Are career assessments really useful?
Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens. Research careers using career assessments. (OK, it doesn’t rhyme. I never claimed to be a poet.) Career assessment tools are abundant online. They can be super helpful in directing you toward careers of interest. However, given that the internet is literally a place where anybody can publish anything, […]
You can’t avoid career uncertainty
Several times this year, I’ve seen a thing going around social media. I don’t want to call it a meme, because I associate memes with sarcasm and puns, but it’s that flavour of social media post. It’s an image that says something in the vein of, we’re not all in the same boat. We’re in […]
Starting to panic about PSE decisions? Try this unorthodox tip.
For plenty of high school students, post-secondary application deadlines loom and they still have no idea where to apply. What do you do if you (or your kid) fall into this camp? Perhaps it has come down to application time and you are completely lost as to what to do next. What should you do? […]
University: not the only game in town
I know this is going to come as a shock, but if you’re starting to explore post-secondary options right now, it bears repeating: University is not the only option you have after high school. That’s right, I said it. It’s out there, in black and white. There’s a prevailing assumption that a university degree is […]
PSE stumbling blocks that you never knew existed
Have you thought about the stumbling blocks you may encounter in college or university? When you’re in high school, the focus is on getting in to the program. You worry about meeting admission requirements and getting all your transcripts and documentation in on time. You will likely ask about career opportunities available to grads. You […]
In-person research through COVID-style campus visits
Continuing on the October theme of how to effectively explore PSE, let’s take a look at campus visits. Should you take the time to visit the schools that you’re applying to? ABSOLUTELY YES. You’re about to drop a lot of money and you’ll be spending a lot of time there, so I would highly recommend […]
How WIL you explore PSE?
Here in Ontario, as the furnaces light up and the leaves fall down, our colleges and universities are opening up their application cycles for the 2021-2022 school year. Over the next month, these posts will highlight key questions to ask and elements to examine while you explore your options for post-secondary education. Today’s topic: work […]
Someday your degree won’t matter
I’m a big fan of unorthodox thinking when it comes to careers (you may have noticed). So here’s another counter-intuitive idea to mull over: someday, your degree isn’t going to matter. I had a really interesting conversation with a couple of business owners way back last fall at a networking event. We were joking about […]
Think of the end
We are right around the corner from the start of the new school year. (I mean, it’ll be the weirdest school year start in decades, but it’s coming in a couple of weeks nonetheless.) September typically brings a sense of new beginnings, and so I wanted to share something about endings as a counter-balance. Some […]
Online learning into the future
Where is the COVID shutdown leaving high school grads when it comes to next steps? While out on a recent hike, I happened to overhear a conversation between a high school teacher and her friends. The teacher expressed her frustration at the (very) low number of her Grade 12 students who had actually participated in […]