Career Planning A SelfExploration Process Career Planning Career

Career Planning A Self-Exploration Process

Career Planning Career planning is a process of self-discovery that helps you identify what you are good at. You need to understand how your skills, talents, values and interests translate into work. You need to find the education and training you need to work in the existing job market.

Career Planning Career planning is an important life skill--it is ongoing and lifelong. It is a self-exploration process.

Hopes & Dreams It is important to know yourself--what you want and need. Having hopes and dreams gives us something to work toward.

Hopes & Dreams You need to understand the importance of setting goals to reach your dreams. When you can see clearly what your goals are, then it is more likely that you will achieve them.

Hopes & Dreams Having a plan helps you to get where you want to go. It is important to remember that goals are not set in stone. Goals may change over time as we change.

Career Planning What will you do after you finish high school? � Go to college? � Learn a skilled trade or go to a tech school? � Join the military? � Start working in a full-time job?

Career Planning Your choice will affect your future earnings as training and education are the biggest factors in determining your income. Ideally, you would like to find work that you love--that pays you enough to live comfortably and helps you achieve your financial goals. All that involves making wise choices.

Career Planning It also means knowing how employee benefits can add value to your earnings and reduce your costs, such as those for education, training, and insurance.

Career Planning Would you rather have a “job” or a “career”? � Job = a work position you have at any point in time. It provides you with the basics—cash and something to do to earn it. � Career = a chosen occupation. The path of your jobs over time. It provides an income with challenges, opportunity for advancement, and real satisfaction with what you do.

Career Planning A job doesn't necessarily make you want to get up in the morning, inspire you to take a deep interest in your work, or provide you with fulfillment. But a career may.

Career Planning Right now, you may have a part-time job, but your "career" is being a student. Your part-time job provides you with money so you can enjoy life a little more. But your full-time "job" is to go to class and study. You love some of your classes; others you barely tolerate. And this full-time "job" doesn't pay you right now. But, later, it can pay off in a big way.

Career Planning So now, going to school and studying are what you have to do to achieve your current "career" goal--graduation.

Career Planning Where do you start? 1. Identify what you are good at. a) Skills, values, interests, experience and education 2. Match your skills to existing jobs. 3. Match your career goal to your financial needs.

Self-Exploration Before you can research occupations or develop your resume, you need to know what skills, abilities and talents you have to offer a program or an employer. Often the first step is to simply brainstorm.

Self-Exploration 1. Make a list of your skills. Try to be open-minded and do not limit yourself to skills that are “employable. ” Being able to play the flute actually leads to very few jobs, but it could lead to a scholarship or a prestigious college program. Moreover, there are other skills that come from playing a musical instrument (such as fine manual dexterity) that are useful in a wide variety of jobs.

Self-Exploration 2. Make a list of your personal interests and discovering your occupational ones. 3. Identify what you value in a job. � Your personal value system--the things in life you find most important that influence and directs your life--should also have an influence on your future occupation.

Self-Exploration 4. Identify what life and/or job experiences you have had. 5. Research what education you will need to attain your chosen occupation.

Skills Think of skills as being something you do well. Pay attention to what people say about you. They can help you begin thinking about your skills and abilities.

Skills Remember, everyone has skills! Know what your skills are: � Be able to communicate your skills in writing � Be able to express your skills verbally Skills can be divided into two categories: soft skills and hard skills

Soft Skills Soft skills that are part of your personality. ◦ They can be adaptive or transferable.

Hard Skills Hard skills may also be called technical or jobrelated skills.

Twenty-First Century Skills Employers agree that… …in order to compete for jobs and be globally competitive, all students should possess Twenty-First Century skills.

Twenty-First Century Skills The first component includes Learning and Innovation and has four components known as the 4 C’s. 1. 2. 3. 4. Communication Collaboration Critical Thinking Creativity What are 21 st Century Skills? (2: 07)

Twenty-First Century Skills The second component is labeled Digital Literacy and includes: 1. Search strategies (search engines) 2. Information credibility (Internet sources) 3. Dealing with information overload 4. How to write for an online environment (email / blogs / wikis). 5. Computerized presentation skills (Power. Point)

Twenty-First Century Skills The Third component is labeled Career and Life and includes: 1. Having the ability to be flexible and adapt to change. 2. Taking an initiative without supervision. 3. Being able to get along with a diverse group of people. 4. Being productive and accountable. 5. Demonstrating leadership and responsibility.

Interests Should you include hobbies and interests in a resume? � Generally, yes. Everything, of course, depends on the interests and hobbies and the position you are looking for. � It is great if you have a page full of important personal and technical skills. But it usually produces a much better effect to have those skills combined with personal attributes.

Interests The importance of listing these personal interests: 1. Employers tend to respond better to applicants who have a pleasing personality. 2. Listing interests and hobbies in a way that’s relevant shows confidence. Personality and professionalism ensure employers that you possess the right qualifications as a wellrounded person.

