- [Narrator] iQ: smartparent is made possible by the McCune Foundation, and The Grable Foundation.

- New technology makes it easier than ever to research careers, and on today's episode of iQ: smartparent, experts reveal the digital tools your child can use to explore occupations, and make professional connections online, hear about the fast growing careers, and find out what kinds of jobs will be available in the next decade, when it's your child's turn to enter the job market.

We'll even tell you how your teen can find a virtual mentor.

We're exploring careers in the digital age, on this episode of iQ: smartparent, and it starts right now.

(upbeat music) Welcome to iQ: smartparent.

I'm your host, Darieth Chisholm.

Today we're talking about that question kids hear a lot.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Our technology driven world is changing the job market, and it's changing the way kids can search for careers that interest them.

Here to kick off the conversation is Emily Rolen, an economist who works with employment projections for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Thanks so much for being here.

- Hi, thanks for having me.

- Let's talk a little bit about some of the work that you do, and why it's so important.

- Sure.

So the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, is part of the Department of Labor, and BLS is actually the principle federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

- And what is the Occupational Outlook Handbook?

- So The Handbook is one of the Bureau's most popular products, and it's the government's premiere resource for career information.

If folks seek career information, chances are, the Handbook has it.

In fact, the Handbook has information on over 800 occupations, including information on the task that workers in a typical occupation may perform, the industries in which they work, and median wages.

In addition, the Handbook details the BLS employment projections data, along with the discussion of the factors that may impact future demand for those workers.

So in the Handbook, you'll find information on topics such as automation and other technology impacts, outsourcing, and changes in demand for the products and services that a given occupation provides.

- How do people access it, and how is it used?

- Sure.

So it's available online to the general public, and it's used to make informed career decisions.

- And do you do one of these reports every year?

- Right now, the Handbook is produced bi-annually, however, in the future, we're transitioning to annual projections, which we're really excited about.

The current set of data online are for 2016 through 2026.

We'll be releasing, in 2018, for the next time, and then subsequent publications will be looking at annual projections.

- So how can students prepare to enter these careers?

- Sure.

Well, on our website, we have information about the level of education, training and work experience that's typically needed to enter those occupations.

So that's a great place to start, when you're deciding what you might wanna do after high school.

- So we put together a video to take a look at the job trends that you talk about.

Let's take a look.

(upbeat music) - [Emily] If we take a look at our first chart here, you can see the 10 detailed occupations that are projected to grow the fastest, over the 2016 to 2026 period.

You may notice that a number of the occupations on this chart are related to healthcare.

As the population continues to age, demand for medical care will continue to grow.

We also see strong demand for a number of occupations that are involved in energy production.

Another thing about this chart that's interesting is that 8 of the 10 occupations listed here earn more than the annual median wage in 2016, which was about $37,000 a year.

Our next chart looks at the education and training that's needed to enter these occupations.

So you can see that there's opportunities for job seekers with a wide variety of educational backgrounds.

In 2016, about 1/3 of jobs were in occupations that workers typically need some post-secondary education to enter.

Another large proportion of employment is in occupations that typically require a high school diploma for entry, however, those occupations also typically need on the job training, or some prior work experience.

Occupations that typically require a master's degree are projected to grow the fastest through 2026, followed by those that require a doctoral degree.

Occupations that typically do not need a post-secondary credential are projected to grow slower than average, through 2026.

Our next chart shows the 10 occupations that have the largest projected job growth, that typically require an associates degree or a post-secondary non-degree credential.

(upbeat music) At BLS, we produce gold standard data for and about America's workers.

(upbeat music) - So what would you say to kids who just aren't sure about what career they want to pursue?

- That's a great question, and it's one that we get all the time.

The Department of Labor, which the Bureau is a part of, produces the Occupational Information Network, or O-NET, and O-NET has this really great tool that's called the interest profile, where folks can go online, and enter information about areas that are of interest to them, and see how those interests relate to the world of work.

O-NET online produces profiles for hundreds of occupations, and each of those occupations have information about the skills and abilities needed to perform those jobs.

