The U. S. Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the 2012-13 edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) – also available in Spanish. Published every other year, the OOH offers some great occupational information, including some quick lists of those occupations in the U. S. labor market projected to be fastest growing, those projected to have the most job openings, and those that pay the highest average wages. You can also create lists of your own by using search and sort features. For example, the table lists selected occupations that:

• Require an education level of “Postsecondary non-degree award” (i.e., certificate or other credential awarded upon completion of a college program) and,
• Have 50,000 or more openingsprojected annually (across the U. S.) and,
• Are growing faster than average (projected percent change in the number of jobs added 2010-2020 in these occupations is 20% or more).

On Tuesday, April 12, 2012, 10th grade students from the Central Region gathered together to participate in a Career Day event highlighting Career and Technical Education (CTE) Pathways. The event was held at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield where 1,100 students explored numerous careers by participating in hands-on activities. Participating high schools included:

Students had the opportunity to explore over 60 different careers featured at the Career Day event. Local businesses set up interactive booths/displays where students were able to “try on a career” working hands-on using tools and equipment. “This year we focused on nontraditional careers. Upon arrival each student received a ‘Nontraditional Passport’ to record the careers they explored. Every student took the opportunity to explore four nontraditional careers for their gender,” said Darlene Wabel, Central Region CTE Pathways Coordinator.

Throughout the event students had a wonderful time exploring careers and participating in hands-on activities with local businesses. Students were engaged and eagerly participated in the many activities available, which included:

AT&T – Students learned how electronic communications work.
BLM – Students were introduced to the varied careers offered at many BLM locations.
Brooklyn Gardens – Students learned how to plant seeds for a greenhouse and how the to care for the plants for retail sale.
Central Utah Corrections – Students were able to see the day in a life of a corrections officer and the many things that challenge them on a daily basis from those confined in prison.
Central Utah Public Health – Students were shown how to give an injection and then practiced on oranges.
Mountain America Credit Union – Students learned how to manage a debit card.
National Weather Service – Students learned about how weather influences many careers and about the career of forecasting weather.
OSHA – Students learned how to put on and wear a safety harness.
Redmond Salt – Students learned how salt is mined and learned about the many products made from salt. They also learned how salt is used to enhance wildlife production.
SUU Engineering – Students built bridges from paper and then tested there strength with a coin.
Sevier County Sheriff – Students learned about careers in law enforcement, including occupations in the SWAT team and in the DARE program, learning about the equipment used to serve and protect the public.
Sevier Valley Hospital – Students looked at blood slides from the lab and learned how to use equipment in respiratory therapy.
Sprockets - Students used tools of the trade in repairing ATV’s and motorcycles.
USU Extension – Students had to identify different types of animal feed and select those that would increase animal production.
Utah Division of Natural Resources – Students learned the responsibilities of a Fish and Game Warden and those who grow the fish in the hatchery environment.
Thalman Orthodontics – Students were shown how an orthodontist learns to straighten teeth.
Wells Fargo – Students learned about bank accounts and filled out deposit slips.

Students had to dress in proper attire to work on a lifelike patient. Nursing is a nontraditional career for males.

A pilot is a nontranditional career for females.

A nontraditional career is any occupation in which women or men comprise 25 percent or less of its total employment. CTE students in the Central Region are among the 325,000 secondary and postsecondary CTE students in Utah. For information about the CTE classes offered at your school talk to your school counselor or visit UtahCTE.org.

 Career and Technical Education: Preparing Students for College and Career!

Summer and part-time jobs are not just a source of income, but can also help you develop important work and leadership skills that will give you an edge for your entire career. In addition, you’ll have opportunities to meet new people who may become lifelong friends or mentors. However, just 45 percent of youth between the ages of 16-24 were employed in August 2011 – significantly lower than the 54.5 percent employed five years ago. If you’re interested in a summer or part-time job, here is some information to help you prepare for and land a job that suits you. Start now!

1) If you are younger than age 16, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) defines some restrictions on the hours that you can legally work. There are also federal laws that prohibit workers under age 18 from working in hazardous occupations. Try the FLSA Child Labor Rules Advisor to check for restrictions that might apply to you.

2) The Occupational Safety and Health Administration promote summer job safety.

3) Take advantage of the Job Search tools, the online directory of Utah companies in FirmFind, plus a great article – “Simmering for a Summer Job” – offered by the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

4) The U. S. Department of Labor is launching a Summer Jobs + Jobs Bank! You can sign up here to be notified when the site goes live.

Finally, social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) are used more frequently and in innovative ways by job seekers and employers alike. Be thoughtful and responsible as you post, but don’t be afraid to enlist the support of followers and friends as search for opportunities.

