Our approach to career planning is rooted in the question of job satisfaction. Money, opportunity and security may be important, but none of these will keep you going for long if the job is frustrating, meaningless or boring. It is likely that you will gain more strengths and personal characteristics. The best job is one where you will shine simply because you are doing what suits you, where you will feel happy going to work in the morning.
A Job that is interesting and challenging for one person may be a total turn-off for another. This raises the question of how we are to go about choosing a suitable job to aim for. Obviously, for each of us, there will be more than just one possibility. But how shall we go about sifting through the thousands of occupational groups that are currently listed in the current catalogues of job classifications?
The answer is that we do not begin our search by looking at jobs at all. We begin by looking at ourselves. We examine our interests; the things that excite and motivate us. We look at our skills, all the things we have learned to do in the course of our lives. We consider our temperaments, the ways we relate to the world and the people around us. We also take into account our values and accomplishment. This is the first phase of career planning. we call it: Getting To Know Yourself.
There are three other phases that will follow. They are described below.
Finding out about jobs
using the information we have assembles about ourselves, we generate a shortlist of jobs that make the best use of our individual characteristics. Then, one by one, we start gathering information about those particular jobs. We read about them, and then, if they continue to interest us, we go out and talk to people who are actually doing those jobs. Here is where we find out if this is the kind of work that you will truly love to do. This is the phase where people begin to experience a sense of certainty and commitment towards your career. We will begin to explore post-secondary education.
Setting Career Goals
Now we plot our course; we determine what we are actually going to achieve. we make some firm decisions about the occupation we intend to pursue and establish a time frame.
Action Planning
Finally, we map out the steps we intend to take which will advance us from where we are today to where we want to go. We make detailed lists of things that have to be done, we estimate the time it will take to do them and we decide when we will start doing them.
We Believe that by following these four phases, people will discover a career path that will offer personal reward, appropriate challenge, and sound foundation for selecting post-secondary education.
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