Megan Riksen (00:19):

Hello and welcome to the Work Like a Laker podcast. I'm Megan Riksen and today my co-host is Brian Bossick. Hi, Brian, how are you?

Megan Riksen (00:27):

Good, Megan, how are you?

Megan Riksen (00:28):

Hi, I'm doing great. And today we have an extra special episode because we have a guest joining us, Meghan Veltri. Hi, Megan.

Megan Riksen (00:38):

Hi, Megan. How are you doing today? Good. How are you doing great.

Megan Riksen (00:42):

So Meghan also works with Brian and I in the Career Center and she really is a guru, I will just say it when it comes to our topic today. So are you both ready to dive in? Sounds great. Okay, let's do it. So today we are talking about parallel planning and I'm guessing that parallel planning might not be a topic that everybody is familiar with kind of a strange term that doesn't you can't really tell what it is right away by, by reading the words, but we're going to be answering the biggest questions when it comes to parallel planning.

Megan Riksen (01:17):

So we have four of them that we're going to be answering today. So let's jump in our first of course, we better start with what is parallel planning. So Megan, can you kick us off here with telling us what parallel planning is?

Meghan Veltri (01:32):

Yeah, absolutely parallel planning is simply a backup plan for students. So I think a lot of times students have a primary plan and they're very focused on that plan, which can take up a lot of time and energy. Definitely even just developing a first plan, but we encourage all students to have a parallel plan or a backup plan, and really what the backup plan, no one is telling a student that they necessarily need to change their major or their career path. What we're telling you is to have an understanding of what your options are because your plans can change,uand your plans can change for different reasons. And sometimes it's for things that you are interested in. And,usometimes it is because, you know,usomething unexpected happens. So it's always good to have a parallel plan.

Megan Riksen (02:19):

Awesome. So who should have a parallel plan? Is it for everyone? Is it just for specific student population? Brian, can you help us out with that?

Brian Bossick (02:30):

Anyone can have a parallel plan. So this can be students alumni, like any student looking at a secondary admit program, any alumni who is out there thinking about a job, a job change, any student looking at graduate school. So honestly anybody could have a parallel plan. And I think as we've talked about it today, it's, it's really helpful for almost all students to be thinking about this because five years from now, you might be asking yourself like, well, if I've enjoyed this up to this point, maybe do I want to do now to kind of enhance my experience.

Megan Riksen (03:02):

Absolutely so not a bad practice to be able to use in life, moving forward, not just in college, but even moving forward as well. Always good to have that backup. Great. So let's get into a little bit why a student might choose to develop a parallel plan. So I know we have a bunch of different, for example, secondary admin programs like our nursing program, which is super competitive to get into, and there might be some unknowns associated with if you'll get into that program or not. But Megan, can you talk us through just all the different reasons why a parallel plan would come in here?

Meghan Veltri (03:39):

Sure, absolutely. The, the most common reason to have a parallel plan is if a student is seeking a competitive admit program and that could be at the bachelor's level or at the graduate level with the competitive admit programs, it means that you are applying to get into the program and there's no real guarantee that you'll be admitted into these programs. So you can do your best and submit your best application. And you're really waiting back from the committee to see if you were admitted into the program. So that's probably the most popular reason. So a student may choose a career path like nursing or physical therapy or something like that. And they would have a parallel plan in mind to be prepared if they weren't admitted or sometimes it's just, you change your mind. I've had plenty of students who've changed their mind and ended up pursuing something differently. You know, poor grades is always an area that students are concerned about. You know, maybe that biology class that you had, didn't go as expected and your grade was a little bit low. Your grades were a little bit lower. And so you're preparing for you know, if you need to retake or if you don't want to retake, those are some things to consider, but there's also this idea of being academically disengaged. And a lot of times I think students think, Oh, it's just because of poor grades, why I would have to change my career path, but you might be getting great grades. You might be getting straight A's and you are just not engaged in your academic coursework. And that's usually an indicator like, Hey, maybe this isn't the right career path for you, or maybe it's not the right major. Something that has really come into play these days is some economic concerns. So it is a little bit of an adjustment as you transition into your college years, in some cases to realize that it's not all in your control. So I think when you are in school realizing that, right, absolutely. So when you were in school, maybe in K through 12, all everything is set out for you and you might have to make a couple of decisions, but overall, those aren't too too impactful necessarily, but now you are in charge of making all the decisions for your scoring. So you might think everything is in your control that actually the economy plays a huge role in career choice. And so I used to reference in 2008 we had teaching shortage or excuse me, there weren't a lot of teaching jobs. And so people used to have to find other , they had to go out of state, to find jobs and teaching in Michigan or they would change their career path. And now the big situation is obviously the pandemic that is going on with COVID-19. And so we are seeing some changes in our economy and we're seeing changes in what's happening with students plans academically. And so some of those shifts we have to adjust to them.

