Choosing a Career

 

(Text compiled from the U.S. Department of Labor website www.bls.gov, 

NAAHP’s Medical Professions Admission Guide: Strategy for Success, 5^th edition, and

the catalogues for UH’s ten campuses, Brigham Young University at Hawaii,

Chaminade, and Hawaii Pacific University.)

 

 

Professional careers in healthcare and law are growing rapidly, not only in terms of the number of jobs available but also in terms of what kinds of jobs are available. Healthcare and law are expected to continue growing, as the population increases and ages.

 

This rapid growth makes choosing a career both easier and harder: there are more options than ever before, but now you have to choose which one will be best for you. In healthcare particularly, it is difficult to change fields, so choose carefully.

 

 

 

Dentistry	*Law	*Medicine
Occupational Therapy	Optometry	*Pharmacy
Physical Therapy	Physician Assistant	Veterinary Medicine

* = have schools in Hawaii.                                

 

• The following careers are all offered in Hawai’i and have entry points at the Bachelors or Masters levels, although some continue on to the Doctoral level. For more information, click on the career that interests you:

 

 

Medical Technology	Nursing	Nutritional Science
Public Health and Epidemiology	Social Work	Speech Pathology & Audiology

 

 

• If you are exploring careers, click on one of the following fields for a list of degrees offered in Hawai’i:

 

Law	Healthcare

 

 

Law and healthcare careers offer exceptional geographic mobility because jobs in those fields are everywhere. These fields also offer relatively high stability: specific jobs regularly last for many years, and because demand in both fields is rising, new jobs are being added.

 

In terms of vertical mobility, careers in law and healthcare tend to be static, tied to the degree completed. In general, you train for and remain in a specific career: medical technicians are not “promoted” to doctors any more than paralegals are “promoted” to lawyers. Changing careers requires additional education, training, and licensing. In the current system, physicians dominate the healthcare system and lawyers dominate the legal system; other careers usually serve in support positions or as specialist referrals.

 

Choose the career you ultimately want, even if the path is long. Particularly in healthcare, schools are sometimes reluctant to accept workers from fields that are in short supply. For example, because of the current nursing shortage, some medical schools resist admitting nurses unless they have a compelling reason to change careers. Generally speaking, you will have a better chance of being admitted to a professional school if that career is your first choice. If circumstances require that you begin one career and then retrain/switch, remember that opportunities to change careers are increasing.

 

Law and healthcare are also fairly stratified, although that is slowly changing. Each career has a set number of years spent in training, a specific degree required to practice, and an income range related to the amount of training required. Levels of independence and authority also vary with each career, with doctoral levels offering the most.

 

For more information on what to consider when choosing a career in healthcare,

 

·        read Chapter 1 of NAAHP’s Medical Professions Admission Guide: Strategy for Success, 5^th edition; a copy is available in PAC;

·        discuss your options with an academic advisor; and

·        visit PAC to research the various careers.

 

For more information on what to consider when choosing a career in law,

 

·        discuss your options with an academic advisor;

·        visit PAC to discuss types of jobs and degree levels available in Hawai’i; and

·        read Careers in Law by Munneke; a copy is available in PAC.