<p>To all that responded thanks so much for your input! She is in the process of registering at our LCC for 2 or 3 classes. It is alot more complicated than I thought it would be, between being so close to the spring term and her terrible GPA, but we are figuring it out. She was in a liberal arts and science major with the hopes of transfering into the Vet Tech program. Her love is animals, esp horses.
She is also looking for a PT job, today there is an add for a Vet assistant, full time though. Can she handle 2 or 3 classes and full time work after this past fall , I dont really know.But its worth to check into it. Anyway, what would be your suggestions regarding her cover letter to her resume. Does she state she is hoping to attend vet tech school, mention anything about this past fall, etc. I have had the same job for 29years so my resume writing is zero! She has had part time jobs, volunteeer hours etc.
Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>Just wondering whether, if she cannot yet get a vet tech job, a vet’s office, animal hospital, or shelter would welcome a volunteer. The vet tech program will probably have field work/internships/practicums or whatever, but having the connection already to an office or other animal welfare organization could help with the job search later on. She could volunteer for a few months, for a few hours/week, and gauge how the time spent works with classes, then increase hours or bump up to a f/t job once she knows how it is going to work out. I am hoping she/you can afford those months of easing into things, but many do need paid work, so take this suggestion knowing I understand if money is a priority for her!</p>
<p>Here is the original post started by the OP: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1272003-how-best-handle-daughters-situation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1272003-how-best-handle-daughters-situation.html</a></p>
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<p>I worked fulltime and have taken between two to three courses at a time but I found the courses to be pretty easy (college courses can feel a lot easier after you’ve had life and professional experience). If your daughter is looking to build her GPA back up, then working full-time at a job where there won’t be a lot of dead time for studying could derail her.</p>
<p>BTW, if my daughter had a choice between going to CC or working fulltime in a field that she wanted to eventually get into, then I’d recommend that she take the full-time job. You can go to school at a community college anytime - jobs come and go. It sounds like the training that she’d get as an assistant would be worth at least as much as the community college courses.</p>
<p>Should could always take one course at the CC outside of her work hours.</p>
<p>Yes, the enrollment process at community colleges can take time and effort. I think that there’s a trend at CCs to require counselling before enrolling (in the old days you just signed up and paid) as CCs try to ensure that students have the requirements to succeed and this creates a huge bottleneck in counselling resources which means that you have to line up appointments earlier. The economy has pushed more students to CCs too which means that courses close out sooner.</p>
<p>I think that she could list her eventual goals in the resume under objectives.</p>
<p>For a cover letter, I’d say something like:</p>
<p>I am studying to get a degree in veterinary … and am planning on enrolling at xCC for the spring but I’m open to working part-time or full-time as a vet… assistant. I have experience working as a …</p>
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<p>Just read post #3.</p>
<p>In the current job environment, I think that you have to communicate that you really want the job, and will put significant effort while you are at the job. Perhaps some indication of that should go in the cover letter. You need to have that attitude though if it gets to an in-person interview. No employer wants to hire someone, train them and then see them leave.</p>
<p>My daughter told me that she “wanted to work with animals” as a career when when she was a mid-teenager. I had lots of discussions on jobs, budgets and what it would take to support oneself and the realities of the job market. She is getting an Associates in CS this spring if she can pass Calculus 2 and she has indicated that she would like to work for a while. We will support her whether she works or goes for her 4-year degree. I don’t really care what she majors in as she has demonstrated that she can work hard enough to get a 2-year degree.</p>
<p>I sense that your daughter needs a reality check; going to school (university or community college) is a privilege - especially if you are funding it.</p>
<p>It’s not easy to get into vet school (vet tech is probably different). But, getting into vet school can be more difficult than getting into med. school. SO, your daughter should look at non-vet options. I’m also not sure how realistic a horse-related career is for somebody with such limited experience. There are a lot of horse-lovers out there who can ride well and have worked with horses in various ways by the time they get to college. And, I suspect that part-time assistant jobs may be hard to find - there are a lot of kids who would want them. If she can land the vet assistant position, I would say that she should take it and find out about the realities of working with animals, and take a single course at CC to start getting through the basic courses. If she can’t land the job, then more courses at the CC, and any sort of part time job to help pay the bills seems like a good idea to me.</p>
<p>I would echo everyone else’s comments that perhaps she see if she can get the vet asst job and then reduce her courseload to the one course she feels she can do best at while working at the job. If she DOESN’T get the job, it would be good if she could volunteer to get a better sense of what is really involved in such jobs while take course(s) at LCC. If she needs the $$$, of course, she would have to find something that brought in money & perhaps still volunteer a few hours while taking courses.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>You probably heard all of this on the other thread. Barn managers can do well and many of the jobs provide housing because it is a 24 hr. 7 day a week job. Working your way up to manager involves many hours of mucking, grooming, feeding, and probably a few injuries too. If she ends up working around horses, do not let her go a day without health insurance. Not much pay in the working your up part. Barn managers need to be a combo of business person, nutritionist, vet tech, trainer and handler of much drama. </p>
<p>Has she looked at these websites - </p>
<p>[Equistaff:</a> The Internet’s 1st & Largest Equine Employment Site](<a href=“http://www.equistaff.com%5DEquistaff:”>http://www.equistaff.com)</p>
<p>[The</a> Chronicle of the Horse](<a href=“http://www.chronofhorse.com%5DThe”>http://www.chronofhorse.com) some relevant threads on Horse Care forum</p>
<p>I may have missed this but what state are you in?</p>
<p>I second what Cartera45 said. My sister and her husband own a horse farm in Massachusetts and although they pay their barn managers well they put heavy demands on them and expect them to be experts in all things related to caring for horses and managing the operation.</p>
<p>I wonder if your daughter really knows what will be expected of her in a career caring for horses. Personally I don’t like them: they stink, cleaning up after them is an endless and disgusting job and there are a million ways they can seriously hurt you.</p>
<p>When we had horses, the barn owner used volunteers from the barn on Sundays so the barn manager could have the day off. My D and I always volunteered. We’d feed and water twice a day on Sundays and handle some grooming and turnout. One thing that bothered me about the barn was the the stalls didn’t get mucked on Sundays so I would muck out and replace straw for my two. I loved every minute of it. I don’t mind the way any of it smells and I particularly love the smell of the horses. I would have loved to be able to make a living taking care of horses and my real dream would be to own and manage a rescue, but that takes more money than I’ll ever have. I’ve been kicked and bitten and dragged, but never seriously hurt. My daughter broke two bones in back in a fall at a show. We were actually both lucky. </p>
<p>So yes, it is a job that is as hard as anything out there. She needs to know what she’s wishing for.</p>
<p>If she thinks she is interested in working with animals, I would agree with those that said put the job first and the classes second right now if she can find a vet office assistant or some such job that does not require technical skills and with no real work experience. The job will fully form her interests and could potentially motivate her future class and school decisions. Kid do not HAVE to be in college like it’s grade 13. Some of the most successful college students are the slightly older ones that are there because they found an interest and being in school propels them on that path. </p>
<p>Younger kids sometimes don’t grasp that college isn’t high school with sleep away. To succeed in college kids really have to have an inner desire to be there and be successful whatever they need to do. They also need some sort of inner pointer that propels them toward something. Sometimes students haven’t found that inner desire and pointer immediately after high school. It can also be difficult for kids that haven’t had a job so they haven’t matured that connection between cost and effort.</p>