This document outlines the key points from a career resilience and self-reliance workshop. The workshop aimed to help participants become aware of their career resilience skills, identify areas for improvement, and understand what career resilience and self-reliance mean. It covered topics such as identifying and building resilience skills, dealing with career changes, traits of resilient people, and skills related to career self-reliance. Participants were guided through self-assessment exercises to evaluate their own resilience and self-reliance.

1. Rosa Martinez
April 19, 2012
CAREER RESILIENCE & CAREER SELF-
RELIANCE

3. WORKSHOP OUTCOMES
 To become aware of one’s career resilience
skills
 To identify career self-reliance areas to work
on

4. WHAT’S RESILIENCE?
 Ability to recover from
or adjust easily to
misfortune or change
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

5. WHAT’S CAREER RESILIENCE?
 Ability to adapt to
changing
circumstances even
when they are
adverse, disruptive or
discouraging

6. TASK 1.
 Self-assess your career resilience skills
(Worksheet 1)
 Discuss your findings and how you can build
your resilience skills

7. DEALING WITH CAREER CHANGES
1) Describe the change. What will you lose as a
result of this change?
Example: Job loss
Losses: Stable job; income; job status; contact
with co-workers; sense of belonging;
professional purpose.

8. 2) Find out everything about the change and how it
affects you. Look for the positives
Example: The job loss was a result of relocation.
My profession is a regulated one here so I first
need to pass a series of regulatory bodies exams
before working as a doctor again.
Positives: I ….

9. 3) Allow yourself time to process what your
learned about the change and about yourself
Example: Focus on your leisure activities or
hobbies; do sports; read a book; meet new
people

10. 4) Explore the positives that result from this change and make
some decisions about how you’ll respond to change
Example:
Options: Change career; get a transitional job; get accredited
as a doctor
Decision: I’ll look for my professional accreditation
Benefit: Greater job satisfaction
Challenge: It takes time and persistence
Next step: Start your accreditation & figure out budget

11. CAREER RESILIENCE SKILLS
 Acknowledge change as part of your life
 Give yourself time to process it
 Look for opportunities change creates
 Know your skills and keep them updated
 Reframe career development around learning
 Be able to compromise and adapt to changes

12. TRAITS OF CAREER RESILIENT PEOPLE
 Team players  Focus on continuous
 Effective learning
communicators  Self-confident
 Adaptable to change  Willing to take risks
 Positive and flexible  Committed to personal
attitudes excellence

13. TASK 2.
 Explore your beliefs and attitudes towards
work search in your field (Worksheet 2)

14. CAREER RESILIENCE PILLARS
Positive Positive
Beliefs Attitudes
Positive Skills

15. CAREER SELF-RELIANCE

16. WHAT’S CAREER SELF-RELIANCE?
To depend or rely upon yourself; to be in
charge of your own career

17. IF YOU ARE CAREER SELF-RELIANT
Growth & development mean:
 Moving sideways, downwards our upwards in
your current position
 Changing employers
 Changing occupations
 Specializing or generalizing
 Choosing self-employment

18. CASE STUDY
Jose, an electronic engineer, used to work as a
production manager, in a textile company in his
home country. When he arrived here, he first worked
as a technician for a small embroidery company and
after a year he changed jobs. Now, he works for a
nation-wide company and he plans to take his
professional accreditation exam by October.
In the long-term he would like to start his own
business so he is saving to take some businees
courses first.

19. TASK 3.
 Complete the Self-Reliance Test (Worksheet
3)
 Think about the ways you could growth in
each of the career self-reliance areas

20. CAREER SELF-RELIANCE SKILLS
 Self-awareness  Matching & decision
 Self-promotion making
 Exploring & creating  Political awareness
opportunities  Coping with uncertainty
 Action planning  Development focus
 Networking  Transfer skills
 Negotiation  Self-confidence

21. AIMGA CAREER ENHANCEMENT WORKSHOPS
Career
Development
& Management
Career Career
Resilience &
Self-reliance Awareness
Interpersonal
Communication Soft skills

22. BE THE HERO OF YOUR OWN STORY

23. REFERENCES
 Brown, B. L. (n.d.). Career Resilience. ERIC Digest. In ERIC
Digests. Retrieved April 18, 2012, from
http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-3/career2.html
 Careers: Self-reliance Skills (2010). In Moreton Bay College.
Retrieved April 18, 2012, from
http://www.mbc.qld.edu.au/mymbc/careers/careers-self-
reliance-skills
 Positive Works II (pp. 22-36). (2004). Edmonton, Canada:
Government of Alberta, Human Resources & Employment.