Plant Services - August 2008 - (Page 11) KEN SCHNEPf THE PS FILES How Did You Get Here? By choice or by chance, we want to hear about your maintenance experience And you certainly don’t want your kids to stumble into ow did you get here, today, to the moment in that half of the American workforce that reports not being which you’re reading this article? If you could put satisfied with their jobs. your life in reverse and review all the moments “How much time do young people spend planning it [their leading up to this one, what would you see? careers] and considering options?” asks Stanford University Your journey in the maintenance field likely began with Professor of Education John Krumboltz. “Many give more a career choice, whether conscious or unconscious, that led thought to choosing a new pair of shoes. For many people, you down the path to a couple of decades of steady employit’s a decision they never knew they made – it was made ment in a manufacturing facility – or, perhaps not. by default.” People’s career paths are rarely that simple, and most have Krumboltz’s own experience was recorded had a couple of detours here and there that in the article, “How people choose ‘career helped them decide whether to stay the course paths,’” where he details how he originally or find a new vocational angle to pursue. But, Pursuing planned to be a doctor until he discovered that however your story has progressed, we want a person’s he was prone to nausea when viewing comto hear about it. vocational mon injuries such as broken bones. And so do the high-school and college-aged It seems like such an obvious piece of adkids who are looking for career information passion is what’s vice, but to someone who has his or her heart that will allow them to make decisions about important. set on being a doctor, finding out whether he their own journeys. They’re getting ready to or she can handle the unspoken horrors of go back to school right now, leading their patients’ ailments in order to treat them is something one parents by the hand from the mall to the local superstore should to consider before filling out that medical school apto pick up new clothes and shoes, pencils, calculators and plication form. personalized laptops. That’s where you come in. Haven’t you had moments in Sure, having the right supplies in the classroom is imyour career when you wished someone would have given you portant, but what’s even more valuable is your advice: What certain advice before you had gone to the trouble of having stories would you like to share with students? Because I can to discover it for yourself? Here’s your opportunity to record guarantee that they can use your guidance. for time and posterity the pointers that could make the difHow else can you speak to kids who like to tinker, colference for the next generation of maintenance technicians lect tools and watch the Discovery Channel because they and engineers. Your words could be the ones that convince love to see science and engineering in action? If ever there an undecided teenager to dedicate himself to a career in were a video brochure to get young minds thinking about maintenance, and to experience for himself the pride that the marvels of manufacturing, the show “How It’s Made” comes with keeping American facilities up and running. is it. Or even those who idolize Jesse James and his West You can start by sending us your story, advice and career Coast Choppers or Paul Teutul Sr. and his boys on “Ameritips, which we’ll gladly print in the magazine and post on can Chopper” are great candidates to be recruited into the PlantServices.com and SkillTV.net. And, if the company field of maintenance. How will you reach them to tell them you work for engages in any recruitment or mentoring proabout all of the opportunities that exist in this career path? grams, we want to hear about them, too. Equally important to reaching kids is getting their parWhen you’ve got something good going, especially someents to be receptive. Yes, Mom and Dad, your child will be thing as coveted as a satisfying career, the noblest thing you successful if he or she doesn’t become a doctor or lawyer. can do is to pass that knowledge on. Pursuing a person’s vocational passion is what’s important, as anyone from Oprah Winfrey to Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, will tell you. E-mail Managing Editor Lisa Towers at ltowers@putman.net. August 2008 www.PLANTSERVICES.com 11 H http://PlantServices.com http://SkillTV.net http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com
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