In my years of teaching U.S. History in Edwardsburg, I was required to include a unit on Careers for all my 8th graders. This was to prepare them for the 4-year plan that the counselors required of all incoming high school students.
Of course, this did not mean that I was able to shorten the content of the history course for the year. All material in the syllabus had to be met as well.
Truly, I didn’t mind. One, it was a good break from the regular core routine for the students. Two, knowing how often I had to change careers in a lifetime that seldom had workers experience career changes, I knew that the future for these students was to know their strengths and be ready to change jobs and careers.
I also felt it very important for the girls to see and understand the vast number of choices from which they would be able to choose and prepare to enter. I grew up in a time that challenged any female to stretch beyond secretary, nurse, teacher or mother (notice I did not say “and” because “and” was seldom accepted and often frowned upon back then).
To me, the unit was fun as well as vital. It also gave me an opportunity to use some of what I gained in the 11-year stint in the business world between my teaching careers in Illinois and later in Michigan. Every year I quoted a Kalamazoo business owner who told me, “All I ask of my new employees is to show up- every day, on time and have a willingness to work.”
Recently, I ran across an article about formerly common professions that don’t exist today. Although there are many if we go back centuries, consider these:
• Milkman – I had a friend who in the early 1970s left a job in the aircraft field to become a milkman – he thought it paid better. The job was phasing out and didn’t last long. I convinced him to go to the community college, be tested for his strengths and counseled on a new direction. He later became the college’s Director of the computer programming department.
• Elevator Operator – Sometimes I still wish we had them. Especially when I’m in a high-rise hotel where children like to push all the buttons before getting off.
• Signalmen – Like much of the railroad industry today, jobs now are computerized. However, in the past to keep trains on the correct track and going in the proper direction, switches and levers were operated by hand to control the rails. Many jobs of the railroad industry are now ones of the past.
• Haberdasher and Milliner – These were the wonderful people who made hats. I don’t mean the head coverings one finds in stores or sporting goods places today. I mean creations. Even the man’s hat wasn’t just “run of the mill.” The hat was made for the head size and the event. Women’s hats were show pieces. President Harry Truman was a haberdasher. My great great grandmother Lydia Bitts Houk was a milliner.
Linnie Paul Cline, the author’s grandmother as a child wearing a hat made by her grandmother, Lydia Bitts Houk.
But all is not lost for the future generation. However, it will take training – and the advice of my business owner friend (I still see him now and then at Fisher Lake Inn).
Looking for jobs of the future?
• AI Engineer – Though engineering is still one of the best jobs for graduating college seniors, artificial intelligence (AI) is a step into the future – not just on sci-fi films. They are responsible for face-recognition, cloud-based voice service and much more.
• Cloud Architect – “The cloud” used to be a scary place, but these people determine computing strategies, monitoring cloud use for security and compliance as well as building a safe future for information.
• Mobile Ap Developer – Some days I think I’m Rip Van Winkle in my own lifetime. What are these phone apps going to provide us that we haven’t even dreamed of yet?
• Head of Culture – I used to be a corporate trainer for a bank holding company. I occasionally worked along with Gina, my sister-in-law, who started her own organizational change company. Her daughter, my niece, Jill, just left as a Director for General Electric to head up a development, training, vision, strategy department for another Chicago based company. What I see Jill as is a Head of Culture. She would handle everything from recruitment to team-building incorporating organizational values and a strong corporate identity.
These are just a few of the “never existed before 2000” jobs.
One of my favorite books that I would read to my 8th graders at the end of the school year was Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Congratulations!
Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
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