Achieve Your Career!

Achieve your career!

BHS Achieve

Spring 2015

Name ______

Table of Contents

Part 1: Investigating your career

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1A. Where are you coming from?

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IB. Finding your career

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IC. Analyzing your career

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ID. Career research paper

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Part 2: Getting out there

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2A. Professionalism

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2B. The resume

/ 12

2C. The letter of interest

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2D. The informational interview (of a professional)

2E. Taking notes

2F. The interview (of you)

Part 3: Doing work

3A. Option A: Job shadow

3B. Option B: Internship

3C. Option C: Product

Part 4: Following up

4A. Reflection

4B. Thank-yous

Part 1:

Investigating your Career

Where are you coming from?

(Assignment 1A)

The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about what kinds of careers you’re interested in and how you’ve come to be interested in them. So, in a quick-write, please address the following questions:

What kind of work do you think you want to do? Why?
To what extent do you think your family has influenced this idea?
To what extent do you think school has influenced this idea?
To what extent do you think the media has influenced this idea?

Finding your Career

(Assignment 1B)

This purpose of this assignment is to choose a career that you’re really interested in. You will focus on this career for the entire project--and hopefully afterwards, too.

One great way to get started is to take some career interest assessments. By now, you should have done these three:

The ASVAB
The Naviance Career Key:
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
This is a personality test, not a career aptitude test. People have studied the best careers for different personalities, though, so you can investigate potential careers for your type. A good place to start is
If you don’t remember your Myers-Briggs type, this site also has a free test.

If you are still stuck, try browsing careers instead. A great resource is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook:

Another great site to check out is Big Future by the College Board. It lays out multiple career/college major options by category. It also tells you what you need to do in high school to prepare for each job.

So, your assignment is to respond to the following questions in a quick-write:

What careers did the ASVAB suggest for you?
What careers did the Naviance Career Key suggest for you?
What is your Myers-Briggs personality type?
What careers did the truity.com suggest for your Myers-Briggs type?
Do you see any commonalities in your results? What kinds of careers come up most often?
Do you agree with these results? Do these careers seem appealing to you?
Finally, which career do you want to focus on for this project?

Analyzing your Career

(Assignment 1C)

Now that you’ve chosen a career to focus on for this project, your next task is to do some research and analysis on it.

Use the following questions to guide your research:

How many people do this job?
How competitive is it to get a job in this field?
Are job opportunities in this career growing or shrinking? Why?
What kind of education or training do you need to do this job?
How much do people with this job get paid?
Where do people with this job tend to work?
How much do people who have this job enjoy having it?
What is good about it, and what is challenging about it?
What current issues are there surrounding this career?
What other questions do you have about this career?

The best place to start your research is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook:

Use Cornell Notes to record what you learn about your career, and any questions that come up in your research.

Note: You can use tables in Google docs or MS Word to make the boxes for taking Cornell notes. Go to Insert → Table.

Career Research Paper

(Assignment 1D)

Now that you have researched your career, write up your findings in a short research paper.

What your paper should include:

An introduction
Why you chose to focus on this career
Where you learned about this career
How school, family and the media have influenced your perception of this career
How this career choice lines up with your career interest survey results (AVAB, Naviance, Myers-Briggs)
A brief statement telling the reader what you’ll focus on in the paper

Body paragraphs, in which you show the results of your research on these topics:
Demographics and job prospects
How many people do this job?
Where do people with this job tend to work?
Are job opportunities in this career growing or shrinking? Why?
How competitive (difficult) is it to get a job in this field?
Pay and job satisfaction
How much do people with this job get paid?
How much do people who have this job enjoy having it?
What is good about it, and what is challenging about it?
Education, training and other qualities
What kind of education or training do you need to do this job?
What other qualities do people need to do this job well?

A conclusion
Summarize what you’ve learned from your research
Give an honest assessment of whether this career is a good choice for you
Detail your next steps: What should you do next to learn more about and prepare for this career?

Citations
Use parenthetical citations to show where your facts and statistics come from, for example:
As of 2012, there were 2,100 wildlife biologists in the U.S. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Then give a complete citation in your works cited page, for example:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists, on the Internet at (visited April 16, 2015).

Part 2:

Getting Out There

Professionalism

(Assignment 2A)

Before you start contacting people in the “real world” of work, it’s important to think seriously about how you present yourself and how you act. In short, you should strive for professionalism. This is my serious take on what professionalism is and how you can achieve it. Read it carefully and respond to the questions at the end.

First, here’s a definition of professionalism from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Professionalism: the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well.

