CHOOSING A CAREER: An Online Treasure Hunt
For Third Year High School (Values Education)
Authored by A. Teologo with W. Luterte and P. Arinto
Introduction
Do you know what you want to become after college? Do you know what line
of work you would like to specialize in? Do you know what your life’s work
will be?
Here’s an activity that will help you discover the importance of choosing a
career. Working in groups of three or four, look for the answers to the
questions below in the websites listed. Simply click on the website URL or
address to open it. Make sure everyone in your group has a chance to read
each website. After finding the answers to the questions, answer the Big
Question.
Questions
- What is a career?
- Do these terms mean the same: career, job, profession, occupation, and
vocation? Give an example of each.
- What are the four stages in choosing a career?
- Skills are important in choosing a career. Are skills in-born and
permanent? Why or why not?
- There are two types of skills: job-related skills and transferable
skills, or skills that are necessary for most occupations. What
transferable skills do you have and how did you develop them?
- How do you manage a career?
- Is a career for life? Or are you likely to have only one career in
your lifetime? Why or why not?
Resources
Career
www.drkenner.com/html/career.htm
Choosing a career
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/ChoosingCareer.htm
Developing skills
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsdevelop.htm
Factors to consider while choosing a career
http://www.indbazaar.com/education/ssc/index.asp?int=12
Essential definitions
http://www.yorkregion-vcrc.com/essential_definitions.htm
Managing your career
http://www.mbajobs.net/graduates/advice_career.html
Career life cycle
http://www.lifeworktransitions.com/exercises/ninestalg.html
The Big Question
Keeping in mind the idea that a career is not necessarily a job or
occupation but a life’s work, consider the people around you and choose who
you think has an interesting career or a career that he/she enjoys.
Interview this person. Ask him/her:
- what made him/her choose his/her career or how he/she ended up having
that career
- what skills does his/her career require and which of these skills did
he/she have beforehand and which ones he/she developed in the course of
his/her career
- what values and attitudes are necessary for success in his/her chosen
career
- how satisfied he/she is with his career and the factors that explain
his/her level of satisfaction
- what advice he/she would give to young people interested in pursuing a
similar career
Put together the results of your interview in the form of an essay. The
purpose of the essay is to provide a profile of a career person. Be sure
your profile will perk the interest of your readers. Observe the rules of a
well-written essay:
- Provide a good introduction and conclusion.
- Provide enough detail.
- Arrange the information in a logical way.
- Choose your words well.
- Observe the rules of grammar.
This is still a group activity. Work together. Here are some guidelines
you can follow:
- Be sure you all agree about who to interview.
- One of you should make the necessary arrangements with the person you
are interviewing—for example, the time and place of the interview. Explain
the purpose of the interview beforehand so your interviewee can prepare
him/herself.
- Another group member should act as chief interviewer but all group
members should be present during the interview. Take down notes during the
interview. Be polite.
- If possible, take photos of the interview (not just the interviewee).
Taking photos can be the job of the member who did #2 above. He/She should
also write the captions to the photos that you will decide to submit along
with the essay.
- The third (and fourth, if there is one) member(s) (who did not do #2,
#3 and #4 above) should write the essay. But everyone should review the
draft essay and work together on making the final version for submission.
- Submit your essay (with photos) two weeks from today.
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