Get a degree and get the job of your dreams, right? Sure, promises, promises. Well I’ve got to tell you that I’m worried about the promises colleges make to attract students. And while I’m not referring to all colleges and universities I am specifically concerned about the growing number of private for profit colleges that want you to believe that they will successfully help you attain your first career job. With more than 30 years in the field of staffing and career management I have real difficulty with this kind of promise. Quite honestly folks, I know better. My experience tells me over and over again that, even in the best of times, no one, not even a college, can make a promise of employment. And this is especially critical information for a parent or independent student who is in the process of making a decision as important as purchasing a college education. In short you need to carefully examine the school and listen carefully to what their admission people are telling you.
You see, most often private for profit colleges aggressively reach out for students without any specific requirements other than the ability to pay or to qualify for financing. And, along with a few minor high school grade requirements that show one has college potential, just about anyone can attend. So as a result be aware there are those sales types that will lead you on with promises about you or your child’s post college future. And let me be very clear that those who enter college with little or no specific career goals, another way of saying I don’t know what I want to do with my life, leave themselves open to even greater promises made by those sales people. The very existence of these types of institutions is to offer alternatives and hope to those who aren’t really sure of what the future holds for them. Of course it would be unfair not to mention that there are those who have graduated from these schools and gone on to great jobs but it is equally important to know that there are others who wallow in the disappointment of the reality they’ve found after graduation.
Let’s look at that reality though and remember that our economy today, as well as the resulting job market, is in dire straits. And though there is always a need for the specialty careers; doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, the facts are that a large majority of graduates are pooled together in a more general category called business, one that is dismal at best. That’s where the types of colleges I’m describing play a role in making you believe that they have the answer to your future. “We’ll find you your career job,” they say with a convincing tone that has you wanting to start class immediately.
Ah, if only it were true. If only those who were talking to you and/or your parents, about your life’s plans, were the right ones. That’s correct, I’m saying that these schools have you talking with the wrong people. What you really want is to talk with a representative from the school’s career services department. One who deals with the job market on a daily basis and who can provide you with answers to your career questions. Someone who can even help you decide on a major. A career counselor can tell you, from experience, what his or her clients are looking for and can provide up to date job market information. And of course there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding or confusion when, nearing the end of your years at school, you and your career counselor worked together to help you reach your career goals. Expectations would be clearly defined as you worked toward your degree with confidence and your career with excitement. But alas it’s not possible. Instead of talking to those who really know and who can provide you with a more realistic look at the job market, you most often end up talking to an admission representative bent on selling you a seat in your first class.
Still in light of what I’ve said I believe private for profit colleges are among the best institutions for learning and career preparation. They provide some of the best instructors who, with real world experiences, impart life lesson learning and industry expertise in a more user friendly, personal environment. So my suggestion is to evaluate these institutions, not with their promises of job placement, but with the quality of the education you’ll receive and your potential to build a future as a result. And whatever your choice for a major make it one that you’ll enjoy, one that you know will benefit your knowledge base and not one that promises you the kind of job placement that only vocational training can offer. There is a difference.
So my friends think twice before you sign up with any college that promises you more than they can deliver. No one has the right to offer you information that deceives you about the end result. And of course that’s where we started didn’t we, the promise of a career job?
Here’s something to remember:
Potential shows itself as a result of what you have learned.
And that’s why you go to school, to learn.
And when you get your first job you will continue to learn and eventually be productive.
When that happens you can proudly say your career has taken off.
Then you continue to learn.
