From Backpack to Briefcase

I have a new opportunity this Fall semester to teach a course for beginning Food Science majors. It's not a food science content course per se, but rather an introductory course for students in Food Science focused on student learning and success, current issues, and opportunities and careers in the field of Food Science. Teaching this type of class is a bit new to me, so my first step was to start searching for ideas and resources from people who were already teaching a similar course. In my search I found a gold mine—a book titled “The Art of Preparing for a Career” by Dr. Tim Elmore (2015). The book is one of a series of books utilizing Habitudes. What are Habitudes, you ask? As articulated on the Growing Leaders, Inc., website (2018): “Habitudes…combines images, relatable stories, and experiences into leadership development curriculum and lesson plans that resonate with today's young adults, equipping them to navigate through life's challenges and opportunities.” Just what I was looking for—a timely tool to help my students intentionally and successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie in front of them as they begin their journey from backpack to briefcase1!

Before diving into the nuts and bolts of what it means to be career ready, Dr. Elmore straightforwardly addresses the question, “Why is getting ready so important?” The bottom line answer: many students graduating from college are not prepared to succeed in their careers. According to survey data collected between 2012 and 2014 by Millennial Branding and Beyond.com, “between 50 to 78 percent of employers who had job openings did not hire recent graduates simply because they weren't prepared for the job. In short, the jobs were ready, but the graduates weren't” (p. ii). It's time to change those statistics and guide our students to career readiness!

To get the full scoop, you'll have to get yourself a copy of the “The Art of Preparing for a Career”; however, I want to share with you a brief overview of the book and a few of its special features, as well as how I plan to use the contents of the book in my course this semester.

Dr. Elmore's book contains 13 chapters, where each chapter is anchored by an image. The image is of key importance, as explained at the beginning of the book (p. i), “Because pictures stick. We remember pictures long after words have left us.” The goal is for the images to linger in the mind and heart and produce a profound impact. An example of one of the images, entitled “Kitchens and Restaurants,” is a picture of food being prepared in the home. The brief message associated with this image reads: “Kitchens and restaurants are both about preparing good food. The difference? In a restaurant, you sit, and someone brings the food to you. In a kitchen, you read the recipe and make the food yourself. Knowledge isn't enough. Academic and technical skills should complement each other. Information must lead to application” (p. 21). After the image, each chapter contains a narrative, which is an engaging blend of information, inspiration, lessons from history, examples, and advice. At the conclusion of each chapter, the author includes a set of discussion (Think It Over, Write It Down) and personal evaluation (Evaluate Yourself) questions, as well as a practical application exercise (Try It Out).

In regards to the content of the 13 chapters, the first chapter is about the overall definition of Career Readiness: “Career ready students leverage their personal strengths, education, passions, and experiences to add value to the workplace and the world through habits and attitudes.” Each of the remaining chapters is based on one of the 12 Career Ready Practices, which are a part of the Common Career Technical Core (2012) and are listed in Table 1.

Though there are a number of ways that I will be using the book in my class this semester, I want to use it to achieve two overarching goals: 1) to help my students proactively plan backwards and 2) to create a community of engaged and reflective learners that help each other grow.

Proactively plan backwards: When it comes to the topic of planning, one of my favorite quotes comes from Stephen Covey's book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (1989). Covey writes, “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction” (p. 98). In other words, when it comes to planning, it always helps to know where you are going. Thus, one of my favorite questions to ask incoming freshmen or beginning graduate students is: “What do you want to be doing 5 to 10 years after you graduate?” After hearing this question, I often catch a funny look on the students’ faces, almost as if they are saying, “Don't you realize that I am just starting school?!?!” The intent of my question is to help students begin to proactively plan backwards—for example, if they want to have a food product development position with a large food company in 5 to 10 years, what do they need to be doing now and over the course of time to place themselves in a position to achieve their dream?

As we learn about each career ready practice, each student will make a unique, personal plan of how they will actively gain experience (what they will do, that is, the transformation vehicle) so as to incorporate each practice into their life (what they will become, that is, the transformation outcome). The students’ plans could contain innumerable transformation vehicles, including, but surely not limited to: internships, study aboard opportunities, involvement in student organizations, a leadership position in student government, obtaining a minor in business or leadership, undergraduate research experience, joining a professional society, volunteer work, work experience—just to name a few possibilities. But the selected transformation vehicles are only half the story. The other half of the story, actually the more important half, are the transformation outcomes that can be achieved, such as: critical thinking skills, good leadership skills, work life-balance, effective oral and written communication skills, time management, internal motivation, ethics, problem solving, teamwork, how to read technical literature, and good people skills—again, just to name a few. As the students work on their plans, we will discuss how, from a practical point of view, it makes sense to select their transformation vehicles based on the outcomes they offer, and that the focus of their plans needs to be on doing and being, not just knowing the career ready practices.

Create a community of engaged and reflective learners that help each other grow: As mentioned above, at the end of each chapter there are some discussion questions, a self-assessment, and a practical application exercise to try out. The plan is to use these activities as a jumping off point for discussion. So as not to get stuck in a rut, each week we will try a different discussion strategy (Gonzales, 2015). In addition to being very important skills in and of themselves (Table 1, Practice number 4), learning to talk with and listen to others will help foster the kind of personal growth required to become career ready.

As expressed by Dr. Elmore, preparing for a career beats repairing myself for a career later every time! I am looking forward to diving into “The Art of Preparing for a Career” with my students, helping them successfully plan and navigate their journey from backpack to briefcase.