EXPLORING CAREER PATHS

 

Kathy Connelly                                  Becky Martin

Professional School Counselor           MSUM Intern 2002-2003

Hayfield High School                          Hayfield High School

Hayfield, Minnesota                          Hayfield, Minnesota

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE LESSON OR PROGRAM

 

Exploring Career Paths is a classroom guidance lesson developed by Becky Martin, MSUM Intern, to assist high school students in exploring possible occupations based on their personality types and preferred work environments. Students utilize an online version of “The Career Key”, an interest inventory created by Dr. Lawrence K. Jones. “The Career Key” is based on Holland’s RIASEC model of personality types and preferred work environments. Students’ scores on the test match them with the personality type they most closely align with. Students then choose 3 jobs that most interest them within that type and explore those jobs using the link to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. The lesson is designed to be delivered within a 55 minute period, but requires students to spend time outside of class summarizing their findings in a report.

 

Suggested Lesson Outline:

The lesson should begin by asking students how many of them have ever been asked by parents, grandparents, teachers or others, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Follow that question with a short discussion about how the answer to that question has likely changed many times throughout their lives already and is likely to continue to change well into their adult years. Help students recognize that making decisions about career paths can be difficult and stressful, but the most important thing to remember is not to panic! Let students know that many individuals change occupations several times over the course of their lifetimes. Thus, today’s activity will give them an opportunity to begin the journey of career exploration, because the more informed they are the more likely they will be to choose an occupation that is best for them.

 

Introduce “The Career Key” instrument that will be used and give a short overview of Holland’s theory, which the instrument is based upon.

 

Holland’s Theory in a Nutshell

·      In our culture, most people identify with one of the six personality types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising or Conventional. Describe each of these types and provide students with a handout that describes characteristics of each type. Information for such a handout can be found at www.prenhall.com/success/.

·      People with similar personalities tend to “flock together”. For example, “social” people are

attracted to making friends and working with other “social” people.

·      People of the same personality type working together in a job create a work environment that

fits their personality. For example, when “artistic” people work together on a job they create

a work environment that rewards creative thinking and behavior...thus creating an “artistic”

environment.

·      There are six basic types of work environments...Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social,

Enterprising and Conventional.

·      People who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality type are more likely

to be successful and satisfied. For example, “artistic” people are more likely to be successful

and satisfied if they choose a job that has an artistic environment, such as teaching dance or

an art class. These environments value creative ability and expression, which are central to

“artistic” personality types.

·      How one acts and feels at work depends greatly upon one’s workplace environment. Thus,

it’s probably best to choose an occupation in which one’s personality matches the work

environment.

·      Most people are a combination of types. Therefore, students should probably consider

occupations in more than one category.

·      The Career Key will help students explore their personality types and the environment they

would most enjoy working in.

 

Instruct the students to begin “The Career Key” found at http://www.careerkey.org/english/. Students will need to sign in and select “Take the Career Key Measure”. Students then choose the answers that best describe them in each frame(job interests, activities, abilities, how one perceives him/herself, values). The “Career Key Test Scores” will show how similar the students are to the 6 personality types and occupational groupings. Based on these scores, students identify the personality type that produced the highest score. Students examine the job listings for that personality type and choose all jobs they are interested in. They repeat this process for the personality type that produced the second highest score. Students then choose “done” and their “Personal Job Options List” is generated. Students should then be instructed to print their list, and choose 3 jobs from that list that they want to explore further. Students should then be instructed to investigate these 3 jobs using the Occupational Outlooks Handbook at http://www.bls.gov/OCO/.

 

Students should be given an outline for their investigation including questions such as:

1.     What is the nature of the work and the working conditions?

2.     What are the educational requirements?

3.     What other certifications, licensure or exam requirements are there?

4.     What are the opportunities for advancement?

5.     What is the job outlook?

6.     What are the potential earnings (salaries) of the job?

7.     What other significant points are important to remember?

8.     What skills/abilities are needed to be successful in this job?

9.     Their thoughts/feelings about this career now that they know more about it.

 

Students should be instructed to write a summary of their answers to the questions, and should be given most of the rest of the hour to work on collecting the information. At the very end of the class period, a wrap up of the session should be conducted. Ask for feedback on what it was like to complete “The Career Key” and what they thought of the results. Ask them how the findings of this activity will help them make future decisions.

 

Remind the students that this assessment is just the beginning of the career exploration process. Ask for ideas about other ways they could explore career areas. Some ideas that should be mentioned if the students do not think of them are...talk with school counselors, family and friends; interview individuals in occupations of interest; job shadow; find a mentor; talk with college students about majors/fields of study; and explore internet resources.

 

CONNECTIONS TO RELATED STANDARDS, COMPETENCIES AND DOMAINS

 

Exploring Career Paths directly relates to the Career Exploration section (c) of the Minnesota Graduation Standards Learning Area Eight: Decision Making. Exploring Career Paths relates to the standard by helping students to “...demonstrate understanding of a variety of career clusters, attributes and aptitudes needed in particular types of occupations and careers...”(MN Grad Standard 3501.0467).

 

The Career Exploration section of standard eight requires students to:

a. determine personal interest, aptitudes, and abilities;

b. establish an explicit career action plan, including selecting a program that meets a career or vocational preparation goal;

c. investigating a career through research, internship, mentorship, or community services placement; and

d. evaluating career choices in relationship to life goals and personal attributes.

 

Exploring Career Paths meets much of this standard by having students explore their personal interests, aptitudes and abilities, and begin to develop their career action plans. They are given the opportunity to investigate possible careers and how the careers relate to their personal attributes.

 

Exploring Career Paths also fits within the career domain of the Minnesota School Counselor’s Model of Developmental Guidance and Counseling. The lesson is directly related to the outcomes of developing an awareness of the career-planning process and developing skills in career decision-making. In particular, this lesson relates to the competencies of evaluating skills, aptitudes, and interests as they relate to post-secondary options and developing skills for locating, evaluating, and interpreting information about post-secondary options. In addition, the lesson also relates to the competencies of developing an understanding of post-secondary options and developing an individual post-secondary school plan.

 

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

 

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2002). Occupational outlook handbook. Retrieved from The U.S.     Department of Labor Website, http://www.bls.gov/OCO/.

 

Jones, L. K. (1998). The career key. Retrieved from http://www.careerkey.org/english/.

 

Prentice Hall. (1999). Prentice hall’s student success career path. Retrieved from             http://www.prenhall.com/success/.

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

 

Becky Martin

MSUM Intern

Hayfield High School

Hayfield, MN 55940

Phone: 507-477-3235

Email: martibe@hayfield.k12.mn.us