Overview
Reflection skills can help students examine their conceptions of work and create self-informed strategies to navigate future jobs and careers.
This article discusses ways to incorporate intentional and regular focused reflection as an important aspect of career pathway transition planning. The insights generated from reflection will inform learners’ fundamental career preferences, creating a compass to help them assess future opportunities.
The article discusses the role of play in career development, choosing career impact, and ways to assess fit.
The article (a 4-minute read) written by Holden Beggs was published in the November 19, 2024 Careerwise Weekly publication by CERIC. Educators can listen to the Recording of Article HERE on this 6 minute recording.
Objectives
- To support learners to develop focused self-reflection skills and career search skills as they apply to career pathway transition planning
- To support learners in developing a growth mindset for today’s dynamic workplace
Instructions
This article provides background information and reflective questions for counsellors and educators supporting learners in career pathway planning. The following prompts support the process of considering emotions, impact, and fit for careers:
- Have learners reflect on which emotions they want to feel in their ideal career (like satisfaction or curiosity), then ask them where in their normal life those emotions usually crop up.
- Have learners write down what kinds of people they want to work with.
- Help learners find the kinds of activities that help them get into the flow (where they can focus for hours on end), or those they find themselves thinking about when they don’t need to be.
- Give learners opportunities for ideation in career development. Have them design potential career paths with a focus on exploring themes rather than destinations (“doing academic research” rather than ”becoming a professor”). Then, ask them to jot down what else they’re exploring (projects, volunteering, etc.). After this exercise, learners can assess the ideas and build action plans.
- Do you care more about helping a large number of people or deeply helping a few people?
- Does it matter how visible / public the impact is? Or would you prefer just the people you help knowing about it?
- Do you care more about enabling other people to succeed, or about building up your skills / achievements?
- Are there any examples of things you’ve experienced that you want more people to have access to? How about experiences you want to help others avoid?
- What about the world frustrates you? (This is often a great source of ideas, as often people get frustrated when they see a problem and can envision an “easy” solution with their skillset.)