WHO Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

WHO
Do You A Career Decision Guide
Want
To Be
Y
When
You
Grow
Up?
ou may have done a double-take at this title, or
wondered whether the ì whoî should have been
ì what.î After all, many of us were asked as a
child ì What do you want to be when you grow up?î We
chose ì whoî on purpose.
ì Whatî often refers to a job title. Everyone is much
more than just a job title, and we would like to encourage you and your teen to think in terms of who you are.
What are the skills, aptitudes, values, unique personality, and (sometimes) quirks that make us ourselves?
When you have encouraged your child to develop this
kind of self-knowledge, she will have gained an understanding of herself that she can take with her into any
situation during any time of her life and in any job or
role she may hold.
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TOO MANY CHOICES?
It was simple for the adoptive parents
of Harry Potter, the lead character in a
popular series of books by author J.K.
Rowling. One day, an owl flew in the window and delivered a letter announcing that
Harry was a wizard. He was to show up at a
certain time and place to begin his seven
years of wizard schooling. All parents and
teens should have it that easy! But we know
it isn't.
Each day there are more new job possibilities being created in the world of work.
ì Dot-comî companies, specializing in marketing and transacting business in a virtual
marketplace on the Internet, are becoming
a significant segment of the business world
and the global economy. New jobs appear
as a result of new technology and new
needs. What tools can you use with your
teen to make informed career decisions?
We offer you two: the 10 Key Steps to Good
Career Decision-Making and the Career
Decision Activity.
CAREER DECISION ACTIVITY
This activity can assist you and your teen to
guide his or her exploration activities and
evaluate job possibilities. As you can see, it
combines self-knowledge with knowledge
about occupations and work environments. Remember, the better the fit, the
more a person is likely to find career success and satisfaction.
INSTRUCTIONS.
Evaluating possible jobs is a four-step
process.
Step 1. Gather and focus self-knowledge.
Step 2. Decide on a few (3-4) potential
jobs.
Step 3. Gather information about the
potential jobs.
Step 4. Compare what you know about
yourself with what you know
about the jobs to see what looks
like the best fit.
10 KEY STEPS TO GOOD CAREER DECISION-MAKING
5. Evaluate the options that remain in light of
your self-knowledge. Consider whether
each possibility is a good fit with your
unique abilities, interests, values,
personality and goals.
1. Think about and write down
characteristics about yourself (abilities,
interests, values, personality, and goals).
2. Learn about the work world through
practical experience (part-time work,
volunteering, apprenticeships,
internships, service learning projects) and
library research. Two great references to
start with are the Occupational Outlook
Handbook and The Complete Guide for
Occupational Exploration. See the section
on “Terrific Resources” later in this guide
for more ideas.
6. Make an initial choice of a job or college
major.
7. Plan milestones or goals in order to work
toward that choice, such as choice of
courses or training program.
8. Act on your choice. Apply for appropriate
jobs, interview, and obtain a position.
9. Become thoroughly involved in the dayto-day activities of that job.
3. Narrow down options through weighing
the positives and negatives of each
possibility.
10. Re-evaluate your choice. If it is a good fit,
continue to make plans to progress in that
career. If it is a poor fit, recycle through
steps 3-9 above.
4. Conduct more focused exploration with
the remaining options, such as
informational interviews.
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STEP 1: SELF-KNOWLEDGE
IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF YOUR SELF: QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
FOR MORE FORMAL ASSISTANCE IN FINDING OUT
MORE, CONTACT A CAREER COUNSELOR OR
SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELOR TO:
NOTE YOUR CONCLUSIONS ABOUT
YOURSELF
INTERESTS
What do you LIKE to do?
Think about classes, jobs, and
experiences you have had.
What did you like most,
and why?
What did you like least,
and why?
Take an interest inventory such
as the Strong Interest Inventory,
the Self-Directed Search, or
many others.
ABILITIES
Take a test such as the Ball
Aptitude Battery® if you want
more objective information
about your natural abilities.
What are you good at? What
kinds of things can you learn
most quickly and easily?
Where do you have the potential to really excel? What areas
give you trouble?
PERSONALITY
Do you like lots of people contact, or do you prefer to work
on your own? Do you like taking risks? Would you rather
have a lot of room for creativity, or know exactly what is
expected of you? Would you
rather develop your own kind
of expertise, or coordinate the
efforts of others?
VALUES
Take a personality inventory like
the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
or the Keirsey Temperament
Sorter.
What is most important to you
in life? For example: a sense of
accomplishment, security, a
good salary, the satisfaction of
helping others, or intellectual
challenge? How important is
work compared to other
aspects of life?
Take a work needs or values
inventory like the Minnesota
Importance Questionnaire.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Become informed about
resources and regional support
networks that are available
to you.
Special opportunities or limitations due to family situation,
finances, geographical location, or other reasons.
