It's that time of year when many households with high school seniors are wrestling and wrangling with career paths, college choices, or, perhaps, the choice of no college at all. Arlene Kaukus, Director of the Career Office at the University at Buffalo, provides some encouraging thoughts for those who may find themselves at a dispiriting time.
One of the first steps is to understand yourself, your passions, your abilities. While that process may sound simple and it can take some work, Kaukus urges the development of a few general traits.
"I would say certainly perseverance," says Kaukus. "Resilience is really important and being very open. This is a continuous learning and exploration until you figure it out, and you figure out a little more about yourself and what you're really good at and what you're looking to contribute to the world and that quite frankly is a journey and something that students really need to take their time in order to make sure they make the right choices for them."
The career choice might not be easy for everybody, but the choices available have improved in recent years with a post-recession economy that is healing. Kaukus says the local options have improved, and some of it can be attributed to the Buffalo Billion.
"There are incredible opportunities in health care and all the spinoff companies and industries that are coming out of that investment in our community," says Kaukus. "The startup and entrepreneurial activities that are underway in Western New York with 43 North and the STARTUP NY companies. Not to forget the long-standing Buffalo companies, M&T, Delaware North, Rich Products, which continue to offer, I think, great opportunities for our graduates."
Kaukus believes a broad-based approach to college also provides a boost on the path to finding a career. Taking a variety of college courses can help as students work to find a niche.
"Let's say for example, we have a student who has particularly good analytical skills and they come into the university not exactly sure of what kind of field they might be looking to explore. In the end, they might end up in a computer science or a management information systems track and they find themselves ultimately working in the health care field in the whole area of "big data" and data analytics, which of course is an emerging trend. (It may be) an area that they might not have been thinking about health care but they are basically taking those analytic skills and the ability to put big data together and look for trends and they can go inside a sector that perhaps they hadn't identified before and use that as their career path."
When it comes to careers, the reality is that the "right" choice may not come before college, during college, after college, or after years in the working world. That being stated, Kaukus says there is plenty of help available, including at the career offices at colleges, including the one she oversees at the University at Buffalo.
"We are a tremendous resource for our students as are faculty in the areas of study that students are interested in. Faculty are always a great resource to talk about how they got into the field themselves, what they enjoy about the field. And another huge resource that we use very extensively is our alumni network."
