Table Of ContentTHE BUSINESS Creating a Pathway to Your K Human Resource Management and
U
EXPERT PRESS C Organizational Behavior Collection
Dream Career H
DIGITAL LIBRARIES A
Designing and Controlling a Career R Jean Phillips and Stan Gully, Editors
V
Y
EBOOKS FOR Around Your Life Goals
BUSINESS STUDENTS
Tom Kucharvy
Curriculum-oriented, born-
digital books for advanced What do you want your life to be like when you’re 25? 35? 55? Do
business students, written you want a job that will feed you and your family or do you want Creating a
by academic thought a career that will be an integral part of your life—a career that
leaders who translate real- will feed your passions, enable the lifestyle you choose, and be a
world business experience continual source of engagement and pride? Pathway to Your
into course readings and But do you really have the luxury of even considering your
reference materials for dream job in an era in which more than 40 percent of college grad-
students expecting to tackle uates can’t even get jobs that require college degrees, much less
C Dream Career
management and leadership jobs in their field? Not only should you think about your dream R
E
challenges during their job—you owe it to yourself to do so. You just need a plan. This book A
T
professional careers. will help you develop that plan by first examining how the careers I
N
of the future will differ from those of the past, where these jobs G
POLICIES BUILT and careers will and won’t be, and the range of skills (many of A Designing and
BY LIBRARIANS P
which are not taught in schools) they will require. With this con- A
T
• Unlimited simultaneous text, it then lays out a three-stage, 20-step plan that will help you: H Controlling a Career
usage W
• Objectively assess and develop your skills and align them with A
• Unrestricted downloading your passions Y
and printing T
• Assess the career opportunities that will best utilize these O Around Your Life
• Perpetual access for a Y
one-time fee skills in pursuit of your passion O
U
• No platform or • Expand your career options and hedge your bets by identifying R Goals
maintenance fees complementary “safety careers” D
R
• Free MARC records • Evaluate your post-high school education options and create an E
A
• No license to execute education plan that is best suited to you and your career choice M
The Digital Libraries are a • Prioritize the factors you should consider in targeting your CA
comprehensive, cost-effective critical first career-track job and use that job to expand your RE
long-term career options E
way to deliver practical R
Tom Kucharvy
treatments of important Tom Kucharvy has an undergraduate degree in philosophy and
business issues to every graduate degrees in business, law, and interdisciplinary studies
student and faculty member. (economics, political science, business and law) from Syracuse
University and University of Chicago. He worked for five years as
an attorney in a large corporation, four years as an IT industry
market strategist and consultant in a small firm, and has more
For further information, a than 20 years as an entrepreneur—creating, building, and selling
free trial, or to order, contact: his own IT marketing consulting company.
[email protected] Human Resource Management and
www.businessexpertpress.com/librarians Organizational Behavior Collection
Jean Phillips and Stan Gully, Editors
ISBN: 978-1-60649-898-9
Creating a Pathway to
Your Dream Career
Creating a Pathway to
Your Dream Career
Designing and Controlling a
Career Around Your Life Goals
Tom Kucharvy
Creating a Pathway to Your Dream Career: Designing and Controlling a
Career Around Your Life Goals
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2014.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other
except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
First published in 2014 by
Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-898-9 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-899-6 (e-book)
Business Expert Press Human Resource Management and Organizational
Behavior Collection
Collection ISSN: 1946-5637 (print)
Collection ISSN: 1946-5645 (electronic)
Cover and interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd.,
Chennai, India
First edition: 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
To
My parents for encouraging me to identify and pursue my own dreams
My wife, Joyce, for being my partner in fulfilling my dreams and the dreams
we created together
My former managers and clients for shaping and enabling my previous
career dreams
Jim Spohrer for providing the spark that helped me crystalize
and begin on the path to my next dream—helping students create
their own career destinies
Abstract
What do you want your life to be like when you’re 25? 35? 55? Do you
want a job that will feed you and your family or do you want a career that
will be an integral part of your life—a career that will feed your passions,
enable the lifestyle you choose, and be a continual source of engagement
and pride?
But do you really have the luxury of even considering your dream job
in an era in which more than 40 percent of college graduates can’t even
get jobs that require college degrees, much less jobs in their field? Or can
you even afford to go to college at all?
Not only should you think about your dream job—you owe it to
yourself to do so. First, if done properly, the very process of deciding
upon and preparing for your dream job can dramatically improve your
employability, expand your employment options, and increase the value
you can provide your employer or your clients. Better yet, you can apply
this same process through your entire career, as your interests and life
goals continually evolve.
Preparing for your dream job, however, requires much more than
dreaming about the type of job that will make you happy. It also requires
an objective evaluation of your strengths and limitations, a careful eval-
uation of the type of post-high school education that is best suited to
you, and your specific career objectives and proactive management of
your education to ensure that you develop the skills and personality
traits you will need not just for your first job, but for your future careers
and your life. And speaking of jobs, it requires a full understanding of
the employment prospects and requirements for jobs in your field and
intense focus on developing the skills that will be required to give you an
advantage in getting that job. It also needs a contingency plan, including
selection of and preparation for a safety career.
A lot of work? Sure it is. And if all you want is a job—any job—you
don’t have to worry about it. But if you want a career (or multiple careers)
that will engage your passions and put you in control of your life, you
need a plan. And you need one now.
viii ABSTRACT
This book will help you develop that plan. It begins by examining
how the careers of the future will differ from those of the past, where these
jobs and careers will and won’t be, and the range of skills (many of which
are not taught in schools) they will require. With this context, it then lays
out a three-stage, 20-step plan that will help you:
• identify and prioritize your interests and passions;
• objectively assess and develop your skills and align them with
your passions;
• assess the career opportunities that will best utilize your skills
in pursuit of your passion;
• expand your career options and hedge your bets by identify-
ing complementary safety careers;
• evaluate your post-high school education options and create
an education plan that is best suited to you and your career
choice; and
• prioritize the factors you should consider in targeting your
critical first career-track job and use that job to expand your
long-term career options.
Most importantly, it will show you how to take responsibility for
defining your own dream; for identifying your own career objectives; for
ensuring that you develop the skills and get the education required to
achieve these objectives; and for managing your own career.
This is as it should be. After all, if you don’t take responsibility for
your dream, your career, and your life, who will?
Keywords
career planning, college planning, education planning, job prospects,
jobs of the future, skills requirements, three-stage plan, 20-step plan
Contents
Introduction ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi
Chapter 1 T ransformation of the U.S. Jobs Market ............................1
Chapter 2 W hy the Jobs of Tomorrow Won’t Be Like Those
of Today ..........................................................................21
Chapter 3 Th e Skills You Will Need for Tomorrow’s High-Skill
Careers ............................................................................53
Chapter 4 T wenty Steps to Your Dream Career ................................81
Chapter 5 D iscovering Your Passions, Your Skills, and Yourself:
Steps 1 and 2 ...................................................................93
Chapter 6 C rafting Your Career Goals and Your Professional
Brand: Steps 3 Through 10 ............................................113
Chapter 7 Th e College Conundrum: Steps 10 Through 12 ............141
Chapter 8 Th e College Equation: Steps 10 Through 14 ..................161
Chapter 9 A lternative Ways of Getting an Advanced Education:
Steps 10 Through 14 .....................................................205
Chapter 10 Y our First Job as Launchpad for a Lifelong Career:
Steps 15 Through 20 .....................................................239
Chapter 11 Y ou CAN Have It All, But You Will Have
to Work for It ................................................................269
About the Author ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������289
Notes..................................................................................................291
References �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������301
Index �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������321
