February 16, 2015
Helping your child decide the best route for him or her is challenging. With so many colleges and majors, it can become overwhelming. However, there are ways that you can help your student gain the proper skills to become successful in his or her life and career.
With more than 3.5 million jobs left unfilled in the U.S. right now, your child has a lot of opportunity to find a suitable career. Nicholas Wyman, author of “Job U: How to Find Wealth and Success by Developing the Skills Companies Actually Need” and founder of the Institute for Workplace Skills & Innovation, has found that most these available jobs require skills that aren’t necessarily taught in a university classroom. “Instead, they lie in the myriad of educational options that provide the technical vocations and soft skills on demand in today’s workplace,” Wyman explains. “This includes professional certifications, associate’s degrees, apprenticeships and occupational learning.”
In that way, it is important that your child get more than just a great education. He or she also needs to find an opportunity that allows for a lot of experience — both within the classroom and outside of it.
Wyman’s own career path started with a chef apprenticeship. Although he learned cooking skills, his apprenticeship gave him a sense of pride and ownership in his work. “It was this experience that gave me the foundation — and confidence — to pursue a master’s in business administration,” he describes, “I still use all of the skills in my day-to-day work running IWSI Consulting.”
