As students settle in for their midterms, many are considering their career pathways in the courses they’re taking and are likely headed home to conversations about their futures. What career are they interested in pursuing? Given that career field and the related occupations, what would be the best post-secondary path for the skills and training in that area?As students settle in for their midterms, many are considering their career pathways in the courses they’re taking and are likely headed home to conversations about their futures. What career are they interested in pursuing? Given that career field and the related occupations, what would be the best post-secondary path for the skills and training in that area?
If they’ve listened to school counselors and guidance and career development professionals, parents or teachers at all in the past couple of years, these students may know that the science, technology, engineering and mathematics – or STEM – fields are growing and have many career opportunities for them. Jobs in those STEM fields however, continue to require extremely specialized training to succeed.
One of the main career fields with STEM training is the health sciences career cluster. And with 20 of the top 25 jobs for 2018 projected to be in the health sciences field1, students who use career and technical education to learn STEM skills are not only well-equipped for health services opportunities – they have a leg up on their peers by getting practical, hands-on knowledge in this crucial and growing sector.
But civilian career paths like nursing or educational paths through training at medical school are not the only places where students interested in the health sciences fields can explore and get the specialized training they need. The U.S. Army also has many career paths – or Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) – in the health services industry, and it provides the appropriate education classes and training for Soldiers to specialize and succeed in many different medical fields.
For instance, did you know that Soldiers can explore the diagnostics field through their jobs as a radiology specialist (68P) in the Army? This rare career path enables Soldiers to learn to safely operate X-rays and take cross-sectional anatomy pictures for doctors and medical diagnosticians. Watch this video to learn more: https://bit.ly/2L3jBMo
Another choice open to Soldiers interested in health care is an optical laboratory specialist (68H). While this specialty normally requires interested participants to take two years’ worth of postsecondary classes, Army Soldiers can complete the training for this specialty in six months – and their certifications transition with them to the civilian sector after their Army service ends. Hear one optical laboratory specialist’s story here: https://bit.ly/2k0uUc8
And unlike many other fields in the Army, Soldiers pursuing careers in the medical careers have the option to pick what medical specialty in which they want to serve. There are also numerous hiring benefits and opportunities in some of the health sciences fields in the Army – like signing bonuses of up to $9,000 for some of the health sciences specialties right now.
For an in depth look at these exciting careers, visit the Army’s exhibit space during ACTE’s 2018 CareerTech VISION Conference, where the Army will showcase its interactive DRASH tent (portable military tent) with a surgical set up, and will have Army representatives available to answer questions on healthcare or other careers. You can also visit www.goarmy.com/amedd or contact an Education Services Specialist at your local recruiting battalion for additional information.
Full U.S. News and World Report link: https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs Full Radiology Specialist YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0bRU96jL1g Full Optical Laboratory Specialist YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAJGTbDPQLE Full link to GoArmy AMEDD page: https://www.goarmy.com/amedd.html
REFERENCES:• 1 U.S. News & World Report • 2 Becoming a U.S. Army Radiology Specialist • 3 Becoming a U.S. Army Optical Laboratory Specialist
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