9781422276709

• Am I a team player who can take directions from others? • Can I handle pressure? • Am I a quick thinker? If you answered “Yes” to most of these, then a retail, sales, or finance career might be for you. Learn the Skills Typically, when people think about the retail, finance, or sales professions, many make the false assumption that most jobs require some formal business education. And while it’s true that stockbrokers, bank vice presidents, account managers, and similar professionals require advanced degrees, many rewarding retail, finance, or sales careers are available to high school graduates. The fact of the matter is, you don’t need a business degree to step firmly into the voca- tional business ventures we’ll present in this volume. An aspiring professional in any of these fields has to know how to think quickly on his or her feet. A secretary has to know the roles of all who work in his or her organization and how to reroute vital information to the appro- priate party in a timely manner, while a customer service representative or telemarketer may have to retrieve information at a moment’s notice to help retain a customer or effectively close the deal on making a sale. Certainly, some jobs of interest to high school graduates ask for a bit more preparation in the form of specialized training. To work as a legal or medical secretary requires training to help learn the concepts, terms, and practices specific to the profession. Anyone working in the field of financial collections or payroll may wish to seek out certification training to become more marketable for advancement. More important, many of these jobs are open to high school graduates with a willingness to learn new skills. In this volume, you’ll learn about the many rewarding career opportuni- ties for high school graduates. The training requirements will vary, depending on the job and the employer. In some retail or office settings, for example, you may be able to start working right out of high school and will receive your training on the job. In many cases, if you want to get a leg up on the competition in terms of preparation, you needn’t look any further than your high school. For some of the financial services jobs, such as bank teller, enrolling in an accounting class will give you the basics you’ll need to feel confident during the interview Introduction  • 9