Let’s break that down:

Skill
To be a professional, you have to develop your skills. Whether you’re fixing somebody’s car, teaching somebody’s kids or protecting somebody’s community from crime, the people who hire you have to be confident that you’ll do a good job. Some professions require extensive education, training and testing to ensure that people who practice it really know what they’re doing. As a high school student, you’re still developing your skills. However, the skills you’re developing now in reading, writing, math and science provide a foundation for the more specialized knowledge you’ll develop as a professional. You should be confident in what you know and and know how to do, but also humble and eager to learn more.

Good judgement, in my opinion, can be broken down even more:
Decision-making: Having good judgement means making good decisions. For example, to do her job well, a loan officer at a bank must make sound decisions about whether applicants are likely to make their payments. If she makes the wrong decision enough times, it will cost the bank money, and she’ll probably lose her job. Part of what goes into her decision is based on expert knowledge, but part of it is just good judgement. The stakes are even higher for professions where lives are at stake; think medical professionals, law enforcement officials and even engineers. Whatever your line of work, decision-making is crucial, and it’s really important to think through decisions well. When you get out there in the world of work, show that you have the capacity to make good decisions.
Honesty and accountability: In order to be successful, professionals have to build trust with the people they work with. This requires honesty and accountability. Don’t lie, especially about your abilities or background; recognize where your expertise stops. Follow through on the work you take on, and recognize when you make a mistake. When you do mess up--and you will--do what needs to be done to make it right and treat it as a learning experience.

Polite behavior can also be broken down into different parts:
Self-regulation: Professionals need to learn to act in ways that are good for business and building relationships. One thing this often entails is keeping calm under pressure. Think of a manager who has to deal with an upset customer, a nurse who has to deal with grieving family members, or a teacher with unruly students. People in these professions work hard to develop what’s called emotional intelligence: the ability to read and handle other people’s emotions. In the same way, you can’t let your emotions or interpersonal issues interfere with your work. Being professional means putting your job first, and seeing things from others’ point of view.
Image: While it may seem shallow, being professional often means looking the part. Pay attention to how people dress in the job that you’re going for. If you’re a guy going to an office job, you should probably wear a tie and a button down shirt, but if you’re a guy at a construction site you’ll probably want heavy pants, sturdy boots and long sleeves. As a general rule, avoid anything that’s too flashy (logos, bling, etc.) or sexy. In addition to dress, pay attention to how you carry yourself. You want to project confidence and friendliness; look like you want to be there. Ask questions and show interest in things; people are usually really happy to share what they know about their work.
Timeliness: Finally, you can’t be professional without showing up on time and meeting deadlines. In a lot of jobs, failing to show up just once without giving notice will get you fired. Even if you work for yourself, if you don’t show up on time and prepared for meetings, your clients will hire somebody else. When you go out into the world of work, first and foremost, show up and get your work done on time.

Now that you’ve read this, answer the following questions:

What would professionalism look like in the career that you’ve chosen to focus on? What skills would you need, what kind of judgement would you have to exercise, and what kinds of behavior would be expected of you?
Is there anything else that you think professionalism entails, or anything you’d qualify or disagree with here?
Which of the qualities listed above do you think are already strengths for you? Which do you think you need to work on? How will you do this?

The Resume

(Assignment 2B)

The resume is a brief document that summarizes your qualifications for a certain job. Its purpose, along with a letter of interest or cover letter, is to convince an employer to interview you. Use the links here to see sample resumes and resume writing tips. Then, make your resume.

Resources:

Sample high school resume from St. Paul Public Schools:
How to create your resume from the College Board:
Sample high school resumes from Read Write Think:
Resume writing from the OWL at Purdue:
This is geared toward college students, but most of it still applies
The links for the different sections of the resume are on the left side of the page

Resume Requirements:

Your resume should be:

Neat and error-free
Well-formatted: leave space, make it easy to read
Tailored to the specific job or field that you’re applying for

Your resume should include:

Your name
Your contact information
An objective statement: “to obtain a job or internship in the field of ______”
An education section
Your year or graduating class (2017, etc.)
Classes you’ve passed that are relevant to the job
GPA (generally included if 3.0 or better)
Post-high school plans
An experience section
Jobs you’ve held
Volunteer work you’ve done
Things you’ve done that involve relevant skills
A section for other activities, honors, and skills
Extra-curricular activities: clubs, sports, organizations, etc.
Awards or honors you’ve received
Languages other than English studied or spoken
Tech skills

The Letter of Interest

(Assignment 2B)

The Letter of Interest is a brief letter that summarizes your interest and qualifications for a certain job (or internship). Its purpose, along with a resume, is to convince an employer to interview you and consider you for the position. Use the links here to see sample letters of intent and cover letter writing tips. Then, write your own Letter of Interest using the format below.

Resources:

Cover Letter Workshop:

ReadWriteThink Letter Generator: