Career Coach Workshop IB1 G 11 Parents 2013-Final Version

Parent Guide to Careers:10 Steps to Help Your

Child Prepare for a CareerPresentation ByShaheen Darr

Careers Coordinator

IS YOUR CHILD CONFUSED?

Career ConfusionThe fact is that far too many students enter college with vague notions or are simply clueless about themselves or the types of careers that match their interests.Career dissatisfaction is inevitable if students don’t attempt to understand themselves and what they want out of life before making important career decisions.With the proper guidance, young people can prepare themselves to make good career decisions, including selecting a college major and a college.Career development is a process of preparing children to make good decisions.

The Importance of Making Good Career Choices

Your goal here is not just to help prepare your child for a career, but rather for the right career. Start with a Dream.Young people should prepare themselves to make important career decisions. Hasty career decisions can lead to major problems down the line.Important Choices. Your job as a parent is to make sure your child has help in making the right decisions at the right times.

How You Can Help

Step One: TEACH YOUR CHILD TO DREAM.

Step Two: AWAKEN YOUR CHILD’S INTERESTS

Step Three: ASSESS YOUR CHILD’S PERSONALITY

Step Four: EXPLORE CAREERS

Step Five: EXPLORING CAREER PATHS

Step Six: SET YOUR PRIORITIES

Step Seven: CHOOSING A CAREER

Step Eight: DEVELOP A STRONG WORK ETHIC

Step Nine: BUILD CAREER TOOLS

Step Ten: CONSTRUCT A CAREER PLAN

Dreams open children’s minds to the adult world; they are their first pictures of happiness and success.

Don’t evaluate your child’s dreams. Keep that dream alive until he realizes what it

really means to him!As parents, we need to know about these

dreams and encourage our children to hold onto them. Dreams are children’s guiding stars. We must get our children to dream high, not low!

This step will show you how to get your child not to settle for the bronze, but rather to go for

the gold!

Step 1-TEACHING YOUR CHILD TO

DREAM

What kind of house would you like to live in? If you could be any person in the world, who would you be. If you could live anywhere in the country, where would it

be? If you could retire when you are forty, what would you do

then? If you could create a dream job, what would it be? How much money do you want to make when you get

older? Where would you like to go for a vacation? Would you like to work for yourself? What things would you like to buy and own when you get

older? Is there anything that might keep your dreams from

coming true? What do you have to do to make your dreams come true

be?

Good questions to help you get your child to start thinking about

the future

As you continue to talk with your child about dream you will become closer and

communicate better if you follow a few simple rules:

Honor Your Child’s Dreams.

Help Him Visualize These DreamsWrite Down These DreamsUse Dreams for Self-DiscoveryYou Can Get There from Here-Give them Encouragement

Here’s a simple exercise to do with your child to awaken his interests:Ask him to make a list of his interests.Add any other interests he may have overlooked.Think of new things he might be interested in.Try to think of jobs that fit each of his interests.Talk about these jobs with your child.If your child does not show interest in many things, try to find something new each week to get him to do.

Step 2: Awaken Your Child’s Interests

Match Your Child’s Interests to Careers. You can use the career interest surveys in this section to help your child discover his area of interest and use them to identify possible career choices.1. Florida eChoices: www.florida.echoices.com 2. Interest Assessment :http://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/Students/CareerLibrary/Links/ASSESS.HTM 3. The Career Key: http://www.careerkey.org/english/you/

Interests are not the only career guides. Personality plays a big role in determining the types of jobs a person enjoys and even their ultimate success on the jobPersonality Tests are Fun. After your child has identified his interests, he should start to learn more about himself by taking as many personality tests as possible.These tests can match your child’s personal values and traits to general career areas that are compatible with them.Personality Tests are Self-Esteem Boosters that make them feel confident and competent.

Step 3-ASSESS YOURCHILD’S PERSONALITY

1. The Myers -Briggs Type Indicator:http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp. To learn more about the meaning of this code, go to:http://www.personalitypage.com/portraits.html Here you can look over the 16 possible personality types and see if your child’s personality actually fits his “ type.”

Here are several personality tests that your child can take.

To learn more about the meaning of this code, go to:http://www.personalitypage.com/portraits.html Here you can look over the 16 possible personality types and see if your child’s personality actually fits his “type.”

2. Self-Assessment: http://www.csp.msu.edu/cdc/webport/selfassessment.html

3. Practical Career Assessment: http://www.iccweb.com/careerfocus/index.asp. This is a very practical test that, in ten minutes, will help your child identify possible career fields.

4. Holland Code : http://career.missouri.edu/article.php?sid=146. you can use the results to identify careers that match your child’s personality profile. The Value of Personality Tests.

Personality tests are valuable self-discovery tools.They help children learn more about themselves and what they want to do in life. Is your child an extrovert or introvert? Does he like working with his hands? Does he like working indoors or outdoors? Personality tests help young people make better career decisions because it enables them to understand how a career can fulfill them personally.

Career Exploration Must Address Personal Needs.Key Factors in Career AssessmentSalary. Students should understand what sort of salary they can expect to make and if it supports the lifestyle they desire—before they make their final career choices. Salary is usually the first thing that your child wants to discover.How much will the job pay?Work Activities. Students should gain a thorough understanding of the things they will have to do on the job before they decide on their careers.Working Conditions. Students should have a clear picture of the actual work environment of a job before they choose their careers.Job Outlook. Students should understand their prospects for getting a job before deciding to enter that career field

Learning About Careers. Self-discovery and career exploration go hand in hand. Learning about himself helps your son better understand his career possibilities; learning about careers can enable him to better understand his own needs and goalsHow to Conduct a Career SearchCareer exploration should continue as long as possible until your child is ready to make key decisions, such as:Do I want to go to college or vocational school?Do I know the career path (science, math, business, etc.) that is right for me?Do I know the career field that is right for me?

Step 4-CAREER EXPLORATION

Training and Qualifications. Students should have detailed knowledge of all the necessary qualifications and requirements—before they choose to enter a career field.Your Career Exploration Tools.1. Occupational Handbook: http://www.bls.gov/ocohome.htm . This is a great career browser and research tool.2. Florida eChoices: www.florida.echoices.com 3. Career InfoNet: http://www.acinet.org/acinet/ 4. O*Net: http://online.onetcenter.org/ 5. Talking with others

Exploring career paths is a crucial part of careerexploration because it gives students a realistic understanding of all the things they will have to do to qualify for their chosen career.A Career Path points students in the right direction. A career path is simply a general educational direction that your child must follow in order to be qualified for a career: The courses he must take, the requirements he must meet, and the degrees or certifications he must earn.

STEP FIVE: EXPLORING CAREER PATHS

A Good Way to Evaluate Career PathsIt is important to remember that, by choosing a career path, your child is already making a choice that closes off other options. This is the time to take an objective look at your son’s talents, skills, and motivation. When you talk to your child, you have to be honest and candid about his ability to follow his chosen career path.Students who are not certain of their career fields should follow career paths that give them the most desirable options.Evaluating Career Paths.How long will I have to go to school to be qualified for a job?What sorts of courses will I have to take in high school and college?Will I need more training after college?Will I have to go to graduate school?What major should I select in college?Personal Assessment. When your child has compiled a list of careers and occupations, he can use the tools listed below to identify possible career paths.

Here’s an easy way to learn about career paths:Go to Florida eChoices www.florida.echoices.com Click “Occupations”Click “Occupation Search”You will see 22 possible search topics. Click “Career Areas,” “Career Pathways,” “School Subjects,” and “Post-Secondary Programs”Identify items from each of these sections and corresponding occupations will appear

How to Explore Career Paths

As your child moves from middle school to andthrough high school, he should start to narrow down his search and begin to set his own priorities and requirements for choosing a career. The next step of career development is to learn how to establish these priorities.What’s Important to You? Establishing priorities is a key step in career development. This means that your child can now decide what’s really important to him about a career.

Step Six: Set Your Priorities

Have him list the things about a career that are important to him on the first worksheet.Rank Things that are Most Important to Me about a CareerSalary, Job Outlook, Work Environment, Qualifications, Education, Skills,Work Activities, Benefits, Job Security, Chance for Advancement1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

How to Guide Your Child.

This list can help to get your child to realize that high-paying jobs and careers usually require students to follow more challenging career paths.Asking the Right Questions:Will the salary be enough for me to have the lifestyle I want?Is the job outlook good or poor?I want to live in South Florida; will I be able to get a job there?What is the cost of living in South Florida?Do I have the skills required by this occupation? Do I like this type of work?What are the pros and cons connected with this occupation?

Choosing a Career. After your child has completed the self-discovery and career exploration activities, he should have enough information to be able to rank his career choices according to his own personal goals, expectations, values, and needs.

Career Choice Rank Why I Chose this Career1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

Making the Right Decisions.A magic formula for making informed decisions: knowing yourself +career exploration = Awareness of Appropriate Options.The key is to ask questions of your child! Encourage him do extra research and explore on his own. Urge him to find out more information on his own. Ask him to talk to people in his career field. See what they have to say. Get information from many sources. If you can’t answer his questions, direct him to people who can. But there comes a point when he has to start making decisions about his career and career path.

Your child has been compiling a big file (Careers Portfolio) containing his personal and career information.

