Tag: Career Exploration

Careers in Heart Health

In the past couple of years, we have seen just how important our healthcare workers are. Since it is American Heart Month, we’d like to shed some light on the healthcare careers that work with the heart.

The name for this field specifically is called cardiology. Cardi (without the B) is the Greek word for heart and ology means the study of. For those of you that exercise, you may do some cardio exercises. This means the purpose of doing cardio is to get our hearts pumping.

As we all know, the heart is one of the most important organs in the body. Due to its importance, there is a whole sector of health careers dedicated to helping us keep our hearts healthy and strong. If you are interested in the health field, I would encourage you to look into cardiology as well.

Here is a shortlist of cardiac careers with a Certificate or 2-year degree:

  • EKG Technician – Also known as electrocardiograph technicians, these medical professionals use EKG equipment to monitor blood pressure and heart performance.
  • Cardiovascular Technician – They use electrocardiograms, Holter monitors, blood pressure tests, and stress tests to assess patients’ heart health and identify what is causing their symptoms.
  • Medical Sonographer – Medical sonographers use ultrasonic imaging machines to capture images of various organs and body parts, such as the heart and lungs.

This next set of careers require a bachelor’s degree or higher:

  • Cardiology Consultant – Cardiology consultants collaborate with other health care professionals to develop treatment plans for patients.
  • Cardiac Nurse – A cardiac nurse works alongside other members of a cardiology team to monitor their patients’ progress, answer their questions and keep them comfortable.
  • Cardiology Physician – AKA cardiologist cardiology physician finds, treats, and prevents diseases related to the cardiovascular system.

These are only a few of the careers that work with the heart. If you find any of these careers interesting, continue to do more research on these careers and more. Some of the best colleges for cardiac careers in North Carolina are Duke University, Wake Forest, UNC Chapel Hill, ECU, and NC State.

Why Does Personality Type Matter When Choosing a Career?

The internet is booming with articles about how Gen-Zers will transform the workforce. This will happen as they bring their technology talents and desires for financial security to their workplace. Blair Decembrele’s article, “The Job-Hopping Generation: Young Professionals on the Move,” suggests that Gen-Zers are three times more likely to change jobs than people from other generations. Twenty percent of them that are already out of college are averaging four more jobs within the short amount of time they have been in the workforce. Compare this to baby boomers who averaged about two jobs in the past ten years. 

Career pivoting can be a good idea. It suggests that young workers are hungry to learn and have access to new opportunities. So what does that mean for students who are still in high school? You may end up making a career pivot later on in life. But, why not have a clear idea of what career paths might suit you before deciding on a school or degree? 

Knowing your personality type, aptitudes, values, and interests ahead of time could save you time and money. It may prevent you from declaring the wrong major or attending the wrong school. Some argue that personality type is the most important factor when choosing a career. In large part, it is. Personality type is something to take into serious consideration when choosing a career. Yet, you should also understand what your values, interests, and aptitudes are. 

There are plenty of free personality inventories you can take online. After taking a personality test, you will have a better understanding of how you perceive the world. You will know whether you get your energy from being around people or from being alone. Choose a career that fits your personality type! Steve Jobs once quoted, “ … the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” A lot goes into choosing the career that you will love, but knowing your personality type is a great way to start!

Why Career Exploration?

Do You Want to save TIME, MONEY & ANXIETY?  Then keep on reading. 

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What do you want to be when you grow up?  …. Relatively harmless question, but for some it causes a lot of stress.  Which ultimately leads to putting off the question or not really thinking about it. 

Before anyone has a panic attack and needs to go practice stress-relieving techniques, let’s look at a few words in the question. 

WHAT do YOU WANT to be WHEN you grow up?   English teachers forgive me.  My new question is:   What you want when? 

WHAT – What a loaded question.  Do you want a job that you can show up daily, leave without worry that gives you a paycheck to get basic necessities?  Are you thinking long-term for a career that has a path for growth and development? 

YOU – Unique, only you can answer.  You might look to others for advice or guidance but no two paths are identical and the career/job you choose and how you obtain that role is unique to you.   Look at this circle chart.  Note that you are at the center.  All of the surrounding factors have an impact on your choice.  Personality, Skills, Values and Interests.

WANT – Want verses need.  That is the difference between Job and Career.  I need, shelter, water, food, transportation.  I want a lifestyle, relationships, a home, travel and life experiences.  What you want to have will drive your decision-making process. (I tell my students to look up careers and jobs on Salary.com to see how much they might make in a specific job/career.  The answer you find will drive some decisions.)

WHEN – Timing is everything.  Most adults struggle with answering these questions.  Let me really blow your mind…I want middle and high school students to start thinking about career choices.

Let’s be clear, I know very well that 11 – 13-year old students have no idea what job or career that they are going to have for the rest of their life.  In fact a high % of people will change jobs several times before they are in their thirties.  This is the time for our students to start learning about themselves.  My question to a student breaks this down a little better. 

  1. What do you like to do? (Interests)
  2. What are you good at? (Skills)
  3. What is important to you? (Values)
  4. How do you work?  (Personality)

The internet is full of free career assessment tools.  A few I like are https://scholarmatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Career-Interest-Survey.pdf https://www.ucango2.org/publications/student/Career_Interest_Survey.pdf

J  So I started this blog with a simple question, “Why career exploration?”  Because it can save you time, money and years of frustration and anxiety.  Read Next week’s blog to find out how you can help your student Explore Careers.