Guide to Decision-Making Tutorial

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! You’ve come to the point where you have to make some choices. You’ve learned more about yourself: what you like, what you’re good at, and what your values are. You’ve found some occupations that seem to match your personality. You’ve done the research and learned more about these occupations. The next step is to evaluate your options and make a choice.

Your Goal…. Your goal should be to find the most appropriate occupation, not the “right” one.

This tutorial will introduce you to a five step decision-making module and guide you in applying the principles as you make career and education training choices.

Laying the Groundwork Making a decision can be very easy or difficult depending on the amount of information you have about your choices. In choosing a career path, it is important to think about many factors, like the kind of decision-maker you are, what decision- making style you use, and things that can interfere with the decision-making process.

What Kind of Decision Maker Are You? Decided people who independently integrate knowledge about self and options that enable them to develop a satisfying and beneficial career plan Undecided people who have not made a commitment to an occupational choice Indecisive people who are unable to make a career decision and often find it difficult to make plans in all areas of life, and generally focus on outside events or people when making decisions

Decision-Making Styles Planning: Weighing the facts Impulsive: Don’t look before you leap Intuitive: It feels right Compliant: Anything you say Fatalistic: Leave it up to fate Agonizing: What if? I don’t know what to do Paralytic: Can’t face up to it Delaying: I’ll cross that bridge later

Things that Interfere with Decision Making Personal Being tired, run down, stressed, anxious, and unable to focus and concentrate on the decision-making activity will not ensure good performance. Family (e.g., parents, spouses, children.) People who are highly interconnected with another family member can have difficulty separating themselves emotionally and psychologically in decision making. They may lack a distinction between what they want and what the family member thinks they should have. A lack of agreement among family members also present problems. Society Age, gender, ethnic prejudice and discrimination are factors that can affect your decisions, as well as, economic recessions (i.e., job demand for a particular occupation is low) and job growth.

The CASVE Cycle A cycle can be used to show the steps in making a career choice Pronounced ca-sa-vee Adapted from: Sampson, J.P., Jr., Peterson, G.W., Lenz, J.G., & Reardon, R.C. (1992). A cognitive approach to career services: Translating concepts into practice. Career Development Quarterly, “Common Difficulties in Decision Making” developed by Ontario Women’s Directorate and Times Change and from

CASVE Cycle C E A VS

Communication Execution Analysis ValuingSynthesis

CASVE Cycle Step #1: Communication Knowing I need to make a choice Before you begin to gather information, you will need to define what it is you are trying to decide.

CASVE Cycle Step #2: Analysis Understanding myself and my options To make an informed career decision and prior to any exploration of the world of work, it is important to have a good understanding of your own personal attributes. Take steps to improve self knowledge (e.g., skills, interests, values) via career assessments. Take steps to improve knowledge about options with regards to occupations, college majors, work organizations and job industries. Ask yourself: What motivates me?What do I enjoy doing? What are my skills and values?Where do I envision myself working?

CASVE Cycle Step #3: Synthesis Expanding and narrowing my list of options Identify occupations, majors, or jobs that match your values, interests, and skills. Read books, search the Internet, and talk to individuals in the field to learn more about the occupation. Explore issues such as salary, duties and responsibilities, job outlook, and educational requirements. Obtain internship or cooperative education positions. Seek additional assistance from a career counselor or through the career services website. Narrow your list of options to three or five.

CASVE Cycle Step #4: Valuing Choosing an occupation, major or job Consider each alternative in terms of costs (consequences) and benefits to yourself, your family, your community, and your cultural group. Rank or Prioritize your options from the Synthesis stage. Make a choice. Make back-up choice (s) in case you have a problem with your first choice.

CASVE Cycle Step #5: Execution Implementing my choice Design a plan of action and implement the decision. Reframe your 1 st alternative as a goal and then focus on the concrete, active things that will lead you to accomplishing the goal. Identify when to begin and end each step in the action plan. Be realistic Consider life circumstances (family, work, etc.) Consider potential obstacles and how you can handle them. Determine what resources and information are needed to complete each step in the action plan. Evaluate your progress from time to time. Change your decision if necessary.

Remember! Career problems are continuous…they tend to build upon one another. Using the CASVE cycle to solve one problem will lead to using it again to solve the next problem. e.g. choosing a college leads to how to pay for it, which leads to when to start. Where are you in the CASVE cycle?

Good Luck with Making Your Career Decision! If you have questions, please contact Career Services via the “Talk to a Career Counselor” link on our website or give us a call at