Exploring Careers, Workplace Accommodations, and Mentorship

Taking the Next Step In this module, you will learn about helpful steps for determining a career that will align with your abilities and interests. Additionally, you will be provided with information about requesting accommodations as an employee and about the value of identifying a mentor.

Job, Occupation, and Career Yes, they are different.. Job: a specific position where you are employed Occupation: a wide category of jobs that have similar characteristics, such as types of skills or work responsibilities. A person can work at his or her occupation for different employers. Career: The total of all the jobs, occupations and experiences over your lifetime.

Good news…. There is an organized way to approach investigating careers!!

Seven steps in deciding on a career Step One: Take stock of your interests We all have different goals, talents, interests, and values. This means, there are certain careers each individual should not pursue and others where he or she would excel and be satisfied. Determine what you would enjoy and excel at by taking career assessments, receiving career counseling, and conducting thorough self-evaluation.

Seven Steps in Deciding on a Career Step Two: Make a List Make a list of five to ten occupations that interest you. Consider exploring each occupation by job shadowing someone in the field, volunteering at a local agency, or working a part time job in the area of interest. The experiences will allow you to determine if the occupation is one that would be a good fit and is something that you would enjoy.

Seven Steps in Deciding on a Career Step Three: Go Exploring After you have a preliminary list of what you may like to do, find out more about each. This is done by both online research and talking to people in various stages of that career.

Seven Steps in Deciding on a Career Step four: Re-access the List After you have taken time to find out more about each career on your list, start eliminating the ones that do not seem like a good fit. Do not feel badly for deciding something is not for you. This is a good thing. It is what this process is all about.

Seven Steps in Deciding on a Career Step Five: Goalsetting Continue to narrow down your choices until you have only one occupation left. This will become your primary goal.

Seven Steps in Deciding on a Career Step Six: Make a career action plan Every goal needs a plan. Once you have decided what you want to do, plan out where you aim to be in a year, five years, and ten years. Be both ambitious and realistic at the same time. Although setting goals high is great, remember that it may take time to achieve the goals.

Seven Steps in Deciding on a Career Step Seven: Complete the required education Some jobs only require you to have a high school diploma, while others will require you to have a bachelor’s degree or a graduate degree. Once you decide what you want to do, the next step will be to adjust your educational plan accordingly.

Workplace Accommodations In order to be effective in your job or career, it is possible that you might need a reasonable accommodation to be able to perform the essential functions of the position. If you believe that you will need a reasonable accommodation for the position, you will need to speak with your employer about the request. For more information about reasonable accommodations in the workplace, you may visit the Job Accommodation Network at the following website: https://askjan.org

Mentorship As you progress through college and career exploration, it can be valuable to identify a mentor who guide you forward and offer insight. In the next few slides, we will further define what it means to have a mentor and common types of mentorship.

What is a Mentor? Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, but she or he must have a certain area of expertise. It is a learning and development partnership between someone with vast experience and someone who wants to learn.

Why is Mentorship Important? A good mentor is someone who will support and encourage you to reach for higher goals, to take the next step and to push yourself in to succeed A good mentor will: Provide ideas for what to do next in your career Assist you to network more effectively Keep you motivated and on track towards your goals Listen and help you to problem solve

Types of Mentorship Informal: Relationships that develop with a goal but without a formal, intentional “match.” Formal: Someone within an organization who serves and is managed by a program coordinator, who facilitates the mentor-mentee relationship. Peer: Individuals with similar levels of responsibility partner to improve the effectiveness of both parties. Developmental: Someone who listens, questions and enables you to set goal related to your career or professional growth.