FEBRUARY 9, 2023 — “Educational and career resources are no longer at the education centers.”
I recently contacted education office personnel here after a lengthy conversation with my son Josiah about possible career paths. He has entered his second semester of his freshman year in college and is beginning to question his degree plan choice.
I can totally relate; I did also many years ago.
Back at the start of my freshman year, my adviser warned me that I could explore my options, but I needed to zero in on a degree plan after the first year to keep my financial aid support. After taking a class in print journalism that first semester, rather than wait, I threw a proverbial dart at the board and chose that as my career path.
Several years later that turned out to be a well-aimed dart. However, it’s not a method I would recommend to others. I certainly wasn’t about to recommend it to my son.
My conversation with Josiah began one weekend in January when he and I got to talking about his current degree plan. He showed interest in psychology after high school graduation in May 2022, then turned his attention over the summer to computer science, before finally settling on a Bachelor of Arts in business finance.
“There are just so many things I enjoy doing,” he told me. He’s definitely my son.
So, my wife and I proceeded to suggest other career options, including fields that don’t require a formal four-year education, such as plumbing and electrical work. We also recommended engineering, fine arts and computer programming – all based on his past interests.
Our suggestions only resulted in adding more stress and confusion to the conversation rather than inspiration. That’s when I told him about my past experiences with personality and career tests while in the Army.
“I remember going into the education center once to seek help with what I might want to do once I retired,” I told him. “They had a section where you could take these quizzes that were designed to reveal your personality types and personal interests that can then guide you toward a rewarding job.
“Maybe you should go there and take some of those quizzes.”
Excited and relieved, he agreed.
When I approached our installation education center a week or two later, I was informed that they no longer offer those services in-house. They’re all now online.
One center official recommended two sites: Career Path DECIDE; and Kuder Journey.
Josiah tried the Kuder Journey site first, at https://journey.kuder.com/account/adult-login-register, Pathways Planning System Login | Kuder Journey. He later said it requires permission from his school to log in and use it, which wasn’t something he wanted to wait for.
There are two sides to the site. The left button is for students. On that side, a high school or college student is encouraged to fill out the form. The right button pertains to everybody else who is looking to change their career path. Both sides require a “Journey Activation Code” from an official institution to continue.
The second website he tried is a Defense Department-sponsored site called Career Path DECIDE, at https://www.careerpathdecide.org/career-planning/build-your-target. Josiah said it only too him about five minutes to get through, with roughly 30 questions to answer.
The site features four quick surveys: “Take your skills survey” that takes about two minutes; “Take your lifestyle survey” that takes about three minutes; “Take your interests survey” that takes three minutes; and “Take your values survey” that takes two minutes.
“I definitely would not go into the recommended career fields based on my interests,” he said. “It wasn’t that in-depth for what I wanted.”
DECIDE recommended surgical medical careers for him. Not a good fit at all considering how squeamish he is around blood and wounds.
The last site he took yielded some surprising results for Josiah. Called PathwayU at https://wku.pathwayu.com/, the Western Kentucky University website took him about 40 minutes to complete. When he did —
“It was way more in-depth,” Josiah said. “And best of all, it suggested that I go into business finance.”
Right where he is, only now he has peace of mind about it. Maybe there’s something to be said about the proverbial dart method – after confirmation by several career tests.
Editor’s Note: Other possible career tests include https://www.truity.com/view/tests/personality-career; https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/career-search/career-quiz; and https://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/Assessments/self-assessments.aspx.
Story by Eric Pilgrim
Fort Knox