Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A good type of "Bait & Switch"

Recently, I had a conversation with a group of high-school students. One of them wanted to go into nursing because she loves counseling people to better health and a lot of people she knew went into nursing. When I asked her if she has ever considered being a psychologist, she didn't know what a "Psychologist" does. By the time I finished talking about different career options for someone with her passion, she was more interested in being a psychologist than a nurse.

In my humble opinion, colleges/institutions of higher education should make a concerted effort to engage in a good type of "bait & switch" that benefits students. Reel them into college for degrees that they thought they wanted to get, i.e. nursing, accounting, etc. Then expose them to new and/or growing career fields that are not as common, yet in high demand and in line with their interests.

Why is this necessary? 

Students from low-income families may not have the access to career advice that their more fortunate friends may have. Unless they know someone who works in say, the Supply Chain Management industry, they wouldn't have a clue that such a career option exists and that they have what it takes to do a great job in that career field. 

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