By Curtis Youngman, Professor of Marketing at Salt Lake Community College, and Concurrent Enrollment Liaison

Be assured that Career and Technical Education is working. Opportunities are almost limitless for students involved in higher education today. As students jump into their journey, there are many directions they can become involved in to help prepare for their career. Students need to plan ahead so they can move smoothly in the desired direction. Let’s address a couple of opportunities, and then show how those opportunities are successfully helping students reach their goals.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) is alive and progressing in the State of Utah. CTE shows students a direct connection between doing well in high school and a smooth transition to post-secondary opportunities or to getting a good job when they graduate. CTE Pathways are rigorous programs of study that assure strong technical and academic preparation that provides students with critical hands-on skills. Concurrent Enrollment is one essential strategy that assists in this rigorous training.

Concurrent Enrollment augments the CTE Program objectives and provides challenging college-level experiences for high school students. More than 27,444 Utah students earned over 188,000 credit hours of post-secondary learning last year.

The Salt Lake Community College Concurrent Enrollment Program provides leadership in maintaining partnerships with secondary education institutions that offer high school students the opportunity to earn college credit and high school credit concurrently as they enroll in and complete college-level courses, offered either at Salt Lake Community College or at an approved high school campus.

The Marketing/Management Program at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is an active experiential program that is highly engaged in Concurrent Enrollment. SLCC faculty members work with high school faculty at Alta, Cottonwood, Riverton, Herriman, Jordan, Skyline, Copper Hills, Kearns and Taylorsville High Schools to identify students who are eligible to participate in Concurrent Enrollment courses.

SLCC‘s Concurrent Enrollment Marketing courses taught on high school campuses include:

               MKTG 1030-Introduction to Marketing

               MKTG 1070-Promotion

               MKTG 1010-Customer Service

               MKTG 2000- Cooperative Education (Academy of Finance participants only)

Concurrent Enrollment courses provide hands-on educational experiences in the classroom. Students seamlessly transition from high school to college and develop the skills to successfully engage in the college-level experience.

I certainly appreciate working with the SLCC Concurrent Enrollment faculty and the high school faculty.  They are such role models to our students. Those students will one day be our leaders because of the key CTE programs in Utah.

Read the blog about Emily Dzaitlik. She took full advantage of the Concurrent Enrollment classes at SLCC, while a senior at Jordan High School.

Human service workers are employed by public and private organizations and agencies that assist people in need. The workers evaluate clients’ needs and develop plans that will help each client overcome current challenges. The key role human services workers play is to put the plan into action, either by providing direct services or coordinating services of other organizations. Types of human services organizations include:

• Employment agencies
• Food and nutrition agencies
• Housing and shelter organizations
• Legal and victims assistance organizations
• Public safety and disaster relief organizations
• Target population services organizations
• (e.g., foster and adoption agencies, senior citizens centers, women’s centers)
• Youth development organizations

Interpersonal and communication skills are critical for workers in this field. They also need to be able to work effectively as a member of a team, think creatively, and have compassion and patience – even when under stress. Human service workers typically complete postsecondary degrees in human services, counseling, social work or psychology. The level of education often dictates the type of work someone may perform and the amount of responsibility that they bear. Associate degree level workers may interview new clients, manage the details of cases, and connect them with appropriate services. Those with bachelor’s degrees spend much of their time managing cases, but may also provide some clinical support. A master’s degree enables human service workers to focus primarily on clinical work. For more information, read the full article in the Occupational Outlook Quarterly.

PERSONAL CAREER BRIEF

Introducing… Russell T. Warne

A graduate of … Bingham High School

Now working as … Quantitative Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology

For … Utah Valley University

Check out these websites: http://www.apa.org/research/tools/quantitative/index.aspx# and http://www.uvu.edu/profpages/profiles/show/user_id/10984

History, Theatre, AP Psychology and English were among his favorite high school classes because … “I was always interested in people, and even though I have a bachelor’s and a doctorate in psychology, I probably learned more about people from my humanities background than I did in college.”

Dr. Warne’s first job – was working at a grocery store and also tutoring community college students.

The worst job? “Because I’m also a musician, I worked a job where I did musical direction at an educational theater in California. My second summer there, the place was going under financially. My paycheck bounced twice, the director was artistically incompetent, and there were personality clashes among almost all of the staff. I counted down the days until I was released from my contract, got my last paycheck (as a cashier’s check), and went back to Utah.

A career highlight … Dr. Warne has received two national research awards – and is in the running for a third – in recognition of his doctoral dissertation, entitled, “Psychometric Impacts of Above-Level Testing.” It is early in his career, and he already has 11 published articles, too!

