Page 90 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Fearless Career Change

• The credentials of its staff.
• Its job placement rate. (What percentage of graduating
students find jobs, and how long does it take them to
obtain positions?)
• The average wages for a graduate in his or her first post-
training job.
• Opportunities for advancement in the field.
• Information about whether the school fulfills national,
state, or local laws and regulations for your new profes-
sion, if applicable.
• Telephone numbers of at least three graduates of the
program whom you can call.
• Then, repeat the same process as above using your
favorite Internet search engine (such as www.google.com
or www.askjeeves.com).
3. Experiment, on your chosen search engine, with different
ways of saying the same thing (for example, classes, courses,
school, training, program, certification). Construct a search
term (or search string of multiple terms) that includes some
of the following words:
1.Name of occupation (for example, massage therapist, real
estate agent, or network engineer).
2.Type of program (for example, school, training, certifica-
tion, or license).
3.The city, state, or geographic area in which you’d like to
study (for example, Indianapolis, Broward County, Illinois,
New York, or Nevada).
4.If you want to study online, add: distance learning, online
education, or virtual universities.
Some sample Internet search chains are:
• Massage therapist certification Broward County Florida
• Certified life coach online classes
• Certified networking engineer program New Jersey
• Culinary arts certificate Chicago
• Distance learning business administration marketing
• Web design school Seattle

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