Career Planning & Goal Setting

1. Career Planning & Goal Setting By Carina N. Lindsey

2. Career Counseling • Helps students develop attitudes for planning their careers and for exploring careers. • Helps students with self reflection • Helps with restructuring their beliefs, • Helps deepening their personalities to answer the big question of “Who am I?”

3. Who Am I? Activity • Form groups of 2 • Ask these questions: • Who Am I? • Who do I pretend to be? • Who I think you are?

4. Career Planning • Most high school and college programs for gifted students focus mainly on their academic needs. • Stages of Career Awareness and Maturity • Decision making • Development of identity • Exploration

5. Career Awareness • Additional Psychosocial issues • Asynchrony • Early cognitive maturation • Moral sensitivity • Emotional giftedness • Multipotentiality • Perfectionalism • Stress from high expectations of significant others

6. Career Indecision • Multipotentiality • Lack of decision-making skills • Pressure to make the perfect career choice • Delaying decision making about career choices • Frequent changes in majors • May result in being the professional student or disappointed college dropout.

7. Career Maturity • Gifted students are more certain of career choices earlier than other students • This may limit the further exploration of career possibilities.

8. Suggested Activities • Job site visits • Classroom speakers • Job Shadowing • Dress-up Day • Career Portfolios • Job/Career Fairs • College Prep/ Recruiters • Internships

9. Goal Setting • Few gifted students are good goal setters • Most do what they are told or what is expected of them

10. Goal Setting Guidelines • Make your goals specific • Keep goals realistic • Include enjoyment among your goals • Don’t set too many goals at once • Be prepared to achieve some of your goals but not all of them • Revise goals as circumstances change

11. Goal Setting Guidelines • Be honest with yourself • Trust your intuition • Practice, Practice, Practice • Share your goals with a friend • Be prepared to hold fast to our convictions • Don’t compare yourself to anyone but yourself.

12. Remember • Guidance Counselors are not the only adults responsible for career education for gifted students • Career Planning should start before high school • Students need time to explore and sort through their interests and abilities.

13. Holland Code • Used in a variety of career assessments • Occupational Codes: • Realistic :Things • Investigative: Things and Ideals • Artistic : Ideals and People • Social: People • Enterprising: Data and People • Conventional: Data and Things

14. Group Activity • Choose three careers that relate to your Holland Code and your interests • Research these Careers • Present to the group your top interests

15. References • Neihart, M., Reis, S. M., Robinson, N. M., & Moon, S. M. (2002).The social and emotional development of gifted children. p.223- 235. • Galbraith, J., Delise, J. (1996). The Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide. A Teen Handbook. p.84-89 • A Year of School Counseling. Youth Light, Inc. November: Career Development • www.hollandcodes.com