Check out these to-do items as you think about your next career move and education options.
1. Embrace the longer daylight hours, which can give you more time to be productive. Will it be easier for you to take advantage of special programs, such as apprenticeships and other hands-on training?
2. Use the career-planning tool at gacollege411.org to determine your interests and skills and to search for careers.
3. Submit your applications for summer classes. Programs offered during the summer include commercial refrigeration at Georgia Piedmont Technical College or CAD operation at Atlanta Technical College, for example. Deadlines are the end of March or beginning of April for Technical College System of Georgia programs.
4. Consider enrolling in a paid apprenticeship program, where you can learn a trade alongside successful professionals. Well-established programs include those run by the Atlanta Electrical Contractors Association and Georgia Sheet Metal Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center. In addition, the Georgia Trade School in Kennesaw offers full-time and part-time programs in welding with rolling enrollment.
5. Need a quick refresh? Sign up for a conference. The Associated General Contractors of Georgia holds its annual convention in June. Registration begins May 1 for the National Association of Women in Construction's yearly meeting in Nashville, held in early September.
6. Investigate ways to pay for school as soon as you start to think about attending. The Strategic Industries Workforce Development Grant helps students in seven fields to afford tuition, fees and books, and more industries are being added.
7. Pursue scholarships from industry groups, such as the American Welding Society. Applications typically are accepted between March and June for summer or fall programs.
8. Seek out an internship or summer job in relevant career fields, to gain experience and boost your bank account to pay for school.
9. Focus on the fall, if you already plan to start college or to continue in a program. As you plan summer vacation, add school deadlines and orientation meetings to your calendar so that you don’t miss them.
10. Don’t let the year fly by. Research and sign up for college admissions exams that are administered during the fall, such as the COMPASS or ASSET for two-year programs or the SAT or ACT for four-year programs.
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