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Don Herriott: “SC Personal Pathways” Leads to Lots of Good Jobs

By Don Herriott, Head of Global Chemical Manufacturing, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd

So you don’t want to be a computer scientist…now what?

How about a detective? Detectives earn a good salary, especially in Charleston.

The Holy City also is a pretty good place to be a soil and plant scientist.

What if you want to be a recreational therapist? Check out Myrtle Beach where salaries for this fast-growing profession are tops in the state.

Those careers don’t interest you? How about healthcare, where hundreds of good jobs exist. Skilled registered vascular technicians earn a $50,000 paycheck after two years of training. If you are creative you may want to check out www.creativehotlist.com/

Some people think Personal Pathways to Success, the statewide education initiative created by the Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA), is about preparing for “the right job.”

But it is much more than that. Personal Pathways is a foundation for a student’s future built from rigorous and relevant academics, the guidance of career counselors and parents, proper character development and the dedicated involvement of the business community.

Because the EEDA links education and economic development, businesses play an important role by offering information about jobs and careers. Businesses also provide young people with experiences to help them test out potential life pursuits and passions.

We need to let our young people know that the reality of getting the right job in the right place happens only if you have the right education and training. Personal Pathways gives meaning to education, while letting them develop their abilities and achieve their aspirations.

In addition to Personal Pathways programs, the state has other valuable career information available. The S.C. Employment Security Commission, for example, has data that can tell you what jobs are predicted to grow the fastest over the next 10 years.

Not surprisingly, the fastest growing jobs are in healthcare-related fields. The number of therapists, mental health professionals, technologists and health care administrators are expected to grow by more than 30 percent by 2014.

But those aren’t the only growing fields. Engineers of all kinds are in hot demand, as evidenced by the starting salaries they are earning. The average offer for a chemical engineer climbed 5.6 percent to $59,707, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Offers made to computer science graduates climbed 2.5 percent to $52,177.

Marketing majors, by far, experienced the biggest jump in salary. Over the past year, offers climbed 10.3 percent on average, to $41,285. Accounting majors, while one of the mostly highly sought after students by employers on college campuses, saw their starting salaries climb just 2.7 percent to $47,421.

Another factor parents and students should consider before choosing a career is each job’s worth in a community.

For example, physician assistants in Greenville earn an average annual salary of $73,670, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 2005. Physician assistants in Charleston average $93,560.

Have an interest in becoming a forester? Check out Charleston, where the average salary is $70,540 a year. Charleston also offers soil and plant scientists an average of $61,760 and transportation inspectors $61,050 a year.

The possibilities go on and on. And for each option Personal Pathways will be there to help students learn more, experience more and accomplish more.

Be part of the dialogue that will help students create a vision of their future and improve South Carolina’s economic prosperity.

To learn more about the initiative or how you can get involved, visit www.scpathways.org or call 800.763.KIDS.

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