Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hello, I’m Jacqueline Singh, MPP, PhD (she/her), an evaluator and program design advisor based in Indianapolis, Indiana. I identify as a first generation low income (FGLI)—and, nontraditional college graduate. What does it mean to be a FGLI and nontraditional college student? For me, it means that I experienced most of the higher education pipeline as a single parent. And, I received degrees from different types of higher education institutions (i.e., community college, state university, prestigious private university). Work responsibilities, at all stages of life, prevented me from participating in extra-curricular activities. My focus had to be on the workplace, coursework, GPA, paying bills, providing for and raising two children—not necessarily in that order. I also attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) to earn a PhD in higher education. The pathway I took was tough, but it was a viable one. Consequently, I refer to myself as a “Pipeline PhD.”
It turns out that my life experiences came in handy while I studied at Penn. I worked on the National Center for the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW) projects as a senior research assistant at the Institute for Research on Higher Education (IRHE). I always felt at home while taking deeper dives into understanding the educational quality of the workforce—after all, it was essence of a world that I navigated throughout my entire life including high school years.
A key takeaway of my FGLI experience, and as a nontraditional college graduate, is to understand the competencies and bundling of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to reach one’s postgraduation aspirations. Indeed, it’s crucial to continually take stock of your KSAs. Identify your transferrable skill sets and further develop the essential competencies you gained through your academic and professional experiences. As the landscape of work evolves, one must also recognize the increasing importance of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) skills into their repertoire. AI is becoming ubiquitous in various industries, and proficiency in AI technologies can enhance competitiveness in the job market and open up new opportunities for career advancement.
Complementary to taking stock of KSAs is to wrap your mind around labor market information (LMI). With an eye towards your future, remember that the more widely an occupation has jobs in a variety of industries, the more mobile it may be. In fact, some industries pay better than others for the same occupation—and, in different regions of the country. My best advice is to also investigate LMI in your respective field before you graduate.
Check out these Rad Resources to get started:
Rad Resources:
- O*Net Online is developed under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration(USDOL/ETA). This data base is continually updated and available at no cost. It contains occupation-specific descriptors on almost 1,000 occupations covering the entire U.S. economy. As the nation’s primary source of occupational information, it provides data on KSAs and LMI that are useful in helping to learn about occupations in order to be competitive in the marketplace.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a plethora of cool resources, including occupational and career information useful for everyone—regardless of how you identify. https://www.bls.gov/bls/occupation.htm. In particular, check out Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm
- Occupational Employment and Wages in Metro and Nonmetro Areas (November 2020) by Stella Fayer and Audrey Watson, November 2020
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