CAREERS NOW 06-15-08

Career Choice: College Vs. Reality

DEAR JOYCE: I am thinking about becoming a pharmacist but am not certain what's really involved and whether I would like it. A cousin attended college for years to become a teacher for the deaf but when she got out and worked in a classroom, she knew it wasn't for her. Years of education down the drain! Can you give me some advice? - K.Z.

You've got the right idea: check first, study later. Here are five free or low cost tips to avoid making costly mistakes in any career decision, using pharmacist as an example.

1. Read. Read about pharmacists, what they do, the training required, what they earn and how rosy the future looks for them. A top resource describing hundreds of careers: Occupational Outlook Handbook; read it free online at www.bls.gov/oco.

Also visit bookstores for a new and valuable book titled, "The Career Chronicles: An Insider's Guide to What Jobs Are Really Like - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Over 750 Professionals" by Michael Gregory (New World Library). Dispensing with romantic fantasies, real-world professionals - from nurses and pharmacists to architects and attorneys - speak about the day-to-day realities of their careers in six categories, including "Would You Do It All Over Again?" I give this book five stars.

2. Interview. Check with at least a half-dozen pharmacists in various pharmacy workplaces, from retail stores to hospitals. They're busy people, so ask each for an appointment and have your questions ready in advance.

3. Shadow. Ask your school counselor to arrange a "shadowing" day where you observe pharmacists at work.

4. Work. Get a job as a pharmacy technician (learn on the job) for a few months to try out your fit in the environment.

5. Cross-check. Go to the O*Net Code Connector at www.onetcodeconnector.org to see the skills required for occupations that interest you. The skills are called "Detailed Work Activities." This is a free and fascinating career choice tool maintained by the Department of Labor.

DEAR JOYCE: Despite the big jump in the U.S. unemployment rate to 5.5 percent, I'm still reading about the so-called war for talent. How's that? What's going on with this doublespeak? - C.T.

Workforce insiders theorize that (a) the jobless rate spike primarily reflects workers with less-desirable skills, and that some employers find that their toughest talent hunts for high-skill, high-value employees are not getting any easier; (b) that a limited transfer of knowledge between older and younger generations contributes to a talent shortage for U.S. businesses; and (c) the retirement of baby boomers is creating a talent shortage, although other analysts point to a global surplus of well-educated workers.

If you have more than a passing interest in jobs and careers for American workers, you may want to learn how to start an "academy" at your local high school. Whether tech prep or college prep, the National Academy Foundation creates small learning communities, called academies, within high schools. Thus far the academies focus on one of four career fields: finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology and engineering.

The foundation works with local employers to provide courses that supplement the traditional curriculum and to offer paid internships that give students a chance to apply their classroom learning to a work setting. The program has impressive outcome statistics and could be a self-enlightened and rewarding effort for a civic group to undertake. Find the foundation online at www.naf.org.

DEAR JOYCE: Without letting the cat out of the bag, I've got a great business idea for the Internet and my son is a geek. I don't want to start off without knowing what I'm doing. Which books do you recommend? - H.I.R.

The relevant guidebook getting exuberant buzz right now is the new "Internet Riches: The Simple Money-Making Secrets of Online Millionaires" by Scott Fox (scottfox.com), published by Amacom Books. I ordinarily wince at hyped titles like this one but the author's clients have ranged from start-ups to major corporations to celebrities like Larry King and Bill O'Reilly. David Bach, author of "Start Late, Finish Rich," calls it a "fantastic roadmap for the Internet businessperson who wants to finish rich online." I'll read it tonight.

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