How do you figure out career options and therefore select VCE subjects?

[workspired]

I am really interested to learn more around how you figure out what you want to do career wise and therefore select VCE subjects.

For context I run a business where I help people find a career they love. I've built a simple, easy to apply process that enables people to identify their passion in under half a day. Right now my main market are mid-career professionals i.e. 10-15 years out of uni. In saying that a LOT of people have said that I should look at schools as the career counsellor framework and support system could do with a bit of support.

And so I'm really keen to learn and would love hear from you as to:

- how do (or did) you make decisions about your future career? e.g. parents, friends, research, career counsellors, a mixture, etc
- what role, if any, do (or did) career counsellors play in this?
- what help do you wish you had when it comes to figuring out what to do career wise? e.g. more information about career options, a process to help you figure out what to do, etc

I hope this post is appropriate and Administrators please let me know if it isn't!

Many thanks

[Yertle the Turtle]

I personally worked out a couple of options by personally looking at what I was interested in and asking my parents, and although I still have another year in which to change my mind, that process has basically decided what I want to do in life. I have never been to a career consultant, and didn't do the career testing that the rest of my class did. That said, the vast majority of careers I was never interested in anyway.

[TylerD9]

For me personally, it's figuring out what broad areas I'm interested in (e.g. physics and maths), looking at majority of jobs in that field and cutting out ones that don't interest me (e.g. physicist, engineer), then looking at every possible course for those careers and noting the entrance requirements (spesh, methods, English etc.).

From this, I concluded English lit, methods, spesh and physics, which left me with two spaces left. From there I picked a subject which opens up door in case I change my mind (chem) and a completely different subject which I find interesting (business). Obviously, these results will differ from person to person, but that's the way I chose subjects and what I'd recommend to anyone.

In my process, the only role a career counselor really played for me was showing me which subjects my school offers and linking me to some courses based on my interests. I wish I had (and have, as I'm only in year 10), more guidance from the career counselor. Having been in two schools and seeing 3 careers counselors, I found they mostly just have things which would take you 5 or 10 minutes to find on the internet on demand (e.g. course info). I also wish there was more opportunities to talk to people from related fields, and a more strong work experience program (personally, a week in one job isn't enough, it should be a 2 week course, 2 or 3 days in 3-5 different jobs of interest, and this would create more use for a career counsellor helping kids find those interests and jobs to suit those, as normally just 1 work experience placement can be difficult to get).

I hope this has helped!

[workspired]

Thanks so much for sharing Marvin.

Sounds like you have great initiative in figuring out your interests and working that through with your parents. Good on you for swimming upstream and being through to yourself

I personally worked out a couple of options by personally looking at what I was interested in and asking my parents, and although I still have another year in which to change my mind, that process has basically decided what I want to do in life. I have never been to a career consultant, and didn't do the career testing that the rest of my class did. That said, the vast majority of careers I was never interested in anyway.

[workspired]

Hi TylerD9,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

I think you're approach is spot on in terms of figuring out what interests you, overlaying that with the jobs that match and ruling out those that don't interest you. Most importantly you've also allowed for some wiggle room in case your interests change. You seem to have great judgement which will hold you in good stead throughout your career and no doubt other walks of life.

I'm sorry to hear that the career counsellors didn't help you as much as you would like. Given you've had experience across 3 schools it sounds like it's fair to say that the system is flawed as opposed to an individual counsellor not being skilled.

I'm interested to know - you said that you are in year 10, I'm guessing you are starting year 10 this year? It sounds like you've made decisions around subjects already which I thought was made at the end of year 10. When did you make your selection? You also mention that it would be great to have a bit more of a comprehensive work program rather than the 1 week. When would you like for this to occur i.e. in year 9?

Many thanks!

For me personally, it's figuring out what broad areas I'm interested in (e.g. physics and maths), looking at majority of jobs in that field and cutting out ones that don't interest me (e.g. physicist, engineer), then looking at every possible course for those careers and noting the entrance requirements (spesh, methods, English etc.).

From this, I concluded English lit, methods, spesh and physics, which left me with two spaces left. From there I picked a subject which opens up door in case I change my mind (chem) and a completely different subject which I find interesting (business). Obviously, these results will differ from person to person, but that's the way I chose subjects and what I'd recommend to anyone.

In my process, the only role a career counselor really played for me was showing me which subjects my school offers and linking me to some courses based on my interests. I wish I had (and have, as I'm only in year 10), more guidance from the career counselor. Having been in two schools and seeing 3 careers counselors, I found they mostly just have things which would take you 5 or 10 minutes to find on the internet on demand (e.g. course info). I also wish there was more opportunities to talk to people from related fields, and a more strong work experience program (personally, a week in one job isn't enough, it should be a 2 week course, 2 or 3 days in 3-5 different jobs of interest, and this would create more use for a career counsellor helping kids find those interests and jobs to suit those, as normally just 1 work experience placement can be difficult to get).

I hope this has helped!

[lovelyperson]

I personally still don't know what I want to do as a career - and my total of 9 different VCE subjects reflect this - but what honestly helped hone down my choices was a careers counsellor that wasn't afraid to tell my that I was naive. The advice I got him was by far the best because it wasn't sugar coated and was a nice reality check for the 16 - 18 year old me.

[sarangiya]

I think values education is important.
I have certain values that have shaped what kind of contribution I want to make in the future.
They have also led me away from career paths that don't align with my personal values.
I think that if I can spend my each day working for what I believe in, then that is the right career for me.

[lazaward]

I am really interested to learn more around how you figure out what you want to do career wise and therefore select VCE subjects.

