By Alonzo Meza/reporter
The right career might be as close as bumping into someone, NW Campus students learned recently.
Dr. Shelly Calvin, NW counselor, and Tracy Williams, NW career and employment coordinator, presented What Do I Want to be When I Grow Up March 30.
To begin the presentation, they showed a video about a university student telling everyone he is not sure of his major. He then realizes he wants to major in recreational therapy.
“The career of your dreams may be right in front of you without you knowing,” Calvin said.
On the clip, the student finds his calling when bumping into another student and picking up a recreational therapy pamphlet.
The student decides recreational therapy is the right career choice for him and doesn’t care if his friends make fun of him because he loves what he does and loves to help people.
This short clip, made by college students with home video cameras, can be found on YouTube.com under the title “I want to major in recreational therapy.”
Williams encouraged students to study job duties closely. She used as an example the tasks of a Las Vegas casino manager.
Without telling the students the job title, Williams listed the job duties and other job descriptions of the position. She asked the audience members to stand up and then sit down every time they didn’t like one thing in the job description.
At the end of the exercise, only three people out of 25 were standing. When she had first said the job position, everyone wanted to be a casino manager until they heard the job description.
Williams said the exercise showed that students should not randomly pick a job. Instead, they should research it and know the job duties.
Williams and Calvin then talked about O*Net, an online career search tool.
In O*Net, people can type in any job position along with their ZIP code, and the site will provide the basic description and some requirements for a particular position.
“The O*Net Web site is a good, helpful Web site,” Calvin said. “This will help you a lot in your career choice.”
Calvin and Williams said O*Net and Salary.com also can offer information on how much money one would make in certain positions.
“Salary.com can inform you on the salary of the career you’re seeking,” Calvin said. “Just type in your ZIP code and job position and it should give you an average salary pay.”
Calvin said previous employment could also help someone decide on a career choice. For example, if someone likes to deal with people and money, maybe working at a retail store is the right field.
Another way to find a career, Calvin said, is through volunteer work. Once people see the volunteer enjoying the work, they will hire that person, who would probably be good at the job because he/she would already have some experience.
Calvin said many employers would hire a volunteer or intern before any other applicant because the volunteer has experience, and the employer doesn’t have to train this particular candidate.
Williams and Calvin also discussed TCC’s core curriculum, which allows students to get their basic classes cheaper at TCC and then transfer to a four-year university. They said it has benefits and has helped many students.
Student Melissa Cantu said she benefited from what Calvin and Williams said.
“I learned a lot from this presentation,” she said. ”It gave me a lot to think about my personal life and made me geared up for the future and career goals.”
Another student, Dolores Arredondo, said the workshop was interesting.
“I learned a lot also from the TCC core program and different courses offered at TCC,” she said. “It helped me get ready for the future and make a career choice.”