Megan Riksen (06:26):

And wouldn't you say, Megan, that the nice thing about parallel planning is that you don't necessarily need to say, well, I'm a hospitality major right now. I'm a senior, who's graduating. The hospitality industry is really suffering. So I better change my major. This is now what we're talking about, right?

Meghan Veltri (06:43):

No, no. That's a great point, Megan, to bring up, is that what we're talking about is working with what you already have. So your degree is going to be useful in the area that you're studying. But also it's probably going to be able to transition pretty quickly or smoothly into another area as well. So parallel planning sometimes is changing your reader, but often it is not changing the major. And it's more so understanding your options of what you can do with your current, your current classes or your current experiences that you have and applying them to a new path. Yeah, life transitions is another thing that happens for people. And you know, those life transitions could be, you know, some of the bigger things that happen in life. Sometimes it could be, Oh, you are getting married, you're having a baby. Some of those things, they can be a bit unexpected. Maybe you're caring for a loved one and now you need to move. Uso those are things that happen. I think we try to often separate career and career or excuse me, career in life. And that just doesn't work. Unot everyone develops all of their career passions, right? When they start college, you know, in a traditional sense, you might start when you're 18, you might develop new passions. That's kind of what college is intended for passions and skills. And so if those new things come, you can figure out how to use those in a career path. And then lastly, lastly, your personality fit. If you find that things just are meshing well, and you're looking for a new career path or a new majors and things, we can take a look at the career center, how your personality might fit in with these different interest areas. Great. Thanks. Yeah,

Megan Riksen (08:18):

That's helpful. So that's, that's a pretty long list of why you might need a parallel plan. I think I made a pretty convincing argument there and I get that we should probably all be doing this. All right. So let's get into the nitty-gritty of how to actually make this parallel plan. And Brian, I'm going to give this one to you. So hopefully you can kind of cover what parallel planning looks like for both current students. And then after graduation, once you're in alum and out in the workforce, what might this look like? How does someone start to parallel plan?

Brian Bossick (08:47):

That's a great question. And I think as Megan brought up, there's so many reasons, right? And that you need a parallel plan. So and I think the process looks a bit different for everybody, but one of the things to think about even before let's say you come meet with us, like, there's a couple of questions you can ask yourself, right. So if you were 18 and this was your passion, when you start at school perhaps like, you know, you ask yourself the question of what did I learn about myself so far during college or in the world of work that I've been in? What do I like to do for fun? I think sometimes we look at our classwork and everything else that we have to do is like, this is one path, but do I actually enjoy my classes? Right. Do I enjoy those things in the activities associated with those? Uwhat skills have I acquired at the internships or jobs I've done at this point? And do I want to continue to use those or is it something really different where okay, I'm bored of that or I want to try something new. Um,and what do you like to learn about in your free time? So when you do have time to kind of dive into something, what are you drawn to and is that your major or is that something really different? So I think anytime we start that parallel planning process, just asking some of those questions can get, can get things going and get you thinking about what's, what's maybe the next step. Uyou know, Megan, you talked about,uif you're a student and what are the, what are some ways to jump into that? Uthere's a couple things to kind of take a look at and, and to think about. And one of the first is like, do you need a new major? Um think Megan, you referenced this, right? Like, is that, do you always need a new major now? No, you, you definitely don't. Um, ne of the best references that you can kind of do, u,at we have on our website is to take a look at our career guides and those are really set up by specific major. Um,d they will kind of show you the different classes and the skills and internships. Um,use you might find that in your own major, there's some really exciting stuff that you never knew was part of that nature. Right? So you may be looking at like English and you've always thought of English, u,st as teaching, I would do that just for teaching. Uh,t then all of a sudden you, you get into that and you see all the different areas that it can take you. So sometimes it's just a matter of learning more about your major, right. Versus

Megan Riksen (10:51):

What skills do you already have. Right. That's, that's exactly it, right? Like what do you have

Brian Bossick (10:55):

You learned it in, as Megan said, like, what classes have you taken so far? So I love the career guides because they give you some really concrete evidence to start taking a look at. And then the other thing with that too, is what else, if it's not in your major, what are some majors that have like some similar jobs? So we have another resource called what can I do with this major? And with that one, you can log onto that website and basically see all the different areas that fall under your major or related ones and what jobs it can lead into. So sometimes it isn't even so much like a specific major. Uit's going to be like, if I take this major and I turn it into, let's say, if it's psychology, I can turn into counseling. Like, no, I really want to take this major and I want to turn it into business or I want to turn it into research.

