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Are you dismayed with the way your career is shaping up? More accurately, has it something to do with the lack of direction in your career management?

If that be the case, you are in need of a thorough overhaul of your career planning. You want to explore career job opportunities in areas totally different from what you are engaged in right now. While this is not impossible to achieve, one must remember that all career fields are not the same.

Often they require a completely different set of attributes and mind sets. For example, your expertise in legal security doesn’t necessarily qualify you to be a successful nurse or paramedic. This is something you need to remember before you opt for a radical career transition.

Now since all career fields are different, it is important that you do not suffer from any pre-conceived notions regarding your abilities. Feel-good assumptions having no basis in reality are the worst enemy of your career development goals.

Before seriously deciding on a career change, you need to step back a little, get a perspective on your career planning, and do some thorough research on the career fields that interest you. These may be anything from teaching, medicine, law, retail, to automobiles. The research should cover aspects like current and projected job prospects, average pay, requirements in terms of skill sets and so on. All the related career information that you may need can be obtained either online or at the local library.

Once you have zeroed in on a few career fields that you would be interested in, you may start searching for job openings. Don’t apply for those jobs just yet. Instead, it is advisable to examine these options with respect to the criteria mentioned above.

One of the primary concerns will be your earning prospects. You need to check if the salary and benefits offered in those positions are enough to carry out your financial obligations. Some circumstances like job satisfaction, additional benefits and prospects of career advancement may allow you to take a pay cut; but the onus of making the final decision rests with you.

Another such criterion in your quest for career development is the specific job requirements. You will want to examine some of the job openings in the light of required education, training, skills, aptitude, previous work experience, and the like. What is nice about this part of the research is that data in this regard is easy to come by.

You will find that most job listings, both in print and in online recruitment portals, usually outline all the requirements for the job. You will easily get a good idea as to whether or not you have got what it takes to qualify for your career dream find. If you find any divergence between your ambitions of career transition and the requirements of achieving them, you may want to invest in a few career training courses to help upgrade your expertise and experience.

Continuing with career training, you could access various kinds of courses, all designed to help you prepare for your career dream find. For example, if you want to become a successful accountant, you will have to learn how to keep books of accounts, prepare balance sheets and cash flow statements, maintain records of transactions; prepare tax returns, and so on. Needless to say, the period of training required will depend on the direction in which your career planning goals take you.

If you decide on attending career training courses to improve your chances of making a successful career transition, you will need to look for the career coaching option that will suit your requirements. Many career training courses are advertised in local newspapers. You could visit the local colleges and vocational centers to see what courses they offer.

You may also opt for online career training. These courses will cost you money, but it will invariably be worth it in the end. Hopefully the outcome of the whole exercise will be a foothold into a new career field and a stepping stone to career advancement and job satisfaction.

The word coaching is synonymous with sports teams.A coach can help athletes to develop the mindset to achieve, to set and achieve goals that to many people seem insurmountable, but with focus and clarity, can be met or exceeded.They can help a sportsperson to reach their full potential by planning structured training programmes, providing feedback on performance, and helping them to become more effective.

However, coaching has become more prevalent in other areas.Life coaching has developed significantly over the last few years, with many coaches specialising in niche areas such as health, financial and career coaching to name a few.

To concentrate on the rising demand for employing a career coach, why should you choose a coach to help you to progress in your career?

A career coach will help you in many ways.Like in the description of a sports coach above, they will help you to develop and reach your potential, be successful and achieve results.A career coach will normally work with you on a one-to-one basis and will often offer group workshops, teleseminars and e-books to support youto progress in your career.

A career coach can help you in the following areas:

Career exploration and discovery

You may be unhappy or dissatisfied in your job and feel that there is something else out there, but are not sure what it is.A career coach can help you to discover what is important to you in your job and make sure that it uses your talents, skills, and strengths, and provides you with the reward you deserve.

Understand your strengths and weaknesses

A career coach will help you to develop an insight into your strengths and weaknesses.This will allow you to understand yourself better and support any decisions you make in your career.It will highlight areas you may not have considered before and you can address any weaknesses that may be holding you back or use them to your advantage.

Develop your career vision and design your career

A career coach can help you to structure a plan to progress your career. By helping you to understand your skills and abilities, they can help you to plan your ideal job and how you are going to get there.

Develop confidence in your own ability

You may have a plan for your future, but you may be consciously or subconsciously holding yourself back.A career coach can help you to develop greater confidence in your ability as well as providing you with the support and motivation to help you to achieve your goal.

Provide job search support

A career coach can help you during all stages of your job search.From helping you to develop your CV, to finding the ideal job and then succeeding at the interview, a career coach will support you every step of the way.