Advice to students …“Take lots of courses in a lot of different fields (humanities, math, science, social sciences, arts) and the hardest courses you can manage. Don’t hesitate to bring information from one field to another. People appreciate a person who can deal with members of other fields.”

And more …

• About Dr. Warne’s high school experience … “Most significant courses for my future career were probably English courses because that’s where I learned to write. I’m always surprised by the sheer amount that I write. I also am frequently called upon to convey complex ideas succinctly, a skill that I developed in my English classes as a teenager. My theatre courses were significant, too, because I teach ten times per week. It feels A LOT like performing in front of a crowd.”
• What a Quantitative Psychologist does … “A quantitative psychologist is a psychologist who specializes in performing research on people and their environments. I design research projects, write scientific articles, and learn why people act the way they do.”
• What a College Professor does … As a professor, I teach people statistics, how to conduct research in the social sciences, and provide information about psychological and standardized tests.
• Re: his undergraduate college experience: My undergraduate years provided me with the training I would need for my career. The best courses were psychological research methods and psychological tests and measurement. The latter course ignited my love for testing and evaluation, which surprised me. I had been somewhat disenchanted towards psychology and was thinking about changing majors. The T&M course showed me that I could be a psychologist and never have clients or patients. It pointed me in the direction necessary to learn about people, which is what got me into psychology in the first place.
• And Graduate School …”was where I learned the majority of skills I need for my job. The classes were all useful, but more important was learning how to network, brainstorm research ideas, and write (There it is again!) like a scientist.

PERSONAL CAREER BRIEF

Introducing… Chantel Thackeray Olsen

A graduate of … Hunter High School

Now working as … High School Language Arts Teacher. “My job is to organize lessons and information in order to bring out what is within my students. Particularly, I focus on literature, writing, reading, presenting.”

Employer … Murray School District

Check out this website … http://www.murrayschools.org/schools2/mhs/index.html                                                                                                                  

Drawing, ceramics, English, and creative writing were her favorite classes in high school because …  “I felt like these classes allowed me to be ME! There seemed to be more freedom to choose my assignment, or at least choose an element of the assignment. I also felt like my grade was truly based on my work/performance.

Chantel’s first job … was mowing lawns for Salt Lake Community College.

The worst job?  Bussing/waiting tables.  What made it the worst was not going to work until noon and then working late into the night. She felt that she was wasting the best part of the day at work.

A Career Highlight … “I should put something here like … I have my Master’s Degree, or I received an award, but I think some things are more of a highlight for me. I love teaching for several reasons, but I mostly enjoy it when I get a letter or a visit from a student that is grateful for my class. I had a student return after several years and say he wouldn’t have graduated if I hadn’t pushed him to complete his work in my class, as well as his other classes. He was in a technical school in Arizona and headed in a fantastic direction for a career. He never liked school and didn’t want to go to college. When he was a student I remember telling him that there are so many opportunities for everyone and some of those opportunities aren’t in a traditional route. He said that changed how he thought about his future. I can’t express how meaningful the moment was.”

Advice to students: “Make a decision. Don’t wait for something to happen to you. Everyone is constantly looking to improve and to seek out what they want—adults and teenagers. There is not a perfect career or decision. If you keep moving, taking classes you enjoy, feeding the knowledge you value, you will end up doing something you believe in and so … like.”

More …

The takeaway from Chantel’s worst job: ”Looking back now, I see that it was a challenge. I had to be very socially appropriate: when guests complained I had to work on being humble and patient. This job introduced me to a lot of interesting people—guests and peers. I learned so much about how to control emotions and do the job even if someone is being rude.

• RE: Chantel’s early college experience: “I didn’t really have an idea of a major or a ‘job’ when I went to Southern Utah University, so I decided I was just going to take classes I enjoyed. I had a Nature Writing class. We read selections about the West, about Utah. I was hooked. I loved that we read about areas I had been to: Moab, Salt Lake, the Grand Canyon. I felt connected to the writers and the subjects. To end the course we went on a class trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I felt like the class came to life. We wrote about our experiences, just like the writers we had read. So … I became an English major.”

PERSONAL CAREER BRIEF

Introducing… Shannon Fischio

A graduate of … Granite High School

Now working as … Education Specialist

Employer … Utah State Office of Education

Check out this website … http://www.schools.utah.gov/cte

Chemistry and AP Chemistry were her favorite classes in high school.

Shannon’s first job … was working at a flower shop, where she loved the creativity and interactivity of the job.

