Self-Assessment Concept #1

You and the World of Work Topic #1.1

Topic #1.1: Essential Question Journal Entry What will the 21st century workplace look like for you?

Learning Targets Define a job, an occupation, and a career. Describe how skills, interests, and desired lifestyle may shape career plans. Explain how work life affects lifestyle. List reasons that people work. Identify workplace trends such as the global economy, changing technology, diversity and teamwork. Evaluate job outlooks when making career plans.

Career Expectations A study done in San Diego, California showed that teenagers have the following expectations about their futures: 1 in 3 intends to have a professional career. 1 in 20 college students expects to become an actor, artist, or a musician. Few dream about a blue-collar career unless it is one in the military. Almost all expect to have a high-status job with high pay. 80% expect to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Many believe that a bachelor’s degree is a vital tool for success. 70% expect to earn an advanced degree. According to this study, your peers realize that work is important for the future, but they do not necessarily expect to enjoy their work.

The Reality According to the Gallup Youth Survey, students aged 13-17 are most likely to select the following careers as their top choices: Teacher Doctor Lawyer Sports Field Science/ Biology

The Reality According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following top ten fastest-growing occupations between 2004 and 2014: Home Health Aide Network Systems/ Data Communications Analyst Medical Assistant Physician’s Assistant Computer Software Applications Engineer Physical Therapy Assistant Dental Hygienist Computer Software Systems Engineer Dental Assistant Personal Care Aide

Career Fact Are you training to play a professional sport? Do you know that only 5.6% of seniors who played high school baseball played college baseball? Less than 1% of those players signed pro contracts. Put your education and training first. -Dr. Timothy Kremcheck, NCAA sports medicine, Cincinnatti Enquirer article

Job-Occupation-Career A paid position involving a specific place and time and specific tasks set by an employer. Occupation: A specific set of skills that requires special training, education, or experience. Career: Describe a lifetime work history or long-term participation in a particular field. Career Cluster: The grouping system of all possible careers in a subject area.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” Inspiration “Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” -Confucius, Chinese philosopher

Your P*A*T*H to Success P = Passion: Refers to the strong, positive feelings you experience while enjoying something. A = Attitude: Refers to the way you feel about something. T = Talents: Natural strengths and abilities. H = Heart: Refers to what you believe is important to your life choices.

Why Plan Now? To be successful in today’s job competitive job market, people need to develop two types of skills: Transferable Skills: Work tasks that are used in various types of careers. Specialized Skills: The unique knowledge and abilities needed for specific occupations.

Career Success Tip Being high-tech is often a huge part of your life. Use your existing technology skill as transferable skills for your future.

What Is a Career Plan? To build your career plan, you will: Travel the P*A*T*H to Success. Research career clusters to find career fields that complement your passions, spark your positive attitude, allow you to exercise your talents, and match your heart. Identify skill requirements in your chosen career clusters. Set goals for education, training, and experience.

Succeed through Career Planning Not having a career plan is a direct cause of students’ problems, according to Jean Twenge of San Diego State University: 1 of 5 teenagers does not complete high school. 3 of 10 high school graduates finish high school withy no plans for further education and training. 1/3 of students who start college do not finish it. Without a career plan, college graduates often take positions that are unrelated to their majors, giving up some of the advantages their degrees could have provided in their careers.

Career Success Tip Your talents may qualify you for several very different types of careers. Ask yourself if what you are doing today will become a career skill tomorrow.

Influence Influence: Influences can be positive or negative. The power of someone or something to affect you directly or indirectly. Influences can be positive or negative. Some influences may be stronger and have a greater effect on your behavior and decisions. Influence is not usually manipulation or direct persuasion.

People Who Influence Career Decisions Parents and Other Family Members Expectations Encouragement Teachers Peers Employers Counselors

Career Fact The number one skill employers want from their employees is the ability to listen, write, and speak effectively. The next most important skills are analytical and computer literacy skills, according to QuintCareers.com.

-Eleanor Roosevelt, Human Rights Activist and First Lady Inspiration “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt, Human Rights Activist and First Lady

Environmental Influences on Career Decisions Work Environment: The surrounding and conditions of your workplace. Social Environment: Includes the community where you live and work and your lifestyle choices.

Question to Ask Yourself About Environmental Influences Do you want to stay where you live now? Do you prefer a rural, urban, or suburban setting? How important is the outdoors in influencing your choice of career? Do you want to be close to a place where you can continue your education? Is climate important to you? Will there be a future for people in your career field in the community where you want to live? Do you want to work around people or by yourself?

