Nearly everyone has had that ah-ha moment. You know, when everything suddenly clicks, and you experience a higher level of clarity that propels you forward with excitement and purpose. For longtime Flower Mound resident Kristin Clark, hers came not long after she got laid-off from her marketing role of 20-plus years.
Clark knew something was up that day because she smiled the entire way home. Sure, getting let go wasn’t ideal. But she hated that job—at least the vice president role she’d held for six years.
Even her husband, Steve, said good riddance to his wife’s job once he heard the news.
The trick was to figure out her next step. As luck would have it, that clicked quickly, too.
“I was networking one day, and someone asked if I’d ever done a CliftonStrengths assessment,” Clark said. “We’ve all heard of these various assessments and personality profiles, and they’re all great. However, this one was different because it gave me the words to describe the activities I do naturally. I realized I didn’t like that VP role because I thought I needed to be a strategic mastermind—and I’m not. The CliftonStrengths report spelled this out so clearly. My zone of genius is getting people moving in the right direction together and enjoying it. My strengths were why I was initially promoted, not my strategic prowess. I was working within my weaknesses rather than my strengths and was always exhausted.”
She added, “I was trying to be something that I’m not, and I couldn’t help but think, ‘If I had only understood this about myself when I was younger.’ I always loved to work, but this could have helped me choose a career versus just taking the first role that was offered.”
At the same time, her two boys were starting to plan for college, which was eye-opening. Clark quickly learned that kids are being taught to plan for college backward. Parents, teachers, and even guidance counselors are quick to say college is the next logical step after high school, so students start a robotic method of taking the ACT and SAT, writing essays, filling out applications, picking a university, and choosing a major. This approach may be fine for the handful of college-bound students who already know their interests, what they’re good at, and what they want to be when they grow up. But for the others, they’re simply checking boxes they’re told to check.
Unsurprisingly, most kids fall into that latter category. They don’t know enough about themselves, their strengths and weaknesses, and what they’re good at. Most feel overwhelmed because they aren’t sure where to start and are worried about making mistakes. Perhaps they aren’t even sure they want to go to college.
Three national statistics that most parents aren’t being told back up Clark’s claims.
The first is that 30% of college-bound students don’t return for their sophomore year. The second is that it takes students an average of 5 and a half years to get a four-year degree. Lastly, 50% of kids who go to college regret their degree choice.
“They’re doing all the tactical stuff like taking the SATs and filling out essays and applications, but they aren’t sure why they are going to college, or what they want to study when they get there that will make them happy,” Clark said. “You can have a career doing what you enjoy most—it’s simply a matter of figuring that out first.”
Fast-forward to today, and Clark has committed herself to ensuring that 16-to-26-year-olds understand themselves and their natural talents so they can have their ah-ha moment earlier and start chasing a career they can love.
She achieves this through an element of her coaching business aptly titled College Planning Untangled.
With College Planning Untangled, Clark gets to know students on a personal level and helps them choose a career path that will make them happy. Once they have that vision and are excited about it, picking a major and college suddenly becomes easier.
Sure, your students could follow the ever-popular “figure it out as they go” plan. However, the statistics prove that this plan costs families a lot of extra time and can increase college expenses by $25,000 or more.
“I always ask parents, ‘When have you ever agreed to a four-year commitment without knowing the end goal?’” Clark said. “These kids have good ideas, the things they are interested in have merit, and they can parlay those into a career they enjoy. Let’s face it: the only person who can decide on a career that will make your child happy is your child.”
College Planning Untangled can be summarized into three phases.
The first is career exploration, where students take a career assessment and the CliftonStrengths assessment. Then, they sit down with Clark to discuss and understand who they are, their interests, skills, preferences, natural talents, and possible careers.
Phase 2 aligns career ideas with each student’s life goals and expectations. This includes discussing everything from job growth and income expectations to job descriptions and education requirements. Students are challenged to identify and speak with experts in their potential career paths to gain a firmer grasp on whether or not this truly is the career path they wish to chase.
In the third phase, students feel confident they’ve chosen the right major or another education pathway, such as trade school, apprenticeships, community college, or even hiring a business coach. Furthermore, they understand their talents and future contributions and can express those in job interviews, reviews, resumes, etc.
Clark conducts these phases in six-week small group coaching sessions. She also offers eight-week one-on-one coaching, a fast-track program for students who are further along but crave extra help to fill in any lingering details in their plan, and Family Strengths sessions to get the entire family involved and pushing in the same direction.
“This is a process, and it can take some students longer than others. But the data-driven process I teach helps them make better decisions for themselves,” Clark said. “They are confident in their paths forward and genuinely enjoy what they are doing.”
For more information on Kristin Clark Coaching and College Planning Untangled, please visit www.kristinclark.com.
(Sponsored content)