So students and job seekers can research skills that they already have, or they can learn about skills that they may need to improve in order to work in a given occupation.

- So this is really useful, because if they're not really sure, at least they can figure this out through the skills or the things that interest them.

- Exactly.

It's a good starting point to begin your career research, based on things that are already of interest to you.

- Great.

Wonderful.

Well, this was very useful information.

Very nice job.

Thank you.

- Thank you for having me.

- Coming up, learn about the latest trends in mentoring, and the online twist that makes it easier than ever to connect with professionals.

But first, check this out.

- [Narrator] This is our Dream Factory kickoff day, at Elizabeth Forward Middle School.

- You can make all kinds of things, robots to cups.

- [Girl] Once you add it to Animation Express, it fast forwards it.

- [Narrator] Every child in our school will come through the Dream Factory.

In our art area, children are able to create products and ideas using art and 3-D printing, and computer technology, and the industrial technology classroom, they're incorporating traditional, but also incorporating that with plastics and with glass, and laser cutting.

In our computer classes, it's creating programming to manufacture products that can move.

- I use the Makey-Makey to make it more interactive.

- [Narrator] We have a charge to provide opportunities for children in our world to learn these technologies.

- This is an idea that I came up with.

It's an iPad holder.

It's gonna be able to stick to a wheelchair.

- [Narrator] It's changed the culture of our school.

- [Narrator] According to a national survey, four out of five students said there should be a stronger connection between school and work.

Four out of five students in the survey also believed schools should offer more opportunities for real-world experiential learning.

Job shadowing is one way to explore options, and discover new passions.

Now, research shows job shadowing also forges a critical connection between academic subjects and workplace skills.

According to the results of a Junior Achievement survey, after completing a job shadow exercise, 90% of students said the job shadow experience made them more aware of career options.

And 88% said participating in a job shadow made them realize the importance of staying in school.

Now, thanks to 21st century technology, job shadowing can even be done online.

Learn more by searching these key phrases in your favorite search engine.

Virtual job shadow, online job shadowing, job shadowing resources, career videos, and virtual job shadow videos.

- Research from the Corporation for National and Community Service shows one of the main factors people think about when they consider becoming a mentor is convenience.

Is the mentee close to the person's home or business?

And how flexible are the hours?

Once again, it's technology to the rescue.

Our next guests are talking about the newest trend in mentoring that's being done online.

Welcome to our guests, Dan Fauth a teacher who helps his students connect with career mentors, using an online mentoring service.

And we also have one of those online mentoring teens, and what's really exciting is that this is the first time that they are meeting in person.

Meet Joey Mercer, and his online mentor, Henry Goodelman, along with David Mosey, executive director of Smart Futures.

Welcome, everyone.

So nice to have everyone here in the studio.

- Nice to be here.

- Thank you.

- Dan, let's start with you.

You introdocued online mentoring to your students.

How's that going?

- It's going well.

I've done it for the past couple years in my classes.

I thought it was a great opportunity for students to get individual career advice during my class, that maybe we couldn't cover for the entire class.

- [Darieth] And how are the students receiving it?

- Students are responding well to it.

Out of everything that we do in this class, it seems to be one of their favorite components of the class.

- Now, Joey, I'm gonna switch to you, because you now have experienced what it means to have an online mentor.

- They experience is good.

He give me good advice.

He shows me what I need to do, what I should do, and what's best for my future.

- Now that he happens to be Henry, and he's sitting next to you.

- Yeah.

- And this is the first time that you're meeting.

- It is, yeah.

- It is, absolutely.

It was great connecting in the Green Room.

It's just like we connected online.

- Yeah, yeah.

So, Henry, tell us about your experience as a mentor.

- Well, I work on college campuses with students, whether I'm recruiting, in enrollment management, working as an academic advisor, or even as a career counselor.

Being able to bring that experience to students, and Joey, you're a sophomore this year, in 10th grade, that are interested in finding out more, and being able to build that next step, and that bridge forward for themselves, being able to define their interests, and being able to explore how that can connect to both academic majors, when they go to college, and then careers after.

