Career Planning Workshop

"Think about being employable rather than worrying about being unemployed."
                  Margaret Pullen - Career Counselor

Contents

Details of the Session

This 3 ½ hour workshop featured in the conference program offered by the Service Innovation Alliance (SIA) at Erskine House in Lorne on 22 and 23 February, 2001. SIA is an alliance of disability agencies in the south western region of Victoria.

The workshop was delivered by Margaret Pullen, a career counselor in private practice who had worked with the Vocational Orientation Centre in Melbourne. Thirteen staff attended the workshop.

What is important to you?

Career and whole of life: How do you balance the different elements of your life? Realise that career plays different roles at different stages in your life and that you need to consider the other things you wish to have in your life besides career.

Job satisfaction: Is satisfaction or dissatisfaction growing/lessening/ temporary/ or related to other things outside work?

Values clarification: An exercise of values clarification was conducted where cards with different values printed on them were to be sorted under the headings of:

• Very important in my work
  
• Reasonably important
  
• Not very important
  
• Not important at all.

The aim of this was to help make the transition from "What job can I do?" to "What do I want to do?" and to clarify important criteria that need to be met in a new position. This helps to reveal the needs that are being met at present and the current reasons for dissatisfaction.

Barriers

In order to achieve one's goals one must avoid the barriers which stand in one's way:

• Lack of confidence
  
• Fear
  
• Age
  
• Family commitments
  
• Time
  
• Lack of resources such as money and training
  
• Limited opportunities.

To overcome issues of confidence, Margaret encouraged people to think about past achievements, and even if long ago, remember that if you did them once, you can do them again. These are the steps to help recapture that feeling of confidence:

1. Visualise yourself back in that situation
   
2. Recall the details of the situation
   
3. Write them down on a card
   
4. Bring the card to the next interview with you to read as you are waiting.

Your interests

There are two aspects to consider with regard to where your interests lie:

1. Field of interest

Field of interest is the industry in which you would like to work. Some people have a preference for working in finance, building, the style of clothing, the environment etc.

2. Tasks you do

The tasks you do were presented on a list titled Job Activities, where the group was required to place ticks against the tasks listed, with:

+++ extremely interested
++ very interested
+ interested
- not interested

Your skills

When thinking of your skills, there are:

1. Those specific to your field
2. Transferable skills
   This includes personal characteristics and activities you have done. Refer to Job Activities to help build a complete list of activities.

Matching your skills and interests

Look at where both your skills and interests lie to make a career change. If you look at the jobs you like and identify skill gaps, the next step is to look at how to bridge the gap.

Five main ways to think about career change and development are:

1. Stay in your field

This entails finding ways to continue the learning curve.

2. Use your current skills without further training or study

This is about a career change of some sort using your current skills. It is vital that you really know and acknowledge your skills to be prepared to explain their value to prospective employers. (See resume suggestions.)

3. Use your current skills with a small amount of extra training

Short courses such as computer programming, first aid and communication could bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

4. Build on your background

Tertiary training such as degree, TAFE, graduate diplomas enable you to make the career change you are seeking by developing some part of the skills and experience you already have.

5. Retrain

To retrain for a completely new field at an advanced level, more substantial training is usually required, however, sometimes people look for a change to a job with relatively short training, e.g. reception, real estate, small business, financial counseling.

Skills for the 21st Century workplace

Skills for the 21st Century were listed as:

• Communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Problem solving
• Creative thinking
• Interpersonal - team work
• Self management
• Ability to acquire new knowledge
• Computer technology
• Ability to handle and analyse information
• Ability to manage change.

Which occupational area do you want to work in?

The following suggestions can aid you in deciding your choice of career:

• Job/career lists, e.g. Job Guide available through www.deetya.gov.au
• University/TAFE course listings can be bought at the newsagents for $5 and information can be found at www.vtac.edu.au
• Short course listings, for the TAFE directory (telephone 181323 for information on all courses) and www.shortcourses.vic.gov.au
• Job advertisements
• Position descriptions
• Lateral thinking from 'near misses', e.g. position descriptions that are nearly right for you
• Other people's jobs
• Directories
• Own business - yellow pages index
• Industries
• Particular organisations
• Issues - environment, disability, health, personality
• Networking.

Enhancing your job prospects

Here are some suggestions for enhancing your job prospects:

1. Take any opportunities offered to undertake tasks at work
2. Get feedback/ ideas from supervisors
3. Attending professional development
4. Conferences - attending and/or presenting
5. Networking
6. Networking others in related fields
7. Read books, journals, articles, look for trends
8. Daily media to keep abreast of issues in your fields of interest
9. Job advertisements
10. Articles in Employment Age
11. Courses of study. New studies in your field
12. Check your technology skills
13. Non-work activities.

Resumes

Margaret urged the participants of the workshop to remember:

• A resume should be no more than 3 pages long
• Past tense is preferred, and describe what you did, not just a list of duties
• List outcomes of various skills and actions you are putting forward
• Consider using a functional/skills based style of resume when you are attempting to change fields of work. This allows you to explain your skills in the framework of requirements sought by the prospective employer.

When she asked the group whether they had any particular issues about career planning, one participant abhorred the idea of interviews. Never having had to undergo a formal interview, she hated the idea of having to sell herself. Margaret urged her to reframe the situation to see it as giving information about herself so that the interview panel had the information they needed to employ her.

Note
Remember that on the whole, employment agencies work for the employer and not for you.

Your image

There are 7 components of image:

1. Communication, both verbal and nonverbal
2. Dress to suit workplace culture
3. Grooming
4. Color co-ordinate
5. Accessories
6. Business protocols and etiquette
7. Inner image.

Job and Career Lists

Conclusion

Margaret reminded the group that career planning is a journey and that the content covered and material provided in the workshop was only a start. To make career planning happen, participants need to further reflect on the activities covered and to complete checklists to inform the process.

The participants were referred to further resources for career exploration and career planning.

Margaret Pullen has an office on the 4th floor, 407 Swanston Street, Melbourne and can be reached on 9662 9175.