (ex. biology, design principles)?
• What kind of personality does this career require (ex. patient, outgoing, etc.)?

You should determine how stable a career will be. Think of the industries connected to a career. Are they companies that will grow with changing technology, or are they dependent on equipment or processes that can become outdated? Things to ask:

• Is this career growing, stable, or declining?
• Does the job provide something that is always needed?
• Could this job be done by a machine?
• Is this a new or old industry?
• Is there a competing industry?
• Will the core skills for this industry be useful in another industry?
• What technology does this career use? Could it be outdated soon?

You should determine how much time each day a career will take. Establish your time priorities early. Tough decisions are easier to make when you have a clear perspective of what you are not willing to compromise. Things to ask:

• How much time will work take each day?
• Where must I live in order to have this career?
• How much time will I have for my spouse and children?
• How will this career affect my family?
• What is the commute time, and what will the travel costs be?

You should determine the approximate income level and benefits associated with a career. Salary is an important part of any career but it is not the only thing. Some people choose careers because of the high annual income only to find they don’t enjoy a major aspect of the profession. This is one reason interviews with professionals or mentors in a given career field or internships in the field are so important. Things to ask:

• What are the benefits? Medical coverage?
• Will this career allow me to take care of my financial responsibilities?
• How long will it take me to find a job after graduation or certification?
• How frequent are promotions, advancements?

Visit this site to learn about the services BYU offers to help you get started in a career.

Visit this site to learn more about the missionary My Plan