The document provides guidance on implementing a three-stage career exploration process to help students find their best career fit. The process includes: 1) Understanding Yourself by assessing interests, skills, values and personality; 2) Understanding Careers by researching career fields, requirements and outlook; 3) Putting It All Together by integrating personal fit, considerations and next steps. Participants will utilize career resources and apply decision-making skills to identify practical options and a plan for further education or experience.
2. • Participants will:
• Examine why students are disengaged
in today’s schools
• Explain why career exploration should
be a consideration for all students
• Implement a three-stage career
exploration process to answer key
questions and take action steps
• Utilize career exploration resources
available to help students develop an
effective career plan
3. • Career Exploration Workshop
Wiki
• Oh, The Places You’ll Go
Paperback
• What Color is Your Parachute?
For Teens
• Access to Career Development
& Planning Resources
LiveBinder—over 800 vetted
resources
4. • I Don’t Choose to Go There
• Bang-Ups and Hang-Ups Can
Happen to You
• Everyone is Just Waiting
• You’ll Be Famous as Famous
Can Be
• All Alone!
23. Knowledge of Yourself
Use self-assessment skills to
explore:
Interests
Skills/Abilities
Values
Personality
Learning Style
24. • Key Questions include:
• What do I like to do?
• What keeps my curiosity?
What motivates me?
• What do I like to work with?
People, concepts, things,
data?
• What do I value?
• What skills do I possess?
What new ones can I
develop?
25. • Action Steps:
• Meet with the counselor
• Take career assessments to
learn more about themselves
• Get feedback from friends,
family, teachers, etc. to learn
about their unique interests,
abilities, and strengths
26. • Action Steps:
• Think about their past
experiences and
accomplishments (transferable
skills checklist)
• Choose courses that help them
gather information about
themselves and that interest
them or to explore a skill area.
What did you learn about
yourself?
28. Knowledge of Careers
Use research skills to identify:
Career Fields
Educational Options
Requirements
Work Settings
Future Outlook
29. • Key Questions include:
• What are examples of careers
in my major or field of interest?
• What do I know about the
reality of the job market?
• What job titles interest me?
• What work environments do I
like?
• How can I find an internship,
externship, or work experience?
30. • Action Steps:
• Visit a career center
• Use an AchieveTexas College &
Career Planning Guide
• Conduct an information
interview
• Choose courses that allow
them to sample that career field
31. • Action Steps:
• Get involved by choosing to
volunteer or join a club or
organization
• Find out about summer
opportunities and internships
• Talk to high school students or
college students in that major
34. • Key Questions include:
• Do I have the resources to
pursue these options?
• What challenges might be
presented in the job
market?
• Where are my academic
strengths—could I pursue
these career options?
• What career clusters
interest me?
35. • Key Questions include:
• How can I narrow down my
options?
• What else do I need to
know to identify my career
objectives?
• What can I do to enhance
my academic life?
• Do I need to conduct more
self-assessment or career
research?
36. • Action Steps:
• Meet with the counselor
• Gain experience (job
shadowing, internship,
work-based learning)
• Attend College & Career
Night Event/South Plains
Career Expo
• Participate in an
organization related to
career interest
37. • Education plays a large
part in a student’s career
exploration process.
• The courses students take,
their work experience, the
clubs they join, and the
people they meet will all
influence the career
decisions they make in
their lifetime.
38. 1. The student learns to project into the
future and to understand the
consequences of their actions and the
choices made today.
2. The student completes formal
assessments and surveys to help them
establish and consolidate their identity,
becoming “identity-achieved.”
3. The student analyzes the effect of
personal interest and aptitudes upon
educational and career planning.
39. 4. The student recognizes the impact of
career choice on personal lifestyle.
5. The student recognizes the impact their
commitment to education has on their
future lifestyle and life satisfaction.
6. The student demonstrates the skills to
locate, analyze, and apply career
information.
42. Cindy Miller
Certified Career Development Facilitator
Texas Tech University—FCSE Dept.
E-mail: cynthia.l.miller@ttu.edu
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/cindyallenmiller
Editor's Notes
It helps them to explore occupations and learn about the job descriptions and requirements.
How many occupations can your student list and describe? Career exploration exposes them to occupations they didn’t even know existed.
When students choose education and training that matches their abilities, they are less likely to change college majors and more likely to complete their education. Others may choose areas in which interest and motivation are lost once they are employed. This could result in overall dissatisfaction with their career.
No test will tell anyone what career is right for them or what career they should follow. Career assessment results can be useful in gathering information about the person and relating it to career types. Test results often help the person to put information in order so he/she can verify or challenge their ideas. These assessments are tools; the decision is up to the student.
No single career is the perfect one for anyone. There are many careers that the potential to meet the student’s career goals, and several ways to find a meaningful career path. Career choice often requires the willingness to balance disadvantages with advantages and to make choices between several alternatives.
Knowing what is hot in the job market is important information, but not the only information students need to make a decision. If students choose a career without knowing what their interests and skills are, then they may learn that it isn’t the right for them.
Fear of making a wrong decision can prevent students from making any decision. Career choices are never permanent. Few people head into one career and stay there for their whole working lives. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the average age worker will change careers five times during a work life.
Their knowledge may be incomplete. Understanding careers requires exploration, experience, and knowledge. The world of work is continually changing, and acquiring a variety of skills that apply to a variety of settings, will prepare them for a dynamic job market.
Actually, their career development has already begun! Attending college is a career decision and your major choice is a career decision. It is never too early for them to think about their future and their career.
Career exploration is a continual process that requires gathering information about yourself and information about careers. Whether you are just beginning to think about a career, or have a good idea of where you are heading, make sure you engage in self-assessment, career research, and experiences that enhance your skills and build upon your strengths.
Think of career planning in three steps. These steps include:
Knowing about yourself is the basis of career decision-making. What are your interests, skills, your values? What are your personal traits and characteristics?
The ultimate goal in the choosing a career is for a student is to find a career field or job that is consistent with their interests, skills, personality, abilities, and values. These traits are not always easy to identify. There are formal as well as informal methods of self-assessment. Self-assessment is the key to successful career planning and requires critical thought and reflection.
Learning about the careers, types of jobs, educational requirements, and job functions are important in understanding the careers that fit their interests and goals.
Begin researching types of careers: identify resources, market information, and evaluate career options.
Their task is to find information resources that meet their expectations and requirements. They will want to learn about types of careers, culture, mission, areas of specialization within career areas, current issues, and major accomplishments.
This step requires students to take what they know about him/herself and piece it together with the reality of the work world. They begin to evaluate career options that are practical for them.
Integration requires decision-making and action planning. The integration step is important because it requires taking what them know about themselves and putting it together with the reality of the work world. In doing so, students begin to identify career options that are practical for them.