Career College Zone

When I was in my junior and senior years of high school, the guidance counselors started coming around to all of our classrooms and giving us career aptitude tests.  The idea was to help us prepare for college by giving us a better idea of what we might like to go to college for in the first place.

If you are considering going to college, or perhaps going back to school, but don’t know yet what you want to study, you can take these tests even if you aren’t in high school or (if you are) don’t have conscientious guidance counselors.  There are plenty of career aptitutde tests online that you can take for free.

Basically, the idea of a career aptitude test is to highlight in which industries you might be most interested in working.  They don’t tell you a specific career you should pursue, but they identify the areas that you are most interested in.

For instance, if you enjoy working with your hands, a career aptitude test will note this, and provide you with a list of careers that should interest you: auto mechanics, woodworking, HVAC, etc.  On the other hand, if you are interested in math, the test might suggest careers in the financial sector, such as banking or investing.

Once you get the results and identify a general direction for your career, it is up to you to find out what education will set you on that path.  Usually college admissions counselors can help you with this.  For instance, if you want to be a mortgage broker, they can tell you what mortgage training is necessary for SAFE mortgage licensing.

However, it is important not to expect miracles from a career aptitude test.  Because the test is self-reporting — that is, it is based on the answers YOU give — it can only make sense of what you already know (even if you don’t realize you know it) by making generalizations about what jobs you might enjoy or be good at.

Technorati Tags: career aptitude test, mortgage training, SAFE mortgage licensing

My office is a complete mess. It doesn’t necessarily look like a mess to the clients that come into it. I keep the clutter under control. But underneath the calm exterior is a pile of chaos. My files are in disarray. I have ten thousand things on my To Do list. And I feel like I’m never going to get out from under this mess.

I’m thinking seriously about hiring someone to help me get organized. I think that this would do two things:

1. Motivate me to make a thorough To Do list. The list is long but it is only a mental list. I need to put down everything on paper from updating my computer software to sending out my college diploma frame for updated diploma framing. Then I can see what really needs to be done.
2. Get assistance in actually doing these things. I just can’t do it all myself. It’s never going to get taken care of unless I neglect my clients in the process. I need to delegate these tasks to someone else.

I don’t know if I can justify the expense of hiring someone for this job. However, I don’t know if I can justify not doing it either!

Technorati Tags: college diploma frame, diploma framing