| You've heard the advice over and over from | | | | high school. Studies show that vocational learning |
| your school counselor: you must be a | | | | will pay better and be more secure than marching |
| well-rounded student. What does that mean? You | | | | through a four-year program and discovering later |
| want to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a firefighter, | | | | you need a master's degree to advance in pay |
| or a stock broker (okay, maybe not that one so | | | | scale. Nursing is a good example. |
| much) when you grow up. That means a narrow | | | | 6. Take art, music, dance, drama, writing--be |
| focus on what you study at college and the types | | | | creative. It really helps in the work-a-day world by |
| of jobs you get, doesn't it? | | | | reducing stress. The arts will help you live longer |
| You have to declare a major when you get to | | | | and think better. |
| college. That doesn't preclude you from gaining | | | | 7. Get used to speaking in front of an audience. It |
| experience and knowledge outside your chosen | | | | is scary at first, but you find out soon that no |
| field. Those who learn a wider range of skills early | | | | one is going to bite you, and they may enjoy |
| will survive sudden career changes later. The | | | | what you have to say. |
| following list is some career advice for high school | | | | 8. Study politics; they are rampant in human |
| students from someone who has weathered | | | | societies as though we are still just a troop of |
| career changes and job gaps well into her 30's: | | | | baboons out on the plains. Look at any group of |
| | | | people and you will see a pecking order. Learn |
| 1. Groom yourselves. Keep your clothes, hands | | | | how to maneuver through that with minimal |
| and face clean and neat, and dress conservatively | | | | damage to your self-esteem by realizing it isn't |
| when in the company of adults. | | | | about you. |
| 2. Be pleasant to everyone you meet. You never | | | | 9. Find a copy and read "What Color is Your |
| know who could be a prospective employer. Think | | | | Parachute?" by Richard Nelson Bolles. Great guide |
| of the phrase, "Beware of the feet you step on | | | | on how to pin down what career you want and |
| today--they could be the same feet you have to | | | | how to go about getting it. Rewritten and updated |
| kiss tomorrow." | | | | every year. |
| 3. Learn how to type quickly and efficiently. Learn | | | | 10. Realize that what you want to be when you |
| how to punctuate sentences correctly and use | | | | grow up may change many times in the next ten |
| proper grammar--not the way it's done on IM. | | | | or twenty years, and that it is not a failure on |
| 4. Even scientists need to know how to use the | | | | your part for this to happen. |
| phone and change money. | | | | What career you choose is not written in stone. |
| 5. Take some vocational classes, learn a hands-on | | | | The average adult changes careers eight times |
| skill. Take advantage of community classes if | | | | over their working life. Good luck, and go get |
| what you're interested in is not offered at your | | | | well-rounded! |