Help you to get ready for promotion

You don’t need to want to change your career to benefit from employing a career coach.They can help you to get ready for promotion, plan for the next step in your career, and support you to develop your talents.

Support you in the workplace

If you are unhappy at work, there may be many reasons why this may be so.A career coach can also help you to deal with difficult situations or peopleand become more assertive.You can increase your profile at work, build better relationships and improve your own personal effectiveness.

Make sure that your goals are congruent with other parts of your life

A career does not exist on its own and is part of your overall life.It is important that a career coach makes sure that your career goals fit in well with other parts of your life.For example, if work/life balance is essential for you, they will ensure that you consider this when planning or progressing your career.

Provide you with greater self awareness

Some career coaches will use psychometric tests or other techniques that will help you to develop a greater self awareness of yourself.A greater self awareness will help you to understand yourself better, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.

Support you every step of the way

Like other coaches, career coaches will support you every step of the way.

Their role is to:

-Challenge you and ensure that you commit to making the changes you desire.

- Hold you accountable to the actions you want to take. You will need to report on your results, which means that as well as being accountable to yourself, you need to demonstrate what you have achieved to your coach.

- Question you and challenge your ideas and thoughts.

- Listen to youwithout any agenda for themselves, which gives you a chance to come up with your own solutions which are right for you.

- Celebrate your successes and recognise when you have overcome difficulties or challenges.

- Keep you motivated even when the going gets tough!

Copyright Karen Williams 2008. All Rights Reserved

In “Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit,” Racer Career will have you not only avoiding the cops, but other drivers too as you look to increase your bounty and unlock faster cars. Sr. Producer Matt Webster explains to Adam Sessler how it will work. For more on Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, go here: g4tv.com

According Ediger (2000), elementary school career education is important. Ediger stated that “the elementary school years are not too early to begin to achieve a vision of what one desires to do in life contributing to the world of work”. Without career education, students have unrealistic perceptions of careers due to a lack of knowledge and poor decision making. Students have limited knowledge and exposure to careers. (2,3) When students look at the different industries e.g. sports, media and entertainment, most students underestimate the skills and time required to have successful careers. (3)

The Basics for Elementary School Career Education Programs

In career awareness programs, students do not make premature career choices. Elementary school career education is not career exploration or career preparation. Elementary students remain open to new career ideas and possibilities. (7,8,13,15) Elementary students build awareness of self, personal interactions, school, and the workforce. (2,15) Elementary school counselors and teachers build self-awareness, family awareness, school awareness, community awareness, career/ work awareness, attitude development, skill development, decision making strategies, and self-worth. (2,4,11)

Career awareness programs use age appropriate materials that match the developmental levels of the students. Age appropriate activities expose students to a variety of different jobs, career information sources, and the reasons why people work. Programs also incorporate academic career pathways into classroom activities. According to CareerTec (2000), the preliminary career education skills serve as foundations for future skills. As the students progress, previous skills are reinforced, developed, and expanded. (2,4,11)

As elementary students get older, the students modify career visions and goals. After completing an elementary school career awareness program, students have higher grades, higher academic achievement, improved school involvement, as well as an increase in career awareness exploration, personal, and interpersonal skills. (1,15) In addition, the students complete more complex courses and have a higher graduation rate from high school. (9)

In summary, in career programs, students:

Learn and apply the academic material

Know and value self

Build self-esteem and confidence

Identify interests and build relationships between the school environment and the work force

Build academic, communication, problem solving, and social skills

Increase awareness of the need for future jobs skills

See the connections between learning in school, academic skills, job related skills, and careers

See career possibilities

See themselves as a future contributor to the job force

Receive empowerment

Build self-determination (2,7,9)

Examples of Elementary School Career Education Resources

Career awareness programs widely use tools are the Individual Career Plan (ICP) and the Individual Career Develop Portfolio. According to the Ohio State Department of Education (2000), Individual Career Plans (ICP) are essential for the development of self-awareness, employability skills, decision making and goal setting, community involvement, economics, and the reduction of bias. Students use the Individual Career Plans as they identify and explore initial career goals and educational plans. Elementary students use Individual Career Plan (ICP) to develop skills and to prepare to make future educational and career decisions. (12)

Another important tool is the Individual Career Develop Portfolio. Individual Career Develop Portfolios are collections of the career awareness activities and experiences that have occurred during the school year. (12) Other elementary school career awareness activities include:

Artistic displays

Career Days

Career Fairs

Career research

Career videos

Collages, murals

Community speakers

Educational games

Family group discussions

Field trips

Information interviewing

Job shadowing

Library book report

Mentors

Poetry

Phonics

Pictured dictionary

Puppets

Role playing

Scrapbook

Story reading

Student group discussions

Word search and comprehension activities (8,9,11,12,16)

