Blog Assignment 5

Major: Exercise Science
Career Opportunities: Personal trainer, strength coach, physical therapist, fitness instructor, chiropractor.

Qualifications, skills, and experience:
Most of these careers will require a degree of some type. The hardest careers to follow will probably be physical therapist and chiropractor because they require more hours of education then the other three. Chiropracting practice requires that I attend one of the private schools in the country because they do not offer their education through public universities or schools. Physical therapy is similar with the requirement of going to a physical therapy school but they are offered in public universities.

Personal trainer, strength coach, and fitness instructor can all be practiced with less than 2 years of education but if I wanted to earn more money or have a better name for myself I could attain more years of schooling to have better qualifications.

All of these careers will probably want me to have exceptional people skills, good body condition/ active lifestyle, and a passion for exercise. I would need these skills because I would interact with people daily and need to develop relations very quickly at an efficient rate.

Past experience in this field is very important to have because it would show that I had the passion for exercise or that I am a active personal willing to learn. Experience would include working at a gym, message school, participation in active clubs, or any jobs that help me interact with people.

My qualifications, skills, and experience:
I have lived a rather active lifestyle since I was a teenager and that has given me a lot of experience in this field to begin with. I try to stay active and participate in races, weightlifting competitions, and other activities to network and have fun. I am in my third year of college with my expected graduation date of 2011 for my 4 year degree in exercise science. This degree would give me a better chance at attending chiropracting or physical therapy school. My past job experience includes working at as a jet ski rentalist, lifeguard, and Smoothie King. These jobs all required me to interact with people on a daily basis and have good relations with them. These jobs were also active in nature, meaning I needed to be in good condition to perform well.

Position selected:
Given my past qualifications, skills, and experience I think a career that I am well suited for would be a personal trainer. I would pursue this career because I could work this job while still attending school and maybe pursue another career in the future. I have a few friends who are currently personal trainers and I think having these connections would also help me in finding a job a lot easier than the other choices. Personal training with also give me great experience in working with clients on a physical level. I would develop skills needed in future career choices. I think the best way I would go about pursuing this career would be to first get certified by one of the recognized fitness organizations for personal training and begin working on a decent resume and cover letter to start my job searching. I think my biggest concern of my resume would be to start networking a little better and gather more experience with clubs and activities.


Links:
http://www.txwesleyan.edu/exercisescience/CareersinExerciseScience.htm
http://www.acefitness.org/
http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home_Page&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTFILEID=98
http://www.udel.edu/HNES/car-opp.htm