[SPEAKER_00]
Setting
goals
and
choosing
a
career
path.
Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars, Les Brown.
Colleges are interested in developing interventions that will help students complete college successfully.
Having effective goals is one area that has been associated with student success.
In this study, Morisano investigated the effectiveness of a goal-setting intervention on academic success.
The research question was, does participating in a goal-setting intervention lead to positive academic outcomes such as improved GPA?
College participants who were struggling academically were asked to participate in the research study.
A total of eighty-five full-time students participated.
Official grades were collected before the intervention and then one year later.
Students were randomly assigned to the goal-setting intervention or another general intervention that did not address goals.
The intervention was done online and lasted about two and a half hours.
Students were then asked to complete a questionnaire sixteen weeks later.
There were three main findings.
First, students in the goal group had higher GPAs after the intervention.
Specifically, the average GPA for the goal group was two point nine one, while the average GPA for the non goal group was two point two five.
Second, students in the goal group were less likely to drop classes than students in the non goal group.
Finally, the goal group were less likely to experience negative emotions at the end of the study.
This research provides evidence that goal setting is an important part of student success.
Students who know how to set and use goals are more likely to succeed.
Professors of student success or first-year seminar courses can teach students how to create effective goals.
This can be taught via online methods.
Brief instruction and support on goal setting can be extremely effective.
Students, especially those who are struggling, could benefit from seeking out support to create and use personal goals.
Goals are an important part of life.
Everyone sets goals.
However, some are more effective at doing so than others.
Setting effective goals can increase the likelihood that you will successfully achieve them.
Exploring the value of goal setting and strategies to do so effectively will help you meet with success.
Goal setting is a skill, and just like other skills, you will get better at it with practice.
Research shows us that goals are connected to success.
Goal setting is particularly important in the world of academia, where there is a strong connection between goal setting and academic achievement.
Researchers have found that students often earn the grade they set as their initial goal.
Thus, students striving for A grades often earned As, while students aiming for a C grade often earned a C at the end of the course.
Learning how to set goals helps you achieve at higher levels.
Murasano found that students who participated in a goal setting intervention had significantly better grade point averages than students who did not receive goal training.
Bowman also found that a goal setting intervention improves student grades.
Goal setting has also been connected to overall well-being.
In a seventeen year long study, Hill found that having a high level goals at the start of college is connected to improved well-being in later adulthood.
Long-term goals are important because they provide you with a big picture view of where you want to be in your future.
Long-term goals can take anywhere from several months to many years to accomplish.
Some examples of long-term goals include graduating from college in four years, earning a graduate degree, or gaining employment in the career field of your choice.
Long-term goals are valuable, but they're often not enough.
Identifying short-term goals can help you make steady progress towards your long-term goals.
Short-term goals are goals that you can complete within days, weeks, or months.
, your short-term goals are often considered stepped towards your long-term goal.
If your goal was to get on the Dean's List, you could set the following short-term goals.
Earn ninety percent or higher on practice quizzes when studying.
Earn an A on the first test.
Meet with a professor and identify a topic for your research paper.
Consult a librarian for assistance and locate the five to ten sources needed for the paper.
Write a first draft and get it reviewed by a campus tutor.
Use feedback from the tutor to revise the paper.
Research has shown that motivation and effort is often higher when short-term goals are set.
These short-term goals are often referred to as proximal goals because the difference between where you are now and where you need to be to achieve the goal is much shorter than it is for long-term goals.
It is often easier to be motivated when a reward is closer versus farther away.
Action-based goals lead to the best results.
Roy and Saha found that it was important to set target actions associated with goals.
Target actions are steps you can take to achieve the goal.
Students were more motivated when they identified target actions.
Examples of actions identified by students in this research study included attending class, reading prior to class, seeking assistance from a tutor, and studying a little each day versus right before an exam.
SAO also found that commitment, effort, and performance were higher for students who identified implementation actions related to their goals.
Another benefit of short-term goals or action steps is the opportunity they give to monitor your progress toward your long-term goals.
As you would expect, students who monitor their progress are more likely to achieve their goals.
If you discover that you are not on track to achieve your long-term academic goal, you can modify your study habits, seek support from a tutor, or increase the amount of time you spend studying.
These actions increase the likelihood of goal achievement.
If you do not take time out to check on your progress, you will not know what adjustments to your actions are needed.
When you are on track with your goal, celebrating is important.
However, researchers caution us that feeling proud may result in putting forth less effort.
Seyo and Pital found that some individuals are less likely to spend time working on a goal when they feel proud or positive about their progress.
Be aware this can happen and try to continue working on your goals even when you are on track and doing well.
What makes a goal effective?
There are several frameworks that exist for goal setting.
One well-known framework is the SMART, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic or Relevant, and Time-based goal.
Although this framework is quite popular, there has been little research investigating its effectiveness.
While this SMART framework does contain important elements that are supported by research, such as goals being specific, findings about some factors in this model have been mixed.
For example, unrealistic goals may not be detrimental and, in fact, may result in higher amounts of effort and success.
Travis found that challenging goals that were perceived to be manageable or doable
were more connected to higher grades.
The SMART goal framework is also missing some key factors.
For instance, Zimmerman argued that self-efficacy, your belief in your ability to successfully complete a task, and intrinsic interest are integral parts of the goal-setting process.
These factors are not addressed via SMART goals.
This smart framework also does not address the importance of developing challenging goals despite challenging being one of the most important goal characteristics.
The ABCs of effective goal setting and implementation, on the other hand, are grounded in research.
This approach to goal setting includes important, effective, and cognitive factors such as self-efficacy and motivation.
There is research support for every factor within this framework.
The higher you aim, the higher you will achieve.
