High school isn’t usually a place where teens discover their future careers.
“Most kids coming out of high school have no idea what it is that they want to do,” says Victoria Gailliard-Garrick, director of William M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
Students at the vocational high school can think carefully about their future job prospects and build a foundation for a career in fields such as cosmetology and construction. But they also complete typical academic high school classes, such as English and math.
“These kids not only have that kind of focus and understanding of what they want to do, but they also have skill sets that they can use while going to college to help them defray the cost of postsecondary education,” she says.
Career and technical education has seen somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, at a time when middle-skill workers — those with some education beyond high school, but not a bachelor’s degree — are in demand.
[Learn more about vocational high school programs.]
Teens can often prepare for jobs in the following fields in career and technical programs at high schools nationwide. Plus, many of these jobs have been recognized on the U.S. News Best Jobs list.
1. Health care: Teens can prepare to become dental assistants, pharmacy technicians, nursing assistants and other health care support workers in career and technical programs in high school.
Students at Davies can earn health care industry credentials, such as a Certified Nursing Assistant certification. They can also gain experience through clinicals at hospitals and work-based experiences at pharmacies, says Gailliard-Garrick.
Dental assistants earn a median salary of about $35,000, according to 2013 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They are also in demand — employment in the field is expected to grow 25 percent through 2022, much faster than the average of 11 percent for all occupations.
Pharmacy technicians earn a median salary of about $30,000 and nursing assistants earn about $25,000, according to the BLS.
Those who obtain additional education could become registered nurses, for example, and make a median salary of about $66,000 yearly, according to the BLS.
2. Automotive technology: Students interested in working with cars can prepare in high school for careers as automotive service technicians and mechanics. While demand for auto mechanics is growing at an average pace, these professionals earn a median salary of about $37,000, according to the BLS.
“A lot of them don’t go to your Mom and Pop auto mechanic shop,” says Gailliard-Garrick, of her graduates. “There’s nothing wrong with them, but a lot of them go on to get more advanced training in a specific area or a specific type of car, like BMW — that takes a special kind of skill.”
“Friends weren’t interested in auto shop when I suggested it and now I think they wished they had tried it,” Evan Fischbach, told Bloomberg Business when working at a Michigan car dealership last year. “I’m not rich, but I’m not hurting either.”
[Discover why it’s important to think about your career in high school.]
3. Cosmetology: Teens with a flair for creativity could leave high school as licensed cosmetology professionals, such as estheticians, nail technicians and hair dressers.
Hair stylists earn a median salary of about $23,000, and manicurists and pedicurists earn about $19,000, according to the BLS. Skin care specialists, also known as estheticians, earn about $29,000 annually and employment is expected to increase 40 percent through 2022, much faster than the national average.
While the earning potential for cosmetologists may be low initially, experience in the field could lead to better job prospects.
“Cosmetology is a wide open career path,” says Gailliard-Garrick. Her cosmetology students have ended up working for high-end beauty product companies, such as Paul Mitchell. Others have gone on to receive additional education to open a business or to become educators in the field.
She doesn’t agree with the stereotype that only less-academically gifted students go to vocational high schools.
“That is so untrue nowadays. It’s so untrue,” she says. “And I know for a for a fact at my school, if you come to Davies, you’re going to get an excellent technical preparation and you are going to get excellent academic preparation and you can go on to whatever you want to do and be successful.”
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