The recession has guided Americans’ decisions about travel, health care and even what brand of soda to purchase. So it makes sense that, as the country has shed some 3.6 million jobs during this recession, college students and academic advisers are increasingly engaging in recession-proof career planning.
Today, more students are stepping onto campuses with early questions about where their education will fit, says Charlie Nutt, executive director of the National ACademic ADvising Association.
He says the role of academic adviser has evolved to not only understand what majors exist but to understand the concept of career development. He identifies a growing trend of stronger collaboration between the academic advising and career development centers on college campuses. In some cases the centers have merged.
“I think students who are coming in are having those discussions (about future employment) and are having them more than they have in the past,” Nutt says.
Students’ fixation on the future has changed the way schools help them prepare for the next step. “Advising has changed to encourage students to think about skills for the future and to anticipate jobs that may surface by the time they graduate,” Nutt says. “It’s not so much the major as it is the skills and the abilities that you leave college with.”
Many recession-proof careers don’t require four years and thousands of dollars worth of education. CNN.com names pharmaceuticals, Internet sales, information technology and accounting among the most in-demand jobs. And according to the Robert Half International Salary Guide, office training and administration is the most in-demand skill of 2009. Education for these careers can largely be obtained by securing an associate degree or certificate from a community college or vocational school.
Because President Barack Obama’s stimulus package has generated a demand for jobs in the industries of science and technology, community colleges and vocational schools have seen record enrollment as Americans seek the swift and specific education needed to secure such jobs, Community College Times reports.
