Black Collegian Career Center

As a college student today, you are faced with a more complex future than alumni of the past.  Managing a career and life in today's world can be overwhelming. Understanding your field in its larger context, working with motivated people in your field, and finding a balance in your life will support you as you weave a career in the new millennium.  Some questions and ideas to consider follow.

Building a Career in a Changing Environment

How will you adapt to the accelerating change in your field?  Talk with professionals, surf the Internet, and read what scholars and futurists are saying about impacts of technology, an aging and culturally diverse population, regulation, globalization, environmental concerns, political change, and many other factors.  Put yourself in a stronger position for the long-term by understanding the following about your field: specialties, work settings, related and competing disciplines, expectations for paying your dues and exceptions to that norm.  If you couple your knowledge of the field with what you learn about the field's possible future, you better your chances for creating a series of opportunities for yourself.

Finding Mentors

How will you manage your career in the years ahead?  A key factor is finding the right people to work with - different types of people.  You will need those who help you adjust to the organization's culture, teach you processes and protocols, and support your work. You will also need those who challenge you to stretch farther professionally, shaping your own expectations for the quality of your work.  Work environments will have a tremendous impact on your project and job opportunities, your motivation to deal with constant change and expectations, and your ideas for future directions.  Though managers and coworkers are likely to have the most influence, others in your network can help you understand issues and think about managing risks.  Observe, seek particular assignments, and request advice, even mentoring.  Finding the right people, particularly mentors, is not easy.  Sometimes you will not find them.  Sometimes you will be the trailblazer on your team, in a department, a newly-formed organization, or a specialty in your field.  Whether you are the follower or the trailblazer, your professional and personal network will be a critical support as you create a career path in the new millennium.

Managing Your Life

How will you manage your life with work?  Many of today's jobs in the corporate, non-profit, and public arenas, though exciting, require long hours in intense work environments.  What do you know about the work environments of your profession? Though you are energized to make significant commitments to your profession now, how will you balance professional, personal, and community service goals in 15 years? Is building a career in your family's community a top priority for you?  If yes, you will want to know multiple aspects of the community, get involved and extend your network beyond family, and periodically make transitions.  Make a special effort to stay connected with classmates and faculty.  With the technology resources available now, you could work on a contractual basis or 'off site' with old friends and contacts who are with organizations in distant places.  Volunteer for nonprofit boards, join  community or state-level collaboration teams, and run for offices of local chapters of professional organizations to build skills and visibility.  You can live in your home community your entire life and still develop connections, and even have influence outside your geographic area.

Or do you want to live wherever the best opportunities or company projects exist?  If this is your plan, technology will be your means of staying connected with family and friends.  In anticipation of family changes, such as parents needing assistance, you might choose project assignments closer to home.  You might also plan to pursue career opportunities in a variety of settings and eventually bring that experience back to your home community.  Often, those who take the risk to develop expertise elsewhere, such as individuals who spend part of a career in Washington, D.C., have much to bring back to a home community.  Talk with family members, friends and their parents, faculty, and alumni about these issues and possible models to follow. You and your classmates will face these questions often in the years to come.  As you work with student fraternal organizations, make programs that explore these issues and link members with resources a top priority.

Carol Doelling is the director of Career Services, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. She is also the author of "Social Work Career Development."