And I love everything about it.

Dave's built a great platform for everybody.

- Yeah, so Joey, tell me some of the things that you all talk about, or what you're learning from Henry.

- Well, every week, we usually get on once a week, and we get certain activities that we do, and he responds to our responses for that activities.

And he gives feedback on what he thinks is good for the activity and good for me.

- How is this different, maybe, than if you weren't doing this online?

Does that seem strange?

Or does it seem very normal for you?

- I mean, it's pretty normal.

I mean, whether it's in person or online, I mean, he's a great guy to get to know, and also, everything that he says helps me.

- Well, that's good.

That is really good to know.

I wanna turn things over David, who's sitting here to my right, and talk a little bit about Smart Futures, and what's the mission, and how that's working.

- Yeah, so the mission of our organization is to help kids like Joey get real, get real about who they are, about where they're gonna go, and how to get there, and it's confusing.

I mean, it's confusing.

- How so?

- Very few of us have had these linear paths.

Every adult that I know has a story to tell, you know?

And it's wild.

What happened to me, I never thought that I'd do this, but this is what happened to me, and we do have a story to tell, so why not give that story back to kids?

- Yeah.

Dan, is this what you think, or is the kind of situation that your kids are seeing in the classroom, with their mentors?

- He kinda took the words right out of my mouth.

You know, I can only share my own personal experiences with the students, so it's nice that they get to see somebody else' perspective and point of view of how they got to where they're at in their professional lives.

I mean, I can speak to what I've done, and I try to give as much practical advice as I possibly can, but I'm only one person.

So this allows them to have their own individual advice.

- Yeah, and so Henry, for you, how is this been in terms of really making the connection with Joey, and obviously providing him with some real, tangible advice?

- Well, PEA Mentoring does that.

So the structure of the curriculum, the different steps that students go through, actually, the mentors do it first.

Everything that Joey's done, I filled out first, too, so I was able to explore through it, and being able to give students this selection of who they want to be their mentor, it's something that really helps highlight that, so when it comes down to it, being able to help implement the program, be a part of that, and being able to share, in a sense of my own career, because of my own unique professional perspective, but then, also, being able to supplement the actual classroom, being able to, it's kind of like a bring your parent to work day, but where everyone's being able to come in from different perspectives, and being able to always being able to help highlight students' interests, and help connect them to their goals, and move forward.

- Speaking of goals, what are yours?

Whats' your career?

- My goals, well, I look in business.

I like business administration and management, and finance, and he's helped me with what major, like I said, what major I should go for.

I haven't really looked at any colleges yet, but he's been a big help.

- He's really advanced, being able to start identifying local campuses, as well as regional things, regional opportunities.

When it comes down to it, for a 10th grader, he's doing great, and moving forward.

There's no question, with the school, and the program, he's in a very nice place.

- So David, how are the mentors screened?

Particularly for parents who are wondering, who is this person, what are they telling my child?

How do you screen?

- Yes, screening, we go by the requirements of the location that we're serving, and in this case, these guys are in school in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania has new legislation that came out called ACT 153, that requires all of the mentors to get criminal record checks in Pennsylvania, criminal background checks, child abuse clearances, and if you're not a 10 year resident, an FBI fingerprint check.

- From the place of a mentor making that decision, what would you say is the chief reason why they do it?

- Well, that is a great question, and you know, I've volunteered for a lot of things in my life, too, and that's always an interesting thing.

Something that touches you, something about this touches you, and I think everybody has a story to tell, and we know, we can look back at when we were in school, and you think about, where did I get advice?

And most people say, I didn't get that good of advice.

So I think it's meaningful to almost most working adults that have ended up lucky enough to land in a career that they're somewhat happy with, or maybe some people that aren't even happy with a career have things that they wanna tell, and I think it's a unique kind of volunteer opportunity in that way, because so many people have something to give back.

- Henry, would you, how do you resonate with that?

I mean, what was your reason why, and really, what are you getting out of this?

- I was working with students, once they were already enrolled, and I wanted to help more students, and inspire them to pursue to academic opportunities they wanted to.

