EP1 Journey Starter: Laying the Foundation

Hi, welcome to CareerShareConnect. I'm your host and I am excited to spend some time with you today. I wanted to get started with our very first episode by laying the foundation for some of the things that you’ll hear about, and we'll talk about throughout this podcast series. Primarily, we'll have interviews so you can hear from these incredible people that are making a difference in the workplace. But for this first show, we decided to go solo to let you know what to expect throughout our podcast conversations.
 
I thought it would be smart to just start by identifying really what we talk about and what we mean when we say “underrepresented” and “non-traditional”. So, I found the best definition of underrepresented groups as this: a subset of a population that holds a smaller percentage within a significant subgroup than the subset holds in the general population. Sounds like a lot, right?? Let's break it down a little bit more. So think about the overall population. As an example, in the U.S., 12 to 14% of the population identifies as African American. If you think about a particular career field, say doctors, only 5% of practicing Physicians are African American. So that means for that particular group, that subset of African Americans is underrepresented because when you look at that particular subgroup (meaning doctors), this population holds a smaller number that in the general population. Does that make sense?

And when we think about what does “non-traditional” mean: so non-traditional careers are those careers in which one gender holds 25% or less of the jobs. So, again, in the U.S. our gender split is basically 50/50. 50% male, 50% female. Maybe 51/49, but it's very close. If you look at a particular occupation where one gender only makes up 12% or 2% or 1% or even 18%, that is considered a non-traditional career for that particular gender. So I figured just explaining those two things would be helpful to set the groundwork for what we're talking about.

And the other part that goes along with that is really your exposure to and awareness of different occupational options. You know, there are so many different types of jobs that just aren't as popular as some of the ones that have been rattled off for years in terms of, you know, when you get that question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” There is a list of jobs that has been recycled and repeated in young people's minds, you know, for the past 50 years. But you know, our world is changing. There are new job opportunities out there. You know, there are statistics that talk about how many jobs that will exist 10 years from now that aren't even in existence right now. So, we want to help you understand what type of transferable skills will be helpful to you so that as you are learning and growing…even as you're changing jobs, if you change careers completely…you'll know skills that you can carry along with you. That's important. You'll know the skills that are important for employers right now. You'll get a chance to hear about jobs that, you know, aren’t always at the top of the list in terms of popularity, not because they aren't good jobs, but simply because people don't really think about that. Young people don't really know to have those jobs cross their radar. So we're going to help you expand your options, learn about a variety of different occupational options for you and we are approaching this from a perspective where it's non-restrictive. So we understand that there are several pathways to any career and whether you are straight from high school, if you are attending Community College, if you have a four-year degree or advanced degree, you know, there are options for all of those segments. And so we’re wanting to make sure that we are giving you good information, good feedback, regardless of where you are in your journey. Because again, we're wanting this to be as open and inclusive as possible.

​We're going to get a chance to hear from people, men and women, in a variety of different types of jobs. There’s a very simple quote from a research paper that says, “Typically people get inspired to do something when they see others like them do it.”  There are studies that have actually looked at how underrepresentation in certain jobs have impacted students of color as they’re starting to consider what they will do, what their career will be. If you're in a group that's underrepresented, be it in a non-traditional field or otherwise, this can have a real positive impact on you and it's directly related to your own expectations of the outcome of your pursuit of a career, and it’s related to what's called career self-efficacy. It's all intertwined, it’s all related and we're here to really drive positive change in those areas.

We're going to teach you as much as we can about, you know, giving you really helpful insights into these different careers, but also making sure that you have a chance to have access to a diverse group of working professionals upwardly mobile, definitely wanting to help and share their stories and teach you something. So let this be a mobile mentor, right? [laughs] A “mobile device mentor”. Turn this on, play it, get a few nuggets here and there just to help you as you are moving along your way and growing and learning on your own. Let this be a really good resource and inspiration to you.
 
Reach out to us with any questions. We are here to help and to serve and to make sure that as you are on this career exploration journey that you have some really good tools at your disposal. So here we are, hang on for the ride! Again, let us know if you have questions. We are excited about this platform, and again, we're making this and building this for your assistance. So if you have questions, let us know. Email us at [email protected] if you have questions or comments. We’ll be happy to take a look and looking forward to learning and growing with you on this journey. All right, until the next episode, take care of yourselves. We'll talk to you later. Bye bye.