Following an Unknown Path

I was looking around LinkedIn which is a tool I use in my recruiting work. I find people very interesting so, naturally, if I find someone interesting, I read about them. Sometimes that can be a total timesink......but I still do it ;-)  Nicole Griffin has traveled an unusual road from high school to her current career.

Why do I find her so interesting?  Because she has truly embraced following an unknown career path and made some unique choices along the way. I found Nicole so interesting that I contacted her and asked if she could spare some time chatting with me about those choices and how she got where she is now. She graciously agreed!

Nicole attended a private high school in Northern California. She got good grades. Took AP classes. Had a 3.85 GPA when she graduated. 

I wanted to know if there was a teacher or counselor who had a huge influence on her. Yes, she had some really good teachers but her opinion of her school counselor surprised me and, yet, it didn't. It surprised me because private schools are actually willing to pay for counselors who work with students to help them get into college. Every school wants to show that a high percentage of their students go on to college, especially private high schools. What didn't surprise me was that Nicole felt her counselor was ineffective. Her word. Not mine. 

She felt that no one gave her the opportunity to choose whether or not to go to college. The counselor was there to focus/guide her on the path to college. Looking back on it, Nicole thinks that there are a lot of teens who aren't mature enough right out of high school, to go to college right away. She likes the idea of taking a year off to travel or work; to get your bearings and take a breather from 12 years of school.

She started out attending UC Irvine but decided it wasn't the right fit. This led her to take a semester at a community college to figure out what she wanted to do. She eventually ended up going to UCLA where she took an Art History class which lead her to an Islamic Art History class which then lead her to study abroad in Turkey for a year. She studied Arabic in Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon and is currently taking Turkish classes at night after work.

Nicole has done several internships, drawing upon her knowledge of the art world and now applying it to business. She is in an MBA program and is working as a paid intern at 2 companies. While she's doing her internships, she is networking. Every person she comes into contact with is a potential referral, champion or mentor for her next step in the business world.

I will venture a guess that when Nicole started her college career in Art History, she wasn't planning on getting into international business. But she followed her interests, which lead her to where she is today. There are many things that impress me about this young woman but what impresses me most is that she is open to investigating new pathways and seeing where they will lead. Fearless!!

Careers in Science

I did a presentation to a group of high school girls a few weeks back, who are focusing on "non-traditional" subjects such as science and math. I find it sad that these two areas are considered "non traditional" for girls.

But let's not dwell on that. Though my presentation to the girls was about general skills needed in the work environment, I took some time to research what kinds of careers there are for science and math majors. Needless to say, there are way too many to list here. But here are some that caught my eye.

Chemistry Careers: Beyond Bunsen Burners   is a Job Web site that gives some great advice on what kinds of jobs are available for chemistry majors. I like their advice on getting a comprehensive education in order to make the most of their chemistry major. The career potential is huge!

Computational Physics Grads Make Games Work   is another Job Web site. Interesting spin on combining sciences and making video games.

There are only 13 Graduate Athletic Training Programs   in the U.S. There are many undergraduate athletic training programs but you can also major in sports medicine, kinesiology and other like subjects and still be accepted into the graduate program. Athletic trainers work with college and professional sports teams as well as with private medical programs.

The American Institute of Biological Sciences   has a great website on what careers are available to Biology majors. Things like Research, Environmental Studies, and Healthcare, are just a few of the areas you can pursue. This website also gives you ideas on combining areas of study in order to pursue some very unique and interesting careers.

Computer Forensics   is a quickly growing field of study. There are a lot of crimes being committed that have computers involved. Providing the government or civil authorities with technological evidence is extremely important. This is certainly a high growth career field.

Audiologists   will find plenty of work helping aging boomers retain their hearing. Not only can you work in a clinic but once you have established yourself in the field, there are companies that will want to hire you to help them build better hearing devices.

To find out more about some of the best careers in 2007 go to U.S. News & World Report  : and see what the future holds! And then try doing some searchs, using key words such as "chemistry careers" or "biology careers" or "math careers". You get the idea.