PEA mentoring opened that up for me, so whether someone's working as an accountant, or someone has already retired, or someone is a doctor, a physician, no matter what their field is, even as an educator, being able to help share and relate your experience to a student's interests and have them connect with you on their level, is really, we're really inspired, and what interested me in joining the program, and I've been involved for more than five years now, I've worked with countless students, and it's always a really nice opportunity to be able to drive it forward.

- And Dan, what would you say to parents, or anyone who is interested in becoming a mentor, about how this impacts your students?

- It's really, it's a rewarding experience, I think.

I mean, they were saying, to just kind of give them that career advice, that if you're not a teacher, you're able to give some kind of advice.

I wish when I was in high school, I had a class like the class that I'm taking, I wish I was able to speak with somebody on a personal level, individually, and just get that advice, that maybe I wouldn't feel comfortable raising my hand in class, or doing something like that, and just communicating on the computer.

- All right, Joey, so I'm gonna give you the last word.

What advice would you give to teens about seeking this out and becoming a mentee?

- You wanna pick the best, or, not the best, but the mentor that you think you have the most in common with, and I saw his profile picture on the site, and he had an angel around his head, and I just thought that his personality met mine, and we really connected, and just really felt good.

- Well, thanks so much for being here, everyone.

This was really delightful conversation.

I'm so glad you're all doing the work that you're doing.

Coming up, we've got advice for finding free career search tools in your own hometown, and find out more about that right after this.

- [Narrator] What's the best career advice you ever received?

We took our cameras to the streets, and asked women that same question.

Here's what they had to say.

- The best advice I've ever been given is to not be afraid to be clear about what you want from a business, or workplace, and to not settle for anything less than that.

- The best advice someone gave me is to be confident in yourself, and in your abilities, and to know where to find answers if you don't know them, and be confident enough to not know things.

- Don't be threatened when you're in male-dominated places, recognize when you're in male-dominated places, but try not to let it faze you.

- I work as a photographer now, and I was told once that when I'm going to events, and when I'm going on shoots, while there are other professionals there, that they are not any more important than me, they do not know any more than me, and I should just assert myself, and do my job, because I am skilled, and I am doing what I am there to do.

- Yes, I have a mentor in my research laboratory, and he's really helped me figure out what I wanna do with my life, and how to be successful as a young scientist.

- My mom just has always really told me to be my own person, and be independent, and not depend on anyone else for my success, and I think that's helped, because sometimes I may be a little too independent, but it really motivates me to make sure I can take care of everything for myself, and not rely on other people.

- I think women still get underpaid for doing the same job as a male, and I see that in my own family, so it's really important to keep fighting, and keep doing all we can do to improve the wage gap.

- I think young women today are very strong, and I think they just need to see themselves as equal to men, and equally capable of doing the job, and make sure that they don't just sit back, but be very involved at every level of their career.

- I think the best advice is that, that someone has told me is that success is not a straight path, it's like kind of crooked, and as long as you keep going, and don't give up, then you end up making it either way to success.

- [Narrator] Want to learn more about helping your child explore careers?

Enter these key phrases into your favorite search engine.

Career search, high growth careers, explore careers with your teen, and career personality and aptitude test.

- If you're searching for tools and resources to help your child's career search, look no further than your local library.

I'm happy to welcome our final guest of the day, Kelly Rottmund, the Teen Services Coordinator at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Kelly, welcome.

- Thank you.

- So what do you think is the greatest challenges for teens, when researching careers?

- Yeah.

So I think for some teens, it's that they just don't even know where to begin, or who can help them, if they don't feel like their parents or caregivers are the right folks to kind of help them navigate that?

And often, it's really difficult to know what careers are even a possibility for you, if you know, the people in your life have specific careers that might be sort of all you see for yourself, so at the library, we really look to connect teens with caring adults, and mentors who can help broaden their perspective of the opportunities that are ahead of them and support them in that.

One of the other things that I think is a challenge is the rate at which the job force is changing.