Values are things in your life that you consider to be important to you. Your personal value system--what you find most important and directs your life--should be a contributing factor in your job selection. Each person chooses what he or she believes to be true, meaningful and important.

Self-Exploration Survey Complete the survey to: � Rate your abilities � Rate your interests � Rate your job values � Rate your work preferences � Identify personal characteristics Complete the profile on the last page.

Experience will come to most people with time, but when you start out in a new endeavor, it's possible you don't have any yet. So how are you supposed to gain the experience?

Experience There are six major avenues where you can gain experience: 1. Part-time (or summer) jobs. ◦ The jobs that help pay the bills are often overlooked or downplayed by new job-seekers. Don't downplay your retail sales clerk or waitressing experience. These part-time jobs show that you can be a responsible employee, that you can interact with customers, and that you understand the basics of business.

Experience 2. Job Shadowing ◦ This allows you to directly observe someone at work. Acting as a shadow also gives you a chance to ask any questions you might have about the job and how to prepare for it.

Experience 3. Internships ◦ All (college) students -- if possible -- should complete at least one or two internships while in school. Not only can internships help refine your career interests, they give you valuable experience in your career field and provide you with valuable contacts for your network. York County offers Mentoring programs to all juniors and seniors. This is a great way to make contacts and learn about specific career clusters.

Experience 4. Volunteering. ◦ If you have done a lot of volunteer work, be sure to show it on your resume even if that volunteer work was not necessarily in your career field. ◦ These experiences show your maturity in recognizing a world outside your school life, and they can also provide you with important contacts for your network.

Experience 5. Class projects ◦ At school, many classes ask you to complete quite a number of class projects. ◦ If you prepared a marketing plan, a business plan, a Web site, or even designed or built a set for the school play, then by all means include this valuable experience on your resume. Don't exaggerate the experience, but do include it.

Experience 6. Temping ◦ A lot of job-seekers overlook temporary agencies because of the misconception that Temp Agencies are only for secretarial or clerical work. ◦ In fact, many temp agencies place students in a wide variety of short-term jobs. . . and this kind of work is a great way to gain experience and confidence.

Education While there are many things that simply cannot be taught in the classroom, there is no doubt that your level of education will have a major impact on your career success. After high school, you have many different avenues available to you if you want to position yourself for better job prospects by improving your credentials.

Education pays in higher earnings and lower unemployment rates.

Education College and trade schools are the two most popular options and may be right for you, depending on your personal career goals, financial situation and range of interests. Just as we shop for products that are "good deals, " we should also shop for education and training programs.

Education Going to college is very expensive. � Private universities usually cost as much as four times what public (state-owned) universities cost. � You want to make sure that you are making a good investment of your time and money. It is a financial investment, so think about what your return on investment will be.

Education � You should ask yourself: How much do you think you will earn when you finish college? � Can you afford to pay off a student loan based on that income?

Pick a school that is strong in the major you are most interested in, and one that also offers lots of other attractive options for you should you decide to change majors as many college students do. � 50% – 70% of students change their majors at least once, most will change majors at least 3 times before they graduate.

Education In the state of Pennsylvania, there are two systems of higher education: State-Related Commonwealth System of Higher Education State-Owned Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

Education State Related Universities? Penn State, Pitt, Temple, Lincoln State Owned Universities? Bloomsburg · California · Cheyney · Clarion East Stroudsburg · Edinboro · Indiana Kutztown · Lock Haven · Mansfield Millersville · Shippensburg · Slippery Rock West Chester

Personality Profile Personality inventories are a way of looking at your preferred way of working relative to other people. You also discover potential points of friction with people of other personality types.

Personality Profile Discover yourself and your purpose. The first question to ask is: Who am I? � To answer, explore your talents and use personality tests.

Personality Profile While no personality type is good or bad, it does help you discover what motivates and energizes you. This empowers you to seek those elements in the work you choose to do, and avoid the things that frustrate and de-motivate you.

Personality Testing It can be hard initially to see how to apply these tests. One trick is to turn things around, and as you identify possible careers, think about what personality type is most likely to be successful in these careers.

Personality Testing As you explore your personality, you begin to understand that who you are is really determined by the choices you make. You choose to react one way or another; you prefer one thing to another. When you know the "why" it is easier to see how you can become fulfilled through the work you do.

Self-Assessment The Jung Typology Test Website provides a personalized list of occupations based on occupational preferences representing 16 personality types according to Carl Jung and Isabelle Briggs-Myers methodology.

Self-Assessment By taking personality tests, you can discover your own personality preferences and how they can be of help in your daily life: relationships, work, stress, time management, choices about your future, etc.

Assignment Navigate to the Personality Profile Webpage. Click on the Self-Assessment link.