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C O O L S T U F F 2 0 2 2 • A Guide to Career Opportunities in Central Mass. 5 "Whether you have the luxury of time or not, you should always be thinking about what you're passionate about, what interests you, rather than being stuck in some- thing you don't like doing," Younis said. Picking a place to start One place to start this exploration is with assessments of a person's interests and skills. For example, MassHire uses an online tool called mynextmove.org. There, young people can either look into a particular job or industry or else answer questions about their personality and inter- ests to see what kinds of jobs might be a good fit. Questions to consider go far beyond how much money a job makes, including things like the potential for work-life balance, whether a job requires physical effort, day- to-day variety in activities, and the work- place environment. "If you're an outdoor cat, you don't want to be stuck inside, because it's going to drive you nuts," Younis said. One way to explore these questions in a practical way is to get work experience early. Sherri Hannon, director of programs and services at the Milford-based Tri- County Regional Chamber of Commerce, gave the example of local employer Rentschler Biopharma, which works with high schools in the area and hires new grad- uates, providing on-site training and also paying for the new workers to attend college classes. "They'll start from right out of high school, and they're making pretty good money with benefits," Hannon said. The chamber itself also works with local schools, offering opportunities for high school juniors and seniors to help out in the office in fields like social media and graphic design. QCC and other colleges are increasingly focusing on helping students consider their career plans from the start of their time in higher education, Keane said. Advisors may encourage them to focus on a megamajor like technology before homing in on a specific fiend like informa- tion systems or cybersecurity. But Keane said it's better not to just take general edu- Jibrael Younis Worcester U.S. average Mass. average County annual pay annual pay average annual Industry in 2021 in 2021 pay in 2021 Professional and technical services $114,369 $168,413 $109,013 Finance and insurance $131,634 $183,845 $103,771 Manufacturing $76,570 $99,367 $82,983 Construction $69,888 $87,453 $78,461 Private education services $58,436 $76,244 $59,888 Health care and social assistance $58,072 $64,341 $56,985 Arts, entertainment and recreation $46,242 $49,287 $27,483 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Stastics WHAT DOES EACH INDUSTRY PAY? Workers at Cirtronics Corp. help manufacturers create complex systems like robotics and medical devices. PHOTO | COURTESY OF CIRTRONICS CORP.