Elementary school programs help students build connections between academics and real life situations. (9) Teachers and counselors use career education principles to stress the importance of language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. Language arts have many uses in the workplace: Reading, writing, and listening skills. The uses for Mathematics include: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills to solve problems. In Social Studies, students gain understanding about other countries, languages, cultures, and the aspects of living in a global marketplace. Students learn the importance of Science having skills to solve problems as well as understanding how science is involved in different industries, such as food, media, agricultural, and automotive industries. (8)

Guidelines for Elementary Education Career Resources – National Career Development Guidelines

The NCDG Guidelines is a career knowledge, skills, and decision-making framework. The NCDG framework has three domains, goals, and indicators. Teachers and counselors use the domains, goals, and indicators as guidelines to design and create career resources. The three domains are: Personal Social Development (PS), Educational Achievement and Lifelong Learning (ED), and Career Management (CM). Each domain represents a developmental area in a career education program. Under each domain are goals or competencies. Under each goal, indicators highlight the knowledge and skills needed to achieve the goal. The National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) is the foundation for career education products, research development, tests and tools. (14)

Summary

Elementary school career education programs build self-awareness, family awareness, school awareness, community awareness, career/ work awareness, attitude development, skill development, decision making strategies, and self-worth. Elementary school career awareness programs use age appropriate materials that match the developmental levels of the students. As a results of career education, schools reported that students had higher grades and academic achievement, improvement in school involvement and performance, as well as an increase in career awareness exploration, personal, and interpersonal skills. Career awareness activities include Individual Career Plan (ICP), Individual Career Develop Portfolio (ICDP), Career Days, Career Fairs, Field trips, information interviewing, and library book report.

References

1. American Counseling Association, Office of Public Policy and Legislation. (2007). Effectiveness of School Counseling. Alexandria, VA: Author.

2. Angel, N. Faye; Mooney, Marianne. (1996, December). Work-in-Progress: Career and Work Education for Elementary Students. (ED404516). Cincinnati, OH: Paper presented at the American Vocational Association Convention.

3. Benning, Cathleen; Bergt, Richard; Sausaman, Pamela. (2003, May). Improving Student Awareness of Careers through a Variety of Strategies. Thesis: Action Research Project. (ED481018). Chicago, Illinois: Saint Xavier University.

4. Career Tec. (2000). K-12 Career Awareness & Development Sequence [with Appendices, Executive and Implementation Guide]. (ED450219) .Springfield, Il: Author.

5. Carey, John. (2003, January). What are the Expected Benefits Associated with Implementing a Comprehensive Guidance Program. School counseling Research Brief 1.1. Amherst, MA: Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research.

6. Dare, Donna E.; Maddy-Bernstein, Carolyn. (1999, September). Career Guidance Resource Guide for Elementary and Middle/Junior High School Educators. (ED434216). Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.

7. DuVall, Patricia. (1995).Let’s Get Serious about Career Education for Elementary Students. AACE Bonus Briefs. (ED386603). Hermosa Beach, CA: AACE Bonus Briefs.

8. Ediger, Marlow. (2000, July). Vocational Education in the Elementary School. (ED442979) Opinion Papers

9. Gerver, Miriam, Shanley, Judy, O Cummings, Mindee. (2/14/02). Answering the Question EMSTAC Extra Elementary and Middle Schools. Washington, DC: Technical Assistance Center, (EMSTAC).

10. Hurley, Dan, Ed.; Thorp, Jim, Ed. (2002, May). Decisions without Direction: Career Guidance and Decision-Making among American Youth. (ED465895). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Ferris State University Career Institute for Education and Workforce Development.

11. Maddy-Bernstein, Carolyn; Dare, Donna E. (1997,December).Career Guidance for Elementary and Middle School Students. Office of Student Services Brief, v9 n1. (ED415353). Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.

12. Ohio Department of Education, Division of Vocational and Career Education, Ohio Career Development Blueprint, Individual Career Plan, K to 5 (ED449322). Columbus, Ohio, 2000

13. Splete, Howard; Stewart, Amy. (1990). Competency-Based Career Development Strategies and the National Career Development Guidelines. Information Series No. 345. (ED327739). Columbus, Ohio: ERIC Clearinghouse on Education and Training for Employment & Ohio State University

14. U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (1994, 2004). National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG). Washington, DC: Author.

15. Williams, Jean A., Ed. (1999, January). Elementary Career Awareness Guide: A Resource for Elementary School Counselors and Teachers. (ED445293). Raleigh, NC: NC Department of Public Instruction, NC Job Ready.

16. Woal, S. Theodore. (1995). Career Education–The Early Years. AACE Bonus Briefs. (ED386603). Hermosa Beach, CA: AACE Bonus Briefs.