Homework: Career Plan
Instructions
The purpose of this homework is to prepare you for the next step after you have earned your undergraduate degree. This multi-step project involves planning for alternatives.
Here are the steps you will take to complete this homework:
I. Section I: Salary Discussion: Look up the job you are interested in having in the future. Make sure you notice the salaries and whether they differ by state.
II. Section II: Graduate School or Marketability- If this position requires a graduate degree, look up the cost of different graduate programs to determine what is the highest and lowest cost of this graduate degree. Discuss the cost and the time it will take to complete a graduate degree if this career/job requires it. Includewhether you are willing to take the economic risk of going to graduate school? If it does not require a graduate degree, discussed in this section how they can improve their marketability while they're earning their bachelor's degree? For example, internships, volunteering, etc. How can they obtain these opportunities while at FIU?
III. Section III: Research your Parallel Plan: Now, imagine if your ideal career ceases to exist. Perhaps the robots can do it now, or you are unable to get the degree needed to be eligible for that job, or maybe it becomes obsolete for some other reason. You will need to create a parallel or alternate plan. To do so, you will first identify your career-related interests, abilities, values, and goals.
Your parallel plan should be a different career than the original career goal you had in mind. If your plan is to go into a healthcare profession, your parallel plan should be a career goal outside of the healthcare field. For example, if your career goal is to become a doctor then your parallel plan can be to become a school counselor for the K-12 school system. This way you are exploring and learning about diverse career options that can be a great fit for you.
Think about the following questions (this is brain storming part- you do not need to include this in the paper):
1) Why am I interested in pursuing (insert your top choice major here)?
2) What do I like most about my current major of interest?
3) What classes have I performed well in and what classes have I disliked or struggled with the most?
4) What specific careers interest me and why?
5) What types of work environments do I prefer?
6) What companies would I love to work for and what is my dream job?
7) Explore different Majors within your Academic Unit, College, School, etc.
8) Look up job opportunities that can be done with the same degree you are earning now. Take note of the fact that the alternate job you're interested in requires a different degree and consider if you'd be willing to go back to school for another degree.
9) Pay attention to the job salaries for these alternate jobs/careers.
IV. Section IV: Parallel Plan - Create your parallel plan. When developing a parallel plan, answer the following questions in your plan: (REQUIRED)
1) Are there any common courses between my current major of interest and my alternative major choice?
2) What courses differ between these majors?
3) Are there any application requirements or admission standards that I should know about?
V. Once you have completed all of the above steps, you will prepare document you will be submitting. The document must have the following four sections:
1) Current job Salary Discussion
2) Graduate School or Marketability
3) A one-pageresume ready for applying to the job you are interested in pursuing currently.
4) Discuss your parallel plan with the alternate job(s) you might pursue instead. Specifically, identify and mention what that job/career would be and discuss why you chose it. You must answer the questions included in step 5 above, and feel free to include other questions you considered in the steps above while developing your parallel plan. Make sure you include what the salaries are and if they differ by city, state or region. Discuss whether you would or would not be willing to go back to school to get the degree or courses required for the alternate job (or if you can complete these requirements currently while earning your current degree). Finally, discuss how job application and resume writing might be different (if at all) with this alternate job versus the current job you are planning on pursuing.
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
(1) The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
(2) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
(3) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.