Here is a sample sheet that was created using only the information in Florida eChoices:Step 7- Sample sheet 1Step 8-Sample sheet 2

Step 7-CHOOSING A CAREER Step 8-DEVELOPING A STRONG WORK ETHIC

It is now time to take your child’s career development into a new direction:

Building his career tools. These tools are the information,

documents,habits,attitudes, and skills that he will need to acquire and apply to be ready to get and keep a job after college. You might wonder why students can’t wait until after college to learn about career tools.

Students are well advised to learn how to create their career tools early because they will also learn all the ways to make them more effective.

For example, students who understand what skills and accomplishments make their resumes more powerful will have time to start building their skills and focusing on accomplishments at the same time as they pursue their education.

Step 9-Building Career Tools

The last step of career preparation has to do with constructing the tools your child will need to enter and be successful in the world of work. Whether your child is in middle school or high school, he needs to know how to build the tools he will need to find jobs in his career field.The Student Resume You might be thinking: “My child is too young to need a resume.” That may be true. But does he know how to build one? Building a resume means doing the things necessary to be able to have a strong resume later. The first step in building a resume is to learn about its structure and components. If you visit the sites listed below, you will find a lot of practical information about constructing a resume: www.1.umn.edu/ohr/ecep/resume . This is a great, interactive resume builder. You and your child can work through all the exercises to learn how to create a resume in a very short time.http://www.jobweb.com/Resumes_Interviews/resume_guide/restips.html. This is another good “resume tutorial” that will teach your child all about resume writing

Create a Career Portfolio. A resume is the traditional career tool. However, employers today are asking for more from candidates. They want more documentation of their skills and achievements; they want samples of work to prove that a candidate can do what he says he can. Here is a good resource that will tell you how to construct a career portfolio:www.glencoe.com/ps/peak/careerdev/portfolio/index.html Click “Developing Your Career Portfolio.” This page will describe how to build a career portfolio.If you want to use a portfolio builder go to: www.glencoe.com/ps/peak/careerdev/portfolio/guide.html. This is another good resource: www.nde.state.nv.us/we/smp/edplan.html.

How Far Do You Want to Go? The higher up the ladder your child wants to go, the more likely it is that he will need a portfolio. Resumes are sufficient for many jobs, but employers are now setting the bar higher for prospective candidates. The great thing about this career development presentation is that it shows you how to gather all the information to construct a good portfolio.

STEP TEN: CREATE A CAREER PLAN

The objective now is to put this information into a simple format to make it useful as a roadmap.Creating a career plan is actually just a process of answering a few basic questions:1)What are my career goals?2) What are my career choices?3) Why have I chosen these careers?4) Do these choices involve different career paths?5) Have I mapped my courses for high school and college?6) Do I have a plan to pay for college?7) Do I know what skills I need for my career?8) Have I gathered enough career information?9) Do I know what I want out of a career?10) Do I know what is required of me?

What’s in the Plan?

A career plan should include an action plan (things your child has to do), a calendar (deadlines for doing these things), and mission statement (what are the reasons for creating a plan).Here are some things to include in a career plan:Career Choices: How do they satisfy your child’s needs?Career Path: Does he have an educational plan that fits his career choice? Career Skills : What skills and aptitudes will he need to get a job? Career Tools : Does he know how to build a resume and portfolio? Task List: Does he understand what he has to do and when he has to do it?

Preparing your child’s career plan is the culmination of all the steps of career development. A career plan is the blueprint, the roadmap for your child’s success. If he has worked through these steps, his career planning will be much easier for him. All the time and effort you and your child spend preparing will pay off when he creates a practical, realistic, and flexible career plan. We hope that you use the information and tools included in this presentation with your child.

Remember, educational planning and career

development go hand in hand.

The following site provides fifty questions that your child can ask himself in order to construct a career plan: http://www.careercoach2000.com/proactive.htm Career Planners. Career planners are just sheets or forms that you have to fill out. The key is to have the proper information to fill them out! By now your child should have all the information he needs to use a career planner. Here are two career planners he can use.1. General Format for a Career Plan:http://www.marioncareerpathways.org/html/portfolio/page1.htm. This is an excellent career planner provided by the Marion County Public School system. Just download it and fill it out.2. Interactive Planner:http://jobsearchtech.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adm.uwaterloo.ca%2Finfocecs%2FCRC%2Fmanual-home.html. This is an interactive career planner that will take you and your child through all the steps in a short time.Most of the information you will need, you will already have—if you have completed the first nine steps of career planning. This planner focuses more on the world of work.

Careers Blog Site for AKAN

www.akan-careers.tumblr.com Information on University profiles and rankings, scholarships, course and job search psychometric test sites, Universities Application procedure, Testing centers, careers events calendar and much more.

Good Luck with your teenager’s Career

Planning!

Q&A