The worst job? Also working at a flower shop. Yes, she loved the work, but what made it the worst was an ill-prepared store manager who created an environment of conflict among the full-time employees. This experience made Shannon feel lucky to be a part-time employee, and also taught her the importance of building people up, recognizing their value, and ensuring that they are motivated to do their best.

The most significant post high school training/education for Shannon goes beyond her Bachelor’s degree. Shannon asserts, “In reality, my degree prepared me to get the job I wanted, but I continue to learn most of what I need on the job and with continued workshops and conferences.

A Career Highlight … “Learning about the legislative process and how things really work. My first day at the Utah State Office of Education found me in a meeting with legislative fiscal analysts. Very interesting. I also love training teachers. I have been able to travel the whole state of Utah sharing information about doing good things for kids. Yes, there is resistance sometimes, but you get to meet a lot of great people and see their love for students.

Advice to students: “Take advantage of all you can while in high school.  Explore things in which you truly have an interest.  You will be better prepared as you take the next steps in your career.”

And more …

By working diligently to establish herself as reliable, hard-working and knowledgeable, early in her career, Shannon became a highly valued employee of the State Office of Education. Her reputation enabled her to leverage a high level of flexibility in terms of her contract and work schedule, and ultimately allowed her to successfully balance work and personal roles. Shannon currently works mostly from her home office.

PERSONAL CAREER BRIEF

Introducing… Samuel K. Sondrup

A graduate of … Chattahoochee High School (Georgia)

Now working as … A Certified Technician

For … REI (major outdoor retail store) “I work in a repair shop for bicycle and skis at major outdoor retail store. I have to organize, control, and perform repair work for customers. I also have to do ordering of merchandise for special orders as well as needed inventory.”

Check out this website … http://www.rei.com/

Yearbook was his favorite high school class because … he says he learned how to work effectively as a member of a team to create a great product.

Samuel’s first job – was as a worker at a small shipping/copy center.

The worst job?  Call Center Representative because the hours really dragged and there was nothing stimulating about dealing with a stream of disgruntled customers.

Advice to students … “Work hard at whatever you do, and if you don’t like what you are doing then find a way to change in order to be happy. Making money is great, but life is short and being happy with yourself and with what you do every day is more important.”

And more …

• About Samuel’s high school experience: “I was part of the Yearbook staff for a couple of years as an elective. I learned more about managing and performing to meet a deadline in that class than I did in most of my college courses. I had to be on time with my edited work and follow strict guidelines in order to have our year book published. It also allowed me and my classmates to use our creativity to create what we wanted as a team. As a team we had a diverse group of people that worked together whether they wanted to or not because the project as a whole was way more important than the personal issues that could arise during stressful deadlines. Seeing a finished product great and knowing that you and your classmates worked an entire year to create it was so rewarding.
• About his college experience:  “I would say my Global Marketing Strategy class at USU was my overall best college course for preparing me for real job challenges. The professor was Edwin Stafford and the entire course was a project. It was more or less considered our final project in order to graduate. It was a project that required us to work in groups with people that may or may not be your first choice to work with, and also required communication with people outside our college to complete. It was literally making a marketing proposal for a major corporation.
• About his current job:  ”Although I did not plan on working in retail for as long as I have, it has been great to start out at REI as the lowest man on the totem pole, and become the Certified Technician for one of the largest and most successful REI’s in the country.

PERSONAL CAREER BRIEF

Introducing… Sarah Buttars

A graduate of … Sky View High School

Now working as … A Marketing Director, where she has oversight of marketing budgets and plans, and community relations activities, including ad design and placement, quarterly newsletter writing and design, and administration of the scholarship program. She also represents Western Ag Credit at various industry-related events.

For … Western Ag Credit

Check out the website … http://www.westernagcredit.com

Yearbook was her favorite high school class because … this helped Sarah develop interview and writing skills

Sarah’s first job – milking cows.

Sarah listed milking cows as her worst job as well – though she recognizes the role that early job played in motivating her to get additional education, and the agriculture background continues to be an advantage in her current job. In her words, “I enjoy the opportunity my current job gives me to work in agriculture without the 4:00 a.m. milkings.”

Advice to students … Make sure you choose something that you love doing. Take pride in your work and do it to the best of your ability for your own sense of accomplishment and to ensure you are giving your employer your best work.

And more …

• “Getting up at 4:00 a.m. to go to the milk barn where a plethora of un-pleasantries were possible (getting kicked, crapped on-literally, and freezing in the winter) oftentimes made it [milking cows] something to be endured from my perspective.” 
• My first job after college was “Communications and Special Projects for a company that installed commercial stone exteriors.”
• “Get advanced education! You are limiting your future potential by not receiving additional training/education.”