For context I run a business where I help people find a career they love. I've built a simple, easy to apply process that enables people to identify their passion in under half a day. Right now my main market are mid-career professionals i.e. 10-15 years out of uni. In saying that a LOT of people have said that I should look at schools as the career counsellor framework and support system could do with a bit of support.

And so I'm really keen to learn and would love hear from you as to:

- how do (or did) you make decisions about your future career? e.g. parents, friends, research, career counsellors, a mixture, etc
- what role, if any, do (or did) career counsellors play in this?
- what help do you wish you had when it comes to figuring out what to do career wise? e.g. more information about career options, a process to help you figure out what to do, etc

I hope this post is appropriate and Administrators please let me know if it isn't!

Many thanks

- My decision was influenced by a lot of things. My parents of course but mostly my personality, likes/dislikes, what I want out of a career and my life experiences as well as my beliefs and values which my parents passed onto me.

- I’m starting Year 12 and still have never had a conversation with a career councillor, I think that’s mostly because I’m quite set on what I want to do and just want to focus on getting there.

- I wish I had more people who had first hand experience getting into my career. There are still things that haven’t been explained to me so it would be great if a past student could lend me some advice. The most information I got about what I want as a career wasn’t from google but by talking to a student at open days.

With that said, I always knew what I wanted to do. That is most likely because of my parents as they were very guiding and supporting and helped me pick a career that would be best for me. For someone whose not so sure, talking to a professional will probably be a lot of help. I know friends who don’t know what they want to do and that’s mostly because of lack of guidance. I think most people know what area they sort of want to go into so that’s an important question and then it’s just about narrowing it down to what that person likes, is capable of and can make a living out of and also asking what they want out of a career whether that be fulfilment, money, prestige etc.

[Yertle the Turtle]

- My decision was influenced by a lot of things. My parents of course but mostly my personality, likes/dislikes, what I want out of a career and my life experiences as well as my beliefs and values which my parents passed onto me.

- I’m starting Year 12 and still have never had a conversation with a career councillor, I think that’s mostly because I’m quite set on what I want to do and just want to focus on getting there.

- I wish I had more people who had first hand experience getting into my career. There are still things that haven’t been explained to me so it would be great if a past student could lend me some advice. The most information I got about what I want as a career wasn’t from google but by talking to a student at open days.

Basically this was me too, however I had three older brothers, my dad and my grandad, all of whom had done engineering, so I didn't have too much trouble deciding to follow

[workspired]

I personally still don't know what I want to do as a career - and my total of 9 different VCE subjects reflect this - but what honestly helped hone down my choices was a careers counsellor that wasn't afraid to tell my that I was naive. The advice I got him was by far the best because it wasn't sugar coated and was a nice reality check for the 16 - 18 year old me.

Lovelyperson - thanks for sharing and glad you got lots of good advice from your careers counsellor

[workspired]

I think values education is important.
I have certain values that have shaped what kind of contribution I want to make in the future.
They have also led me away from career paths that don't align with my personal values.
I think that if I can spend my each day working for what I believe in, then that is the right career for me.

Sarangiya - that is spot on. Figuring out what is truly important to you is key and then finding a job/career that fits will set you well on your way to a happy and healthy life.

[workspired]

- My decision was influenced by a lot of things. My parents of course but mostly my personality, likes/dislikes, what I want out of a career and my life experiences as well as my beliefs and values which my parents passed onto me.

- I’m starting Year 12 and still have never had a conversation with a career councillor, I think that’s mostly because I’m quite set on what I want to do and just want to focus on getting there.

- I wish I had more people who had first hand experience getting into my career. There are still things that haven’t been explained to me so it would be great if a past student could lend me some advice. The most information I got about what I want as a career wasn’t from google but by talking to a student at open days.

With that said, I always knew what I wanted to do. That is most likely because of my parents as they were very guiding and supporting and helped me pick a career that would be best for me. For someone whose not so sure, talking to a professional will probably be a lot of help. I know friends who don’t know what they want to do and that’s mostly because of lack of guidance. I think most people know what area they sort of want to go into so that’s an important question and then it’s just about narrowing it down to what that person likes, is capable of and can make a living out of and also asking what they want out of a career whether that be fulfilment, money, prestige etc.

Carolinsale-17 - thanks so much for sharing and sounds like you are surrounded by some amazing parents that have guided you really well. Thanks for sharing that you are keen on speaking to people who are pursuing the career pathway that you are interested in to hear/learn firsthand what it's like. I am also interested around some of your friends who don't know what they want to do because of a lack of guidance. Would you happen to know if they have turned to their career counsellors?

[workspired]

Basically this was me too, however I had three older brothers, my dad and my grandad, all of whom had done engineering, so I didn't have too much trouble deciding to follow

Wow Marvin that's amazing - a family full of engineers! At least you guys will all think alike

[lazaward]

Carolinsale-17 - thanks so much for sharing and sounds like you are surrounded by some amazing parents that have guided you really well. Thanks for sharing that you are keen on speaking to people who are pursuing the career pathway that you are interested in to hear/learn firsthand what it's like. I am also interested around some of your friends who don't know what they want to do because of a lack of guidance. Would you happen to know if they have turned to their career counsellors?

No worries! One of my friends have due to failing a subject and so she had to sit down and think about what career would actually suit her. Most of the time my career counsellor only sits down with those that are failing subjects or to talk about pre-reqs. I have some friends that are confused but never seen a careers counsellor probably due to the fact that he doesn’t really advertise himself so most people don’t even know he’s there to help.