1. Careers and
career choices.
What is a career?

2. Career is a way of making a living,
a profession or work which may
require certain levels of learning or
training. It is a life-long job,
professional progress, a vocation or
occupation that a person goes into
and therein makes a living.
You can for instance have a career
in education, law, music,
engineering, medicine, etc.

3. What is the purpose of career?
Simply put: To meet societal
needs and/or add value to the
society/people
There are many needs around us
waiting to be met, identifying and
meeting them may turn out to be
a career for you.
 “Needs” – Morally and legally right

4.  Everything in life is about choice; Even
God says in the scriptures “choose Life”
 To be happy, successful, fulfilled in life is a
matter of choice
 You have nobody to blame if you are not
successful or fulfilled, it is your choice

5. Career Choice
There is a strong link between the
career you choose and your purpose
in life.
Your Career is the vehicle that carries
you to your purpose

6. Exploring Your Interests
Holland’s Hexagonal Model of Career Fields
Realisti
c
Investigativ
e
Artistic
Conventiona
l
Enterprisin
g
Socia
l

7. Factors to Consider
Do:
 explore a number of
careers and majors
 get involved
 Get advice from
people in your
target occupation
 follow your passion
 Dare to try
something new
Don’t:
 focus on a major
just to get a career
out of it
 select a major just
because it is “cool”
or seems to promise
prestige
 let someone else
push you into a job
 Assume that you
have it all figured
out

8. Factors Affecting Career Choices
Interests
Personality
Skills
Life goals
Aptitudes
People skills
Experience
Family
traditions
and work
values

9. Where to Go for Help
 Career center
 Faculty
 Upper-class
students
 Student
organizations
 Placement
services

10. Choose Career Options That
Match Your Values
 Knowing what you value most will help
you refine your career search and choice:
 Helping others
 Prestige
 High income
 Flexible work hours
 Establish and align values, career choice,
and career goals for motivation.

11. What to Look for in a
Career
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Major career field target
Preferred type of work
Income requirements
Geographical requirements
Special needs
Industry preferences
Stress level
Level of interaction with other
people
Indoor vs. outdoor
Amount of independence
Balance between creative and
conventional tasks
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The type of people you would
interact with
Physical requirements
Local/national/international
organization
Benefits and perks
Advancement opportunities
A good boss
Training
Industry outlook
Reputation of the firm in the
industry

12. Select Several Careers,
Not Just One
 It’s a good idea to have several careers in mind
rather than just one in your first year of college.
 Approximately 60% of students change their
major at some point during their college career.
 It pays to be knowledgeable about more than
just one career field. The average graduate
changes their job seven times in their life.
 It also pays to develop a wide variety of general
skills, particular those related to communication.

13. Network
Check with people you know about career
information.
 Networking can lead to meeting someone
who may be able to answer your questions
about a specific career or company.
 It is an effective way to learn about the type
of training necessary for a particular
position, what it took to get into the field, and
the positive and negative aspects of the
work.
 More and more professionals are active on
online networks such as LinkedIn.com and
Doostang.com. Some professionals even
use Facebook to get in touch with others in
their field…as well as research potential
candidates.


14.  Assess Your Skills

Academic Strengths
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Personal Qualities
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Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening
Math
Creative Thinking
Problem Solving and Decision Making
Self-Esteem, Self-Management,
Responsibility
People Skills
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Social, Negotiation, Leadership,
Teamwork

15. See a Career Counselor
 The career counselors at your college
are trained professionals who can help
you
discover your strengths and
weaknesses
evaluate your values and goals
sort through what type of career you
want
 They will not tell you what to do, they
will simply help identify what factors
may lead to successful and interesting
career options.

16. Getting Experience
 Volunteer or service
learning
 Study abroad
 Internships/co-ops
 On-campus employment
 Student
projects/competitions
 Research
 On-the-job training
 Apprenticeships

17. Research the Job
 Identify the skills and
experience necessary to
perform the job you want.
 Determine the general
requirements of the job.
 Learn about the day-to-day
tasks and responsibilities.
 Research the company and
employer.
 Determine the company’s
philosophy.
 The more you know about the
job, the stronger the
candidate you will become.
How big
will my
office be?

18. Explore Relevant Part-Time
and Summer Jobs
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Students benefit when their jobs
are on campus.
Investigate if there exists a part-time
job in the department of your major.
Advanced planning will help you
obtain a summer job with a company
related to your field.
If you can’t find a related job, you
can still demonstrate work-related
skills and a work ethic that will
impress prospective employers.

19. Are there good or
bad Careers?

20. No career is good or bad in
itself.
What is important is the person
behind the career and what
he/she can do with the chosen
career

21. How to make the right choice
What not to do:
Choosing based only on financial
consideration
 Choosing based on pressure from
peer or parents
 Choosing for the sake of choosing


22. Making the right Choice
What to do:
Understand yourself : Selfknowledge is very important
because it leads to self-discovery
and self-discovery leads to selfactualization which ultimately leads
to fulfillment in life and career.


23.  Analyze
yourself :
Carefully and honestly determine your
intellectual and interactive strength and
weakness. Find out what you are good at
so you can discover your innate abilities
i.e. your talents.

24.  To discover your talent, ask yourself the
following questions: what is it that you do
so well? Where do you think you have an
advantage over your colleagues? What do
you enjoy doing with little or no
encouragement? Your answer to these
questions might be your talent.

25.  Discover
your interest:
Based on your discovery about yourself, find
out what career or type of job arrests your
personal interest. Your interest is what you
like to do, many people describe it as
“what I would like to be in the future”.
Sometimes it is your life’s goal and
ambition. Whatever it is, you need to know
it and the earlier the better for you.

26.  Understand
your Options
Obtain as much information as you possibly can
about the various career options that are
available to you, particularly, those that arouse
your interest.

27.  To understand your options fully, things
you will need to find out include what the
career is about, requirement(s) for the
career, mode of training, duration of
training, where the career is available,
prospects of the career, challenges of the
career, what the career entails, what it
takes to successfully go into the career,
the demand of the career on you and so
on.

28. Having made your
choice, what next?

29. Making the right choice is not the end;
you need to work hard to make your
dreams come true, else it may at the
best become one of the greatest
dreams that never saw the light of the
day.

30. Whatever career you end up
choosing, you need to distinguish
yourself if you don’t want to be
roaming the street in search of job.

31.  Have behind your mind that it is much
better to become a job creator rather than
a job seeker. So begin to think on this and
working towards it.

32. The Future Before you is Bright.
What will you do about it ?

33. Thank you for Listening

34. References
 Ademini,E.(2010).Career and career
choices. Retrieved from
www.thepurposedriveachiever.com
 Kuknalim,M.(2008).Career
planning.Retrieved from
www.kuknalim.com
 Nolinske,T.(2004).Career planning and
management.Practice Hall.