By Jennifer Merritt
With today’s tough job market, landing a job that has skyrocketing career potential is more important than ever. If you aspire to make it in one of today's four sure-thing fields–education, business, nursing, or culinary arts–it requires more than just hitting the books and taking some tests. Here's a lesson at what you'll learn, and how it can help you secure a lucrative future.
A Lesson in Learning: Education
It may be hard for some students in all majors to graduate in four years these days, but that’s OK in the teaching community, as most programs in the education profession require a five-year commitment: four to earn a bachelor’s degree in an area of focus, such as history or biology, and another year dedicated to a master's degree in the same subject, plus gain some classroom experience.
“It depends on the program, but we believe four years of acquiring a broad education is the best content foundation," explains says Beth Roberts, division chair of education at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Ga. A broad depth of subject matter is important your first four years of school, she elaborates, especially if you plan to work at the early-childhood level, which requires you major in education and learn how to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and science.
“Model for children what it is to be a learner for all your life,” Roberts recommends. Plus, experimenting with classes as an undergraduate may help narrow the focus of your master’s degree.
Such diversity shouldn’t end in that fifth and final year, however. Be sure to observe classrooms at public and private schools, at both wealthy and less well-to-do districts, as the fifth-year teaching program is set up to test-drive your mettle in the classroom, says Roberts At Oglethorpe, students “start with observation and then move into working with small groups,” Roberts says. “Then you’re required to be in charge of everything.”
Preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and secondary school teachers, with the exception of special education, held about 3.8 million jobs in 2004, according the most up-to-date research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The return on investment for such a profession? The BLS cites its most recent data of average annual earnings ranging from $41,400 to $45,920 for kindergarten, elementary, middle and secondary school teachers in 2004. Furthermore, the profession is expected to grow 9 percent to 17 percent through 2014.
A Lesson in Earning: Business
Along with education, which granted 106,000 bachelor’s degrees in 2004, business is one of the largest degrees conferred on graduates, with 307,000 bachelor’s degrees awarded two years ago, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
And it’s no wonder given the breadth of opportunity a business degree can offer, from accounting and administration, to marketing and management. Business can be applied to virtually every profession, so the problem won’t be finding a job when you graduate, it will be figuring out exactly what job you want to do.
For some students, like Sarah McGinnis, earning a MBA is the best way to help distinguish her from other job-seekers. “I have a need to keep developing myself,” says the current MBA student at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ. “I want to have as many doors open to me as possible in the business world. I never want to be applying for a position and be cut just because I didn't have a master’s degree.”
A class McGinnis took in pursuit of this degree further cemented a goal she knew she wanted to fulfill: becoming an expatriate in a managerial role for her current job at ADP, a paycheck processing company. On a study trip to India, McGinnis learned about business, religion, culture, and politics in a country completely different from her home in the United States.
“It taught me to appreciate more in life and to have a greater understanding of the world and how countries interact with each other,” she says. “Currently, my job does not involve a global aspect, but I’m aiming for an international position that this class positioned me for excellently.”
To find your niche, McGinnis recommends picking your passions and researching jobs that fall in line with those loves. “A business degree can open the door to many positions and earn you a lot more money,” she says, “but if you’re not happy with what you’re doing, there's no point.”
A Lesson in Healing: Nursing
The employment of registered nurses is expected grow much faster than average—that’s 27 percent or more—through 2014, according to the BLS. And that demand reflects in the organization’s most recent salary data culled from two years ago. Hospital nurses earned an average of $53,450, while home health nurses and those in physician offices and nursing care facilities earned just over $48,000—quite high salaries for a profession that allows you to apply for work after earning your associate’s degree in two years.
Three major educational paths exist in becoming a registered nurse: A four-year trek to a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing (BSN); a two-year fast track to an associate degree in nursing (ADN); and a diploma offered by hospitals, earned in three years. In 2004, 674 nursing programs offered degrees at the bachelor’s level and 846 RN programs granted associate degrees, according to recent BLS data.
However, carefully consider how far you’ll want to go with your nursing degree, as some career paths are open only to nurses with a bachelor’s or master’s degree. According to the BLS, a bachelor’s degree is often a prerequisite for admission to graduate nursing programs in research, consulting, and teaching, as well as all four advanced practice nursing specialties—clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners. Furthermore, completing a bachelor’s degree gives you four years of training in such areas as communication, leadership and critical thinking, all of which become more important as nursing becomes more complex, the BLS said.
However, the supply of professors of nursing programs does not currently meet student demand, making entry into such programs competitive. Three out of four schools cited an insufficient number of faculty as the primary reason for rejecting students, according to annual survey data from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (Note to MSN: Link to the "Health Scare" article?)
As a result, schools are finding creative ways to combat the problem. Nursing students can now expect technological savvy in their hands-on classroom experiences. “We use MediaSite, which allows for rich media recordings,” says Bill Havice, Ph.D. and associate dean for academic support services and undergraduate services for the College of Health Education and Human Development at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. This enables professors to record their lectures, which students can play back seamlessly online when they wish to refresh.
A Lesson in Creation: Culinary Arts
“The culinary profession is becoming stronger and stronger every year," says Thomas McKeown, a culinary arts graduate of Providence, R.I.-based Johnson & Wales University, pursuing his master's in culinary teaching at the university. In 2004, chefs, cooks and food preparation workers held nearly 3.1 million jobs, according to the most recent data from the BLS.
Pursuing a culinary degree no longer automatically sets you on the path to chef-dom, however, McKeown says, who hopes to one day own a foods-of-the-world restaurant and then go on to teach. “There is such a huge opportunity, from food marketing to photography to food writing,” he says. “You can become a corporate trainer for McDonald’s or Longhorn Steakhouse. You can go into food service management and become a food and beverage manager. There’s a huge opportunity out there.”
In fact, the majority of culinary arts schools offers diverse concentrations in areas like nutrition, pastry arts and hospitality management. , Whether you want to slice and dice, or cook up a food-related business career, you can study at one of the 100+ formal culinary training and apprenticeship programs exist around the country, which typically include classroom training and work experience, cites the American Culinary Federation.
Since graduating from Johnson & Wales University in 2001 with a dual degree in culinary arts and nutrition, registered dietician Natalia Rusin is an example of that immense opportunity that awaits culinary graduates. Among other jobs, she has worked as a restaurant chef and a nutritionist at a program for children with eating disorders. Rusin now works as a culinary development and nutrition specialist at CulinArt, a Long Island-based national boutique dining services company.
“I’ve had so many different jobs—some in the culinary area, some in nutrition–but this job at CulinArt is the first where I’m using both my skills as a chef and as a registered dietician,” she says. “I have a passion for nutrition and I have a passion for food, so there’s so many different areas I can pursue.”
With so many options, Rusin recommends taking advantage of every experience you can, whether inside or outside the classroom, to determine what works best for you. (That's why, in addition to her day job, she also moonlights as a personal chef in Manhattan, NY.)
In fact, the most important aspect of these majors is their unlimited potential. Sure, a degree in molecular hydraulics sounds interesting, but maintaining a broad focus across your major gives you the diversified skills needed to stand out in today’s competitive job market. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a degree that pays off?