High School Students Should Begin Planning Their Careers Now
Introduction: Resumes, Cover Letters, and LinkedIn profiles might seem a distant issue to address. However, for high school students, whether bound for college, trade school, or full-time work, building a resume now is critical for many reasons. Chief among them is this skill you will use regardless of industry, job function, or experience level.
Clearly articulating how your diverse set of experiences converge to create a path forward is important at every stage and age of your journey. In addition, high school students should start building their resumes to begin cultivating critical soft skills and prepare them for college applications, internships, job opportunities, and overall career planning.
Soft Skills
While today's youth are graduating high school with more technical skills than ever, there is an increasing lack of and focus on soft skill development. High school students should be equipped with a wide range of soft skills to help them transition into the real world and succeed in their future endeavors. Soft skills are personal qualities that enable an individual to interact effectively with others and navigate through life, such as communication, problem-solving, adaptability, emotional intelligence, teamwork, leadership, and more.
Communication
Assertive communication is essential for high school students as they are often involved in team projects, extracurriculars, volunteer activities, and other social interactions. Being able to express oneself verbally and in a written form clearly can help overcome obstacles, build relationships, and create a positive reputation. Additionally, strong communication helps one understand how to conduct oneself when encountering different people and situations.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence also plays an important role in the development of young adults. It involves identifying one's own emotions while also being sensitive towards the feelings of others and having the appropriate response. This skill is invaluable for high schoolers as it helps them regulate their own emotions while also honing their social skills. Emotional intelligence dramatically increases one's ability to work collaboratively with classmates or supervisors on projects or tasks.
Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is another key skill that should be developed at a young age. High schoolers will encounter countless academic challenges requiring creative solutions or critical thinking abilities. In addition to problem-solving skills helping students achieve better grades in their classes, this quality will serve them well in college applications or job interviews where employers expect candidates to exhibit good problem-solving capabilities.
Leadership
Leadership is yet another significant soft skill that high schoolers need to learn to become effective members of society. The ability to lead starts with setting goals for oneself and inspiring others to reach these objectives - whether on a sports team or within a club/organization/group project at school. Leadership allows individuals to take charge when needed while delegating tasks appropriately among team members - traits that are highly sought after by employers.
Adaptability
Finally, another valuable soft skill high school students should develop is adaptability - the capacity to adjust quickly when faced with unfamiliar situations or environments. Adaptable individuals understand when it's time for change and make thoughtful decisions about how best to approach new scenarios or challenges - an invaluable trait for anyone entering the industry post-graduation!
All in all, acquiring these soft skills during high school sets up today's youth for success in whatever field they decide to enter upon graduation from secondary education: college or straight into the workforce! With solid communication abilities paired with emotional intelligence and problem-solving aptitude combined with leadership qualities topped off by adaptability, these young adults have far greater chances of achieving success no matter what route they choose!
College Applications
Standing out is familiar if you are an athlete, on the debate team, or competitive in any capacity. You've seen who and what you are up against firsthand and fight to win. But college applications present the first push to stand out for many high school students who haven't.
Amongst a sea of applicants who are just as smart, talented, and enthusiastic as you, demonstrating your uniqueness and potential contribution to a university can feel extremely difficult. Given that every career move you make from here on out will require a resume to show what separates you from the pack, high school students should start developing their resumes now.
A well-crafted resume at the high school level demonstrates skills and experience. Unsurprisingly a resume's purpose doesn't change the way your career does. Now if parents or children think they don't have any experience from which to write a resume or make a case for college acceptance, I promise you that is not true. We tend to look for the big trophy and disregard the many tiny achievements, as well as failures, we had on our path to crossing the finish line. I am not suggesting celebrating your 10th place "effort" ribbon because results count more in the real world.
If you get the same or better result following a different path with fewer resources, we call it efficiency, cost savings, and a job well done. While "less is more" can be valid, deviations and redactions from the path, format, and structure of a traditional resume are less positively embraced.
So the question for students should be, how do we follow the long-standing tradition of writing resumes and adhere to the many unwritten rules and best practices set forth so many years ago while maintaining a competitive advantage and communicating what makes us special in a manner relevant today? One such way is to reach out to me and see how we can get you from where you are to where you need to be.
Part-time Jobs and Internships
A resume will help high school students land part-time jobs and internships. Being told that a hiring manager or evaluator spends a few seconds looking at what you have put days, weeks, months, and years into the building is immediately discouraging. This is what your resume reflects, a concise compression of a lot of hard work.
So it is completely understandable that a high school student may not see the value of a resume when such little attention is given to it by the party to whom it was submitted. But that would be shortsighted, and as a career coach and experienced professional, I know a resume serves to show more than just the details of your story.
It is an indication of how detail-oriented, organized, and serious about working you are. Like first interpersonal impressions, a well-written resume implies that you are ready, willing, and able to perform the duties of the job or internship.
Career Planning
My approach to career planning always appeared different than my peers. My career resembles nothing novel or linear when described in terms of titles. But when presented as a progression of professional skills and business interests, it is powerful and exciting. While the plot points remain unchanged, the narrative has folded and flexed to address the needs and interests of different audiences. Building a resume early on will help high school students start this storytelling process to plan their career goals and identify the skills and experience they will need to achieve them.
I appreciate the strain high school students suffer when compelled to figure "it" out and find their "thing." They must select a college and a major and make some pretty important life decisions. This is a tremendous amount of pressure, and given that so many of us have yet to do that 20, 30, or 40 years later, it seems an unfair ask from a high school student.
That said, we will not change our educational system overnight, and our outlook on career development is only beginning to evolve. Therefore parents and teachers should help guide and support their children and students differently. Previously people stuck with what they chose in high school at 18 years old until they retired at 65. But today, changing careers, monetizing passions, and becoming a value-driven professional who seeks to turn a profit and make an impact offers an entirely different paradigm in which to operate.
Taking it one step at a time, and reflecting on your skills, interests, and personal values, however simplistic it may seem, are the most foundational elements to building a career you will find fulfilling and in which you will be successful. Before charging forward outwardly confident but internally insecure, merely to appease parents, supervisors, or admissions officers, practice this process.
Practicing these steps now will serve you when you inevitably evolve and pivot your professional and personal pursuits. While an advocate of formal education, I am also at odds with the overly cautious and predominantly prescriptive approach to choosing a profession. Because now, after years of corporate work experience, adventures in entrepreneurship, and efforts to expand in all kinds of ways, I keep coming back to my skills, interests, and values as indicators of what I should do now and next.
Conclusion
Developing a resume early on is an invaluable tool for high school students as they navigate the complex world of career planning. By reflecting on their skills, interests, and values, they will gain clarity around what is important to them and also help identify areas that need improvement in order to reach their goals. Furthermore, having a well-crafted resume provides an opportunity to network with professionals in desired fields which could open up doors previously closed or even lead to internships or part-time jobs. With this knowledge under your belt, you are now ready to take charge of your future!
About Akshay Ramanathan
With 10+ years of experience as a college counselor, career coach, resume writer, and corporate professional, I know firsthand the confusion and challenges both ambitious students and purpose-driven professionals face when building a career that is engaging and meaningful.
I have successfully overcome these problems myself and helped many others do the same.
Click here to book a call and learn how I’d like to help you take your career or college experience to the next level!
