Topic 5: Career Exploration

Topic 5: Career Exploration


Career Exploration!

… the ultimate road trip to career success!


Please read carefully before moving on to the tasks below.

Career planning helps you learn about yourself, your skills, your strengths, weaknesses, and your potential fit for a particular career. It's possible to quickly choose a career. But to find a career that's right for you, it's helpful to slow down, give it some thought, and take the time to get it right. This is useful whether you are choosing a career for the first time or changing careers for the thirty-first time.

Career exploration is not the same as job searching. Job searching is a short-term pursuit of a position that matches your financial and career goals. Career exploration is a long, progressive process of choosing education, training, and jobs that fit your interests and skills.

Start here to begin planning your trip!


Task I. Self-Assessment
Commit yourself to finding a career that's appropriate to your interests, personality, and values. The first step in career planning is self-assessment, which helps you examine who you are and what you know about yourself.

According to John Holland's theory, most people in our culture are one of six personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. People of the same personality tend to flock together. For example, artistic people easily make friends with and work well with other artistic people. When people of the same personality type work together, they create an environment that fits their type. For example, when artistic persons are together on a job, they create a work environment that rewards creative thinking and behavior — an artistic environment.

A. Click Career Key for a survey to determine your interests and to match them to the six personality types called Holland Codes. Begin by logging on to the gacollege411 website. If you do not have an account, you will need to create one before taking the survey. At the bottom of the Career Key page, select “Begin the Career Key”. Keep this website open so you can return to it later.

B. Record your scores at the top of page 3 of the Holland's Six Personality Traits. Keep this document open so that you can continue adding to it.


Task II. Career Matching
People who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality type are more likely to be successful and satisfied with their jobs: For example, artistic persons are more likely to be successful and satisfied if they choose a job that has an artistic environment, such as choosing to be a dance teacher in a dancing school, an environment dominated by artistic people where creative abilities and expression are highly valued. This combination creates a productive and satisfying environment.

A. Now that you have completed the survey, read pages 1 and 2 of the Holland's Six Personality Traits to learn more about your personality type.


B. The Student-Career Matching Assistant will use your Holland Codes to link careers to your interests and personality. On the gacollege 411 website, start the "Student-Career Matching Assistant". You will see your Holland codes and interests already populated. Select and "Industry Focus" and view the matching careers. Review the careers generated and see if they are truly of interest to you. Record your "Industry Focus" and top three career choices on page 3 of the Holland's Six Personality Traits. Repeat this process two more times. In the end you will have 9 possible career choices listed.



Task III. Career Exploration
Now that you have assessed yourself, it is time to explore your career options. A wide variety of information about industries and occupations is available. Exploring several industries and occupations will help you to discover the options that most interest you.

A. Return to the gacollege411 website. From your list of nine possible careers, choose your top three. On the Career Key page, choose the "List of Careers" tab on the left. Select one of the careers you are interested in. You are now going to investigate the occupation descriptions, worker characteristics, entry-level education and training requirements, work environment, physical demands, and related occupations.

B. Complete page 4 of the Holland's Six Personality Traits with your first career choice.

C. Complete page 5 of the Holland's Six Personality Traits with your second career choice.

D. Complete page 6 of the Holland's Six Personlity Traits with your third career choice.

E. Save your completed document into your My Documents by selecting "Save As". Name this "Week 5 - Career Explortaion".

F. Notify your advisor when you have completed every part of this assignment.


Task IV. Blog Post - Service Learning Weekly Journal

I. Write a two paragraph blog post that discusses your experiences thus far at your service learning placement. Be sure to write using complete sentences, proper capitalization, and proper grammar. You may want to include some of the following in your journal:

• Does your personality type you discovered today in the survey agree with the type of work you are doing in your internship/service learning?
• Knowing your personality, do you think you will have any challenges in the career you want to pursue?
• Discuss any positive experiences you've had in the last week.
• Discuss any negative experiences you've had in the last week.
• What do you look forward to in the coming weeks?
• A picture or visual that relates to your service learning.
  

II. Give your post an appropriate title.

III. Be sure to proof read your work before publishing your post.

IV. Notify your adviser when you have published your service learning weekly journal blog post.