Career Exploration
Pierpont’s Mission Statement
The Mission of Pierpont Community & Technical College is to provide accessible, responsive, comprehensive education that works.
To prepare our students for careers.
How can learning strategies help you prepare for a career and learn a job?
Lifelong learning strategies such as those shown below can be essential in helping you research career options, participate in training, expand your knowledge in the field, improve your work performance, and much more.
Time management to make deadlines
Project management helps manage projects at work and home
Note-taking to help remember tasks and steps
Study skills like using memory aids to remember how to do new tasks and researching information to improve performance and streamline job projects
Stress management to improve health life
Assertive communication to help you ask for what you need
Critical thinking to help better understand the job and the tasks
SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
There is no one, perfect career for anyone. There may be a number of career fields which will fit you and that you will find satisfying.
No job is perfect. In any job, there will be aspects of the work that you like and some aspects that you don’t like.
People can shape their own careers. Think not only about what careers might fit who you are, but how you can mold your job or work environment to fit your personal style and utilize your particular skills and strengths most productively.
Career planning is a lifelong process. Most people change careers a number of times throughout their lives. Finding what we do not like can be as important as finding what we do like. Therefore, it is important to learn what is involved in an effective career planning process. You may find yourself using this process again and again throughout your lifetime.
Career planning is part "happenstance". Planning will get you started and keep you going, but unplanned events and other life experiences will also play a role in the direction your career path takes. Be prepared to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Remember, opportunities are sometimes disguised as setbacks. Keep a positive attitude; Make the most of unexpected events; keep your career options open; make mistakes and learn from them; and continue to learn and build your skills as long as you live.
https://www.cloviscollege.edu/student-services/career-services/self-directed-career-planning.html
Career Planning Steps
Step 1: Self-explore
The first step is for you to explore yourself and your needs.
To help find a career path, it is important to include information about your interests, personality traits, values, and skills.
There are four questionnaires, one for each of the topics above, and a Master Planner to help you assess these for yourself.
Step 2: Explore Jobs and Careers
Make a List
Based on the information you found in Step 1:
Brainstorm. Make a list of jobs or careers that you might find interesting. Even include jobs that you think are neat, but are out of your reach.
When you finish making your list, prioritize them based on how interesting they are to you.
You can continue to add to the list over time.
Research
Learn about the jobs and careers on your list.
Hit the Internet and research what knowledge and abilities are required to perform the jobs. Talk to people that are familiar with the jobs.
Volunteer to get experience.
Contact a business to see if you can talk to an employee who does the job.
Job shadowing involves spending time following a professional as they work. By observing the professional for anywhere from a few hours to several weeks, you can get a better understanding of their particular career. (https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-job-shadowing-2062024)
Click below for questions you might ask if you job shadow
Explore the Careers
Use your critical thinking skills to assess the information you are getting.
Prioritize your list based on what you have learned. Make number one the job you are most interested in and that fits you best.
Think about the aspects of the job when you prioritize. For example, you are interested in writing for a newspaper, and you research and find that most reporters have to travel, and you don’t like to travel.
Think of any disabilities that you might have. You might love to be an airplane pilot, but you have vision problems.
Check for accommodations or other jobs associated with careers in flying.
Include how much more training or education would you need to perform the job.
Maybe you want to teach history. You find it takes six years of college. Do you want to do six more years of school?
Expand your thinking
Explore what education and training can give you.
For example...
Maybe you have been working over the summer in construction or appliance repair. You are good at the job and think you will do this on your own after you graduate.
Do you know how to manage a business (getting a business license, obtaining insurance, construction cost estimating [materials/costs/labor/time], billing, filing and paying business taxes, etc.)?
If not, it might help to take business management classes.
Step 3: Make Decisions
In this step, make decisions about what jobs and careers meet your needs and what don't.
Remove jobs and careers from your list that will not meet your needs.
Determine which things you could compromise with and which things you have to have.
Step 4: Set Goals
To help motivate us to act on things we need to do, it can be helpful to set goals. We can use the SMART goals format.
Goals should be:
Specific: worded to include specific details
Measurable: include how you will know you are doing things that move you toward your goal
Attainable: make it something you actually will do (I might want to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and go to the gym to work out, but will I actually do it? Probably not.)
Relevant: the goal should reflect your job and career objectives
Time-Bound: include a timeframe, when you want to have finished to goal and how long it will take
Example: A SMART Goal for a Job Exploration
Not a SMART goal: “Figure out what I want my next job to be by the end of next month”
A good SMART goal: “Complete at least one career task every week for the next 12 weeks that will help me find a career path that will build on my strengths and align with my interests, personality traits, values, and skills.
https://blog.movingworlds.org/5-great-examples-of-smart-goals-for-your-career/
Some goals you set might include:
get training and education
update your resume
learn better skills for job interviews
practice interviewing
job shadow and/or volunteer
apply for jobs
Step 5: Take Action
Goals vs. Action
It is important to have goals, but acting on the goals is crucial.
If you are having issues with action, explore what is getting in your way and determine ways to help with it.
If you struggle with time management. If you procrastinate or have trouble prioritizing things, click on the links below to gog the the sections under Time Management on this website.
You can Connect with a Coach in our office or meet with a counselor.
access@pierpont.edu 304-534-7878
Putting it all together
This is where you put all of this
Into Your Life
Continue growing and learning
As explained throughout the exercise and activities above, career planning is a life skill.
You will get better at it the more often you do it.
It also should be ongoing and flexible.
As things change in your life, your career plan should flow with them.