Influences of Values on Career Decisions The qualities that are important to you. Motivation: Why you set specific goals and make certain decisions. Types of Values: Personal and Family Values Cultural Expectations and Values Economic Values

Inspiration “Some people are your relatives, but others are your ancestors. And you choose the ones you want to have as ancestors. You create yourself out of those values.” -Ralph Ellison, Writer

Cultural Expectation and Values Culture: Your social, ethnic, or religious background and perhaps the community where you live. Ask Yourself… Is helping others important in your culture? Do your traditions consider religion the most important part of your life? Is caring for the environment something that is important to you and your culture? How is money viewed in your culture? Do people avoid working outside the community? Will the businesses and other cultures you interact with affect your choice of careers?

Economic Values How would you rank the following statements in importance when you imagine your future? A career that fulfills your passions and talents. A career that allows you to pay the bills and have money for extras and savings. A career that provides you with a large income. A career that provided you with status. A career that helps other but does not have a large paycheck. A career that requires you to live in a foreign country under primitive conditions. Some careers have intrinsic or extrinsic rewards: Intrinsic Rewards: Built-in rewards. Extrinsic Rewards: External rewards.

Career Fact Income has an effect on people’s health. Studies have shown that the more money people make, the healthier they are.

Getting to Know Yourself Topic #1.2

Topic #1.2: Essential Question Journal Entry How do you choose a career that’s right for you?

Learning Targets 7. Name the seven steps in the decision-making process. 8. Explain how to use the decision-making process to choose a career. 9. Determine your values, interests, aptitudes, and abilities. 10. Explain the importance of a good career self-concept in choosing a career. 11. Identify your personality and learning styles and match them to career choices.

Learning About Yourself Internal Career Design: Matches your interest, abilities, personality and values to your ideal career field. Formal and informal assessments can help you form your internal career design.

Inspiration “I was brought up to believe that how I saw myself was more important than how others saw me.” -Anwar Sadat, Egyptian President

Self-Assessments Self-Assessments: Based on what you think of yourself. The questions you answer in a self-assessment can begin to help you learn more about yourself. The knowledge you gain from a self-assessment is a good foundation for your career plan.

Formal Assessments Formal Assessments: Types of Formal Assessments: Written by psychologies and career counselors who research careers and career skills, then create the tests based on their research. Types of Formal Assessments: Interest Inventories: Designed to help you relate your interest to career clusters. Ability Assessments: Measure how well you perform specific tasks now and whether you can master certain skills in the future. Personality Assessments: Reveals the personal qualities that make you unique. Work Value Assessments: Work Value: The aspects about a career and the workplace that are important to you.

Career Fact Sometimes people start a new, job complete their training, and then decide that the job is not the right one for them. Resigning is expensive for employers and employees. Different researchers estimate that employers pay between $3,500 and $8,320 to replace an $8-per-hour entry-level employee. Job seekers must pay for phone calls, resumes, cover letters, and travel to interviews- making this a costly method of career exploration.

Formal Assessment Results Keep the following in mind when analyzing your formal assessment results: Different assessment appeal to different people. No one assessment is completely accurate. Different assessments give different results. Keep in mind that you are unique. Taking more than one assessment will give you a better picture of yourself. You know more about yourself than any assessment can tell you. The assessment does not tell you everything.

Career Fact If you had wanted to work as an employee of Thomas Edison, he would have given you a light bulb and asked, “How much water will it hold?” One way to measure this uses gauges and take up to 20 minutes. The second way is to fill the bulb with water and then measure the water, which takes only 1 minute. Edison hired only those engineers who used the second, more creative way.

Informal Assessment Experiences Activities in which you talk to someone working in a career, observe someone at work in a career, or work in a specific career yourself. Informal Assessment Experiences Help You: Learn firsthand about types of jobs in a career field. Eliminate possible careers. Understand the world of work and its positive and negative aspects. Create your Internal Career Design

Informal Assessment Experiences Career Events: Career Fair: An opportunity to talk with many businesses about many careers at one time. Career Day: Organized so you can listen, interact, and ask question of people in careers that interest you. Informational Interviews: Talking to people about their career in which you direct the questions. Job Shadowing: An informal assessment activity where you spend several hours following a worker at the job location. Internships: Provides practical experience working in a specific career. Service Learning: Volunteer your time to help the community.

Career Success Tip Build a network of people who know your character and qualities. These contact are people you can talk to in informational interviews. Stay in touch with as many people as possible.

Career Success Tip Volunteering is a great way to gain experience. Make a day of it. Your community may have days designed for volunteer projects such as cleaning the lakeshore, planting flowers, or tutoring. Look for opportunities.

Bibliography Jordan, A., Whaley, L. (2008). “Investigating your career.” Thomson South-Western; Mason, Ohio. Kimbrell, G. (2012). “Succeeding in the world of work.” Glencoe McGraw-Hill; New York.