Book Review: Peter Vogt’s Career Wisdom for College Students

-- Lindsay Wayne

There are books, articles and Web sites everywhere designed to help recent college graduates land the jobs they want. But what is available to help current college students get a jump start on the competition?

If planning is critical in choosing the right career and in knowing how to get it, how do you know where to start? The career planning process can seem overwhelming if you aren’t sure where to look for information. Career coach Peter Vogt, M.S., hopes he will change the scope of student job preparedness with his new book, Career Wisdom for College Students.

Vogt is no stranger to students’ concerns about how to choose the right career. As Monster.com’s MonsterTRAK career coach, Vogt advises students around the world on topics ranging from how to land the perfect internship to tips on how to make the most of your relationship with your academic advisor.

Rather than write just another career book, Vogt uses information from his MonsterTRAK articles and from his student interactions to provide career planning information long before it’s time to graduate. He helps students avoid the trap of waiting too long to address important issues and of getting stuck in a career that isn’t the right fit for them.

Vogt saw the need for an easy-to-use resource that would provide practical insights for students from their freshman year through graduation and beyond. Not having an easy-to-use resource is frustrating for students; it forces them to make difficult decisions about changing majors—a move that could delay graduation and increase tuition cost.

"Go and look at your different career options...what you like, what you’re good at," said Vogt. "That takes a lot of work, but it’s very doable. It’s making the actual decision."

Vogt said that deciding on a career does not constitute a death march. The reality is that the average worker changes careers — whole careers, not just jobs—many times over the course of their lifetime. This is an important consideration, especially if you are feeling pushed into a certain career path by parents, friends or the job market. Making a career commitment can be difficult if what you are passionate about seems like something that may not pay your bills.

"You hear about starving artists a lot of times, but there are plenty of artists that are doing fine," said Vogt. "In 1999 everybody was getting the message: Go into computers. By 2003 a lot of graduates weren’t happy because all the computer jobs had dried up. Don’t fall into the trap of believing what you hear all the time because the truth is in the middle of it somewhere."

Don’t despair if you are well into a degree program and have realized that you are now interested in a completely different career. Vogt encourages students to look for connections between fields that may not be immediately obvious. Metropolitan State University’s many advising centers can provide information about careers that combine multiple fields of interest. Another good place to look for information about careers that span multiple disciplines is the Internet.

Also important in the career development process is talking to people already working in the field you are interested in to gain knowledge out of their experience—networking. "It’s probably the most important thing you can do," said Vogt. "People have a connotation of networking as being really slimy...shaking hands and using people. It’s really just a matter of getting to know somebody and letting them get to know you."

It’s important to highlight all of your skills on your resume; it doesn’t matter whether you gained those skills from an unrelated job. For example, supervising staff at a coffee shop can translate to supervising staff at an office. Though the atmosphere and product may be different the two positions require the same skill.

Also consider any skills you gained outside of your employment history. For example, community volunteer work teaches valuable job skills. Vogt added that it’s not where you acquired a given skill, it’s that you have it.

"If you’re involved with your church [or] a group of people trying to get organized around a common purpose, those fundraising and organizing skills are also valuable on the job," said Vogt. "It’s really the skills you’ve got that matter, and most employers don’t care if you were ever paid for the skills, they just want the skills."

Vogt’s message in Career Wisdom for College Students is clear: You must be in charge of your own career destiny; don’t let it pass you by.

For information about academic advising at Metropolitan State, contact the New Student and Premajor Advising Center at (651) 793-1548 or (612) 659-7269. Students who have declared a major can contact their specific college for advising.