Brian Bossick (11:44):

So, or I want to take my psychology experience and turn it into non-profit. Right. So I think both of those resources are such great ways to like help you between all the different options that you have out there. So that those are some of the things. If you're a current student sometimes too, it's a matter of just asking yourself, is there one skill I'm missing in my major that if I get it somewhere else, then I'm totally employable for this job, right? So maybe you, excuse me, maybe you pick up a minor,umaybe you take an elective class or two that suddenly gives you a computer skill that you are ready now to do research say in the psychology field that you just couldn't have done before. So just thinking about some of those things, how do you build yourself out? Umow do you get an internship?

Brian Bossick (12:29):

That's a little bit different that will give you that edge. So any of those things I think can work out great. So that would be if you're a student I think if you're an alumni, you know, a couple of the questions are very similar, but there's a couple other ones you might want to consider. Do you need additional schooling? I think we work with a lot of alumni who, the minute they think, okay, I'm going to make a career shift. I need a new major. I need a new kind of, I have to go back to school. And, and that's the big question is, do you really need to do that? Again, looking at some of those career guides and what can I do with this major and using other research tools like pathway you where you can kind of see all the different options out there.

Brian Bossick (13:07):

Maybe you don't need that, right? Maybe it's just a matter of, I'm going to take one additional elective course to give me a skill. Uor maybe it's a matter of,uin my job, I can start doing something a little bit different. That gives me an additional skill and suddenly I'm really happy where I'm at. Uand are there professional development opportunities. So I think all of those things really come into play. When you're thinking about, if you're an alumni, do I need to make a switch? Uand so as I said before, opportunities and current jobs, online skill building courses, those are everywhere. Now, I think as the world looks really different,uyou see a lot of opportunities for kind of online skill development, certificates, trainings, things that can kind of like help take you to the next level too.

Megan Riksen (13:51):

And often they aren't super costly, especially right now, there are, we actually have a page on our website that we'll be sure to link to in the show notes that we put free, they're free opportunities for skill building. So take advantage of those things right now, especially

Brian Bossick (14:06):

I a hundred percent agree. Absolutely. You know, and then for the stuff I vegan, you mentioned like on our web page, and sometimes it's a matter of knowing where stuff is. And so I think a big part of that is using your network, right? Talking to people that, you know, connecting with people on LinkedIn, connecting with people in jobs that you want to learn about, and they can tell you about opportunities about places to get those skills. So that would be a wonderful way to build that up. And while that takes time it can be a really good way to start to understand what your opportunities are.

Meghan Veltri (14:38):

Yeah. Brian, I think as you gather more information to help you make the decision that the decision becomes a little bit more natural, usually if you're struggling making a decision, you need more information. Absolutely. Awesome.

Megan Riksen (14:51):

Great. Well, good. I think we've, we've really covered the basics here. I think we have a better understanding of what parallel planning is and how anyone really can use this to smartly plan for their future careers. So Meghan and Brian, is there anything else we didn't cover here? Or any other places you would point students and alums to?

Meghan Veltri (15:13):

Say, sometimes you don't even need your parallel plan and that is okay, good point. I like that in your backpack. And if you needed it, I think it might make you a little bit more settled into your original plan. If you done the research and you realize, no, this is really what I want to do and it feels great. And you can always go back to the parallel plan if you, if you do need it.

Megan Riksen (15:34):

Yeah. I think one of you said earlier that it might be many years down the road that you decide you want to use that parallel plan, right? You could graduate with what you planned on. You could get a career in what you plan on and then you decide, Oh, remember when I was planning for that plan B yeah.

Megan Riksen (15:55):

Allow me flexibility in my job, whatever the reasons is as your life circumstances change. I think it's okay to do that. So if you have this practice of looking at skills and the things you've already done and how those could translate into other places, it's just going to make it that much smoother for you along them

Meghan Veltri (16:13):

Along the way, it can leave for a little excitement in life, just because you graduate with one degree doesn't mean that you are bound to it forever and ever. Absolutely.

Megan Riksen (16:23):

So, so true. And we probably all can think about people we know in our life and even ourselves where that's certainly certainly the case. So good. All right. Well, thank you so much to everyone for listening today, and we hope you tune in for a future episode soon.