Using an online career assessment, job shadowing and internships, we guide students through the process of narrowing down their college major and career choices.
It’s a tough decision for teenagers: deciding what to ‘be’ when they grow up. Some have some ideas, but don’t know how to narrow them down. Others are content with picking the same profession as mom or dad without checking to ensure if also fits their personality, their strengths, their preferences.
As a college consultant, I help students narrow down those career planning options, and thus, their college major options as well. This service is included in all of the high school consulting packages, or can be arranged as a separate service (billed hourly), including:
- An online career and personality assessment through YouScience. Unlike the formal, hours-long paper and pencil tests of the past, this online quiz assesses the student’s interests and strengths against hundreds of careers. YouScience uses psychometrically-valid brain games to uncover users’ natural talents, then combine those aptitude measures with interests to generate the YouScience Profile. Within their Profile, users can explore their aptitudes, review personalized career matches, and develop affirming language to better highlight their assets in interviews and resumes.
- Another career analysis, including The Learning Style Inventory, Multiple Intelligences Advantage, and ‘Do What You Are’ test is available for package clients, which identifies students’ personality type traits and the careers that best suit them. Human eSources is one of the industry’s foremost providers of online assessments and personal development products, which has been helping people achieve greater success in their academic, professional and personal lives for nearly 15 years.
- Schedule a meeting with a professional in one of the chosen fields. This usually works the best with “desk jobs” such as engineers, financial managers and administrators/managers. Students can ask questions, learn more about the career and meet a contact for any concerns in the future. This can be listed as an informational meeting on student resume or college applications.
- Arrange for an informal day or week of job shadowing or an internship with a professional in the chosen field. While internships are customized for students and businesses, they usually consist of an individual project, such as social media campaigns, presentations, or customer research.
- Suggest summer internship programs for students through private programs or through universities such as Yale’s High School Tech Program or Stanford’s Pre-Med Program for High School Students.
- These career planning activities can be listed on student resume and college applications. They are also extremely useful for students writing the essays about why they picked their major or the steps they’ve taken to prepare for their college major.
Brand College Consulting networks with other professionals in the area to make connections with professionals who are encouraging and open to assisting students today. I have arranged meetings with engineers, hospital administrators, financial analysts, IT specialists and lawyers. I’ve also arranged internships with graphic design firms, website developers, non-profits, veterinarian offices, and business professionals.
These professionals are tremendously helpful to students seeking insight into the careers and they also serve as a potential source for a letter of recommendation once the student starts applying for colleges and scholarships!
Students or parents can contact me to set up your FREE consultation to discuss your specific situation and needs.
Businesses can use this form to complete a questionnaire to request a high school student for a summer internship or job shadowing experience.