I keep reading a lot about the fact that many of the jobs that will exist in the future don't exist right now, so how do teens even prepare for something, when they're not sure what that's going to be?

And one of the ways the library can support that is really by providing teens the opportunity to hone their collaboration skills, communication, creative and critical thinking, and libraries can do that by providing teens with volunteer opportunities, or even just participating in programs with other teens really allows them to practice those things and become leaders in their own community.

- So those soft skills that are really important.

- Exactly, yes, which are applicable in any career.

- And how do you do that, from a practical standpoint?

Does this mean you invite in people in different careers and they speak with students?

Do the kids actually go out and job shadow?

- Yeah.

- [Darieth] How does this come together?

- We do it in a lot of ways, and I think other libraries are doing similar things across the country, so we have adult volunteers in our spaces, so that teens can connect with them in a more casual way.

We do invite adults in who have followed non-traditional career paths, so that they can talk with our teens about how their life has turned out the way it has, and that they can see that there are other possibilities, if college is not the right option for them, and a lot of libraries, as well, offer volunteer experiences, or even summer youth employment programs, and support youth in that way, as well.

- Now, you know, I can remember the challenges of having to fill out a job application.

- [Kelly] Yes.

- And not quite sure what to fill out, and making mistakes, is that something that you work with some of the teens, to help them fill out, maybe online applications?

- Yeah, I think a lot of folks don't thin about the library as a resource for application help, but we are helping folks, teens and adults with that all day, every day.

In many communities, the library is the only free, public place to access the internet, for folks that might not have it at home, and so library staff are always prepared to help anybody navigate online applications.

- [Darieth] What about resume writing?

- Yes.

Resume writing, cover letter writing, we are always prepared to help everybody with that, as well.

A lot of libraries offer that help on demand, when you need it.

Some libraries will provide you the opportunity to schedule an appointment, so you can really get in depth help.

It just sort of depends on the library, or it depends on the customer's need.

Do they need this resume in the next hour to make a deadline, or do they have some additional time, and you can really sit down with them?

- So then are you saying that you can get some hands on assistance from the librarian and not just go to this website, or here's a link?

- Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

- And that has to be very valuable, particularly for young teens, or even young adults, who, for the first time, are getting into the job market, and not quite sure about how best to present themselves, write a resume and fill out applications.

- We meet a lot of teens who have not yet had to create resume, aren't really sure where to start, don't necessarily think that they have any skills and abilities to put on one, so we spend a lot of time asking them questions about their personal interests, do they help out their neighbors?

What are things that they've done that really show that they are motivated and have those skills I mentioned earlier, that would make them a benefit to the job?

- Now, libraries these days, are filled with everyone, from little kids to older adults, but at what age would you recommend that they begin using some of these resources that we've talked about?

- That's a great question.

We've been doing a lot of work this year, speaking with other out of school time providers who are supporting youth, and they are really recommending that middle schoolers start thinking about college and career readiness, so when you're 12 or 13, starting to think about what are the things you're doing in your neighborhood that look good on a resume?

Or can be on a resume, so helping neighbors with yard work.

- And what if you can't make it to the library, but you have a computer at home?

Are there things that people can access from their home computers that are tied to the library?

- Yep, that's a great question.

So a lot of libraries will subscribe to online resources like Career Cruising, so that's an online aptitude test that asks you about your interests, and then recommends careers to you, and also lets you know what is the earning potential in that career, what's the education that you need, so that's a resource that my library subscribes to, so there are just a lot of different possibilities for folks.

- Certainly is, and that's why I absolutely love the libraries.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

- Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

- Yeah, if you choose a job that you love, you'll never feel like you've worked a day in your life.

We hope today's tips will help you and your children explore career possibilities that put them on the path to a job that they love.

Thanks for being here, and join us again for the next edition of iQ: smartparent.

- [Narrator] Want to learn more about iQ:smartparent?

Visit us online at iQsmarparent.org, for more episodes, and additional tools and resources, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, to share your thoughts on being a 21st century parent.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] iQ: smartparent is made possible in part by The McCune Foundation, and The Grable Foundation.