Note: If you are interested in taking any of the instruments listed above, call Career Vision at
1-800-469-8378
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STEP 2: IDENTIFY 3-4 POTENTIAL JOBS
may be trying to choose between several
specific opportunities: Job A with
Company X or Job B with Company Y, or
perhaps Job C in Department Q or continuing in your current job.
Depending on your childís age and personal situation, this may be a long or a short
task. Your child may already have had
several jobs in mind before you both began
this exercise. Or, if your child took an interest, ability, personality, or values assessment in Step 1, the results from those
measures may have suggested possibilities.
You could get some ideas by looking
through a resource like the Occupational
Outlook Handbook (See the ì Resourcesî
section of this guide) or by skimming job
ads in the Sunday paper or checking position descriptions on job bank websites. If
you are completing this on your own, you
For the rest of this exercise to be valuable,
you and/or your child should try to be
specific about the jobs you are considering.
For example, instead of ì work with
animals,î choose ì veterinary assistant,î
ì dog trainer,î or ì pet store sales clerk.î
Instead of ì work with computers,î select
ì programmer,î ì network administrator,î or
ì website designer.î
STEP 3: INFORMATION ABOUT POTENTIAL JOBS
QUESTIONS TO ASK
JOB 1
JOB 2
JOB 3
JOB 4
What kinds of tasks do people in the job spend most of
their time doing?
What kind of education or
training is required?
How hard is it to get started
in this kind of work?
Competition?
What kinds of companies or
organizations hire people to
do this job?
What does this job prepare
you for? What is the next
step after that?
Any special considerations?
(Overtime work, travel, geographic limitations, etc.)
What rewards does this job
offer? (e.g. salary, benefits,
bonuses, perks, satisfaction,
foot in the door for other
opportunities.)
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STEP 4: COMPARE YOURSELF WITH YOUR POSSIBLE JOBS
HOW WELL DOES THE
JOB MATCH …
TO DECIDE, ASK YOURSELF…
YOUR INTERESTS
Would you like the day-to-day tasks?
Is it a job you would really enjoy doing?
YOUR ABILITIES•
Does it use your strengths (what you do well)?
Would you be able to easily learn the skills for
the job?
Would you be able to excel at the job?
YOUR VALUES •
Does the job let you do things that you think
are important?
Do organizations that you value hire people to
do this kind of work?
Does the job provide the kind of rewards you
value?
YOUR PERSONALITY
PREFERENCES
Would the job give you too much, too little, or
the right amount of social contact?
Does it fit with your needs for creativity,
independence, or structure?
YOUR LIFESTYLE
PREFERENCES •
Do the benefits and salary meet your needs?
Is the location good for you?
Do the working conditions and hours meet
your needs?
YOUR FUTURE GOALS
•
Is there a clear next step from this job?
What will you learn from this job that you can
take to your next job?
YOUR MOTIVATION
LEVEL
Are you willing and able to sustain the level of
effort the job requires?
Are you willing to get the education or training
required?
“FUDGE FACTOR”
(ADD EXTRA POINTS
IF YOU WISH) •
Is there something about this job that doesn’t
show up in the previous factors that makes it
more or less appealing?
Do you have a "gut feeling" about it, positive
or negative?
TOTAL
Add up points for each question
Scoring for totals:
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ASSIGN EACH JOB POINTS FOR HOW WELL
IT MATCHES YOUR INDIVIDUAL QUALITIES:
1 = PRETTY BAD 2 = OKAY 3 = GREAT
JOB 1 JOB 2
JOB 3
JOB 4
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Score
19 - 24
The job is likely to be a good fit. Go for it!
11 - 18
Do a little more exploration, or see if you can adapt the job in some way.
7 - 10
Look for other jobs that may be related to this one but are a better fit for your
requirements. It may be another job in the same industry. It may be a different level, such as a physician's assistant instead of a doctor. You may also think
of ways that you can adjust the job to fit you better. For instance, an administrative assistant who has a creative and artistic flair may seek a new job where
he can use desktop publishing software to design brochures and newsletters as
part of his position.
Donít take the total numbers too seriously.
The value in this exercise is mainly in the
process of thinking about the job requirements and your own requirements, and
how well the two mesh (or donít).
One important reason you might disagree
with the ì totalî value for a job is that this
simple totaling process treats all of the factors as though they are equally important,
but they seldom are. For example:
• You might be willing to take your ì dream
jobî even if it doesnít pay well and the
hours are dreadful because you think
compatibility of interests and values matters most.
Copyright©2000, 2005
• You might take a job that is a poor match
to your aptitudes and interests because it
gets your foot in the door of a highly
competitive industry. In this case, you
have valued compatibility with your
future goals most highly.
• Or if your Uncle Fred offers you the
chance to crew on his yacht in the
Caribbean next summer, you might decide
to jump at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, even if you have no long-term career
goals associated with tourism, international trade, or water vehicle maintenance.
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