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Pinning Down Career Options - Useful links

By Melissa Markham on July 22, 2008 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I haven't just been sitting by the pool and lounging on the beach during this trip...I have been busy reading, watching movies and playing video games, but I have also been thinking about returning to the work force. I want to continue homeschooling my children, but I also want to pursue more education for myself with the plan of going back to work, not only to add to our financial solvency, but to broaden my horizons. The kids aren't going to be home forever.

So I have been reading books and perusing websites and talking to people about job possibilities. The tests I have taken point to the following types of careers for me:

Editing (this is a top choice for me, but all indications are that the job market in this area is shrinking)

Nursing (I used to want to be a nurse, but I am not sure I could handle the bodily fluids aspect and I was not very good with remembering things like anatomy when I was in school).

Counseling (I have a degree in Sociology as I wanted to be a Social Worker when I graduated, though now you pretty much have to have a degree in Social Work, anyway, ever since I was a tyke, I have had a knack for listening to people and helping them to put things in their proper perspective. I am very good at mediating...I just don't know if I want to take all of the schooling involved with this and I am not sure what population I would be interested in. Daniel said, he thought I would be great with young moms).

Paralegal/legal (when I first applied at William and Mary, I intended to go to law school, then I switched my mind to journalism, and after two horrible English professors, I switched to Sociology. I enjoy doing research. I have a mind that is good at ferreting out facts and putting things together.)

Right now I am leaning towards the paralegal, and who knows, maybe going on to become a lawyer. One step at a time though.

I am amazed at the number of sites and places out there where you can get information to help you figure out what you want to do with your life. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college on my father's side. On my mother's side I have a cousin who is now a judge in the Shenandoah Valley. My parents didn't really know how to guide me in thinking about my future and what to do with it. They just knew they wanted me to go to college and to have more choices than they did. I knew very little about the job market or what the possibilities were growing up. I wish some of these sites had been available then or that I had known more about career counseling centers (which were out there, but I just didn't make proper use of them).

So, I was chatting with my friend, Carole, and she sent me a couple of links that her now 17 year old homeschooled daughter has been looking at as she tries to figure where she goes from here. I found both of these to be interesting sites. Particularly the first one (though I pretended to be a senior for the purpose of the test). If you have a child in middle school or high school, I would suggest spending some time visiting these links. It's a big world out there and there are so many options. The links can help point you or your child in the right direction. I started out with a few ideas and ended up exploring about 20. One that really suprised me not only because it was a fast growing position that requires only 2 years of school, but because the salary is 62,000 is dental hygienist. I am not sure I want to be poking around in people's mouths...but wow!

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