Locke and Latham conducted an extensive review of thirty-five years of research on goal setting in a variety of contexts including personal, business, and academic.
One of their major findings was that the highest or most difficult goals produce the highest levels of effort and performance.
, you're likely to achieve more when you set challenging goals.
It is important, however, for you to believe these challenging goals are possible to achieve.
While there are strong evidence for setting challenging goals, there's mixed research on whether these challenging goals need to be realistic or not.
Realistic goals are within your reach and are achievable while unrealistic goals are typically grandiose and may be impossible or next to impossible to achieve.
, some research has found negative outcomes associated with setting unrealistic goals.
Russo, for instance, found that having unrealistic goals led to negative outcomes such as poor performance and lower level goals in the future.
However, others have not found harmful outcomes associated with unrealistic goals and suggest that likelihood of achievement may not be an important element of effective goals.
I all noted that unrealistic goals may be more likely to motivate action.
Realistic or moderate goals are often suggested because of concern about the emotional cost associated with not achieving the goal.
In other words, if you do not achieve a high-level goal, how will you feel?
Will not achieving the goal negatively impact you?
Reynolds and Bayer conducted an interesting study that investigated this issue.
Basically, they wanted to find out whether there was a downside to establishing challenging goals.
They asked adolescents and young adults to indicate the highest level of education they planned to achieve.
They then followed thirteen thousand students for thirteen years to see what level of education they did.
In fact, at CHIP, almost five thousand students completed the surveys thirteen years later.
As you can see, they found that approximately half of those who participated achieved their educational goal, while forty-three percent fell short of their goal.
Only eight percent of participants exceeded their goal.
This is an important finding.
It is not typical for individuals to achieve beyond the goal they set.
Another reason to aim high from the start.
In addition to finding out information about their education level, Reynolds and Baer also assessed depressive symptoms to determine if there was an emotional cost associated with not achieving goals.
They did not find any evidence of an emotional cost associated with not achieving goals.
In other words, the participants who did not achieve their educational goal did not have more symptoms of depression than participants who did achieve their educational goal.
Interestingly, they found that participants who had higher expectations at the start had lower levels of depression, even if they did not reach their goal.
Aiming high or creating challenging goals leads to the best outcomes.
Given the limited research and mixed feelings on the topic of realistic or unrealistic goals, it may not be worth your time to worry about whether it is realistic.
Instead, focus on challenging yourself.
Believe in yourself.
Self-efficacy is key.
Self-efficacy is your belief in your ability to successfully complete a task.
According to researchers, self-efficacy plays an important role in goal setting.
In other words, your beliefs about yourself shape the goals you set.
Research has found that students who believe in themselves and exhibit high levels of self-efficacy set more challenging goals.
Students who have low self-efficacy unfortunately set less challenging goals, and as you know, this can result in lower levels of achievement.
Successful experiences are one of the best ways to increase your self-efficacy.
Researchers have found that individuals with a history of success will be more likely to challenge themselves with higher goals in the future.
One way for you to keep focused on your successful experiences is to keep track of your accomplishments.
For example, if you have performed well on a paper or project, earned
Dean's List status or received an award, document these success stories and refer back to them often.
Keeping your successful experiences front and center can help you build your self-efficacy.
In addition to playing a role in goal development, self-efficacy also impacts goal accomplishment.
If you believe that you can achieve your goal, you are much more likely to succeed.
Travis found that academic self-efficacy, or one's belief that they could perform well academically, was related to grade point averages.
Why?
You are more likely to work at something when you believe you can successfully complete the task.
If you have low self-efficacy, you may avoid the task or not invest as much effort into it.
This connection between self-efficacy and achievement was demonstrated in a research study conducted by Komaraju and Nadler in which they discussed how high self-efficacy enables students to continue to work and persist despite difficulties or failures.
Care and commit.
Motivation matters.
Caring or being motivated to achieve the goal along with a strong commitment to do what it takes to succeed at the goal are important parts of the goal setting and implementation process.
Not surprisingly, students who are more motivated to achieve a goal are more likely to do so.
Research conducted by Goodman found that intrinsic motivation is the best predictor of academic success.
Intrinsic motivation refers to factors within a person such as curiosity, interest, enjoyment, and excitement that encourage the person to start or continue doing a task.
Choose goals you care about, and you will be more likely to achieve them.
You must also be committed to achieving the goal.
Being committed means you will do what it takes to achieve the goal.
Angela Duckworth, a renowned psychologist,
has conducted several studies to show caring and commitment are related to successful outcomes she refers to these qualities as grit or the passion and perseverance to complete tasks in other words commitment means you will put forth the effort needed to successfully reach your goal
Evidence for the importance of commitment comes from research conducted by Saites and Latham.
In their study, participants had to indicate their commitment level to successfully complete a business simulation exercise.
Participants with higher levels of commitment performed much better than participants who were not as committed to the goal.
Turner and Hussman found commitment to be particularly important when students experienced setbacks or failures.
Your commitment is often higher when you also identify action steps related to your goal.
When you set a goal, researchers have found that it can help to share this with someone who is of a higher status, such as a supervisor or a mentor.
In a series of research studies, Klein found that commitment to the goal was higher when it was shared with others who were perceived to be of higher status.
Specific measurable goals are connected to successful outcomes.
Locke and Latham reported that over a thousand studies found specific and high-level goals lead to the best performance.
Specific goals are stated in measurable terms, defining the standard that will be used to judge whether the goal was accomplished.
In other words, it will be easy for you or someone else to know if you have achieved your goal if it's specific.
, many students often say they will do their best as an academic goal.
But unfortunately, this type of goal is not effective.
Do your best goals do not work because there is no specific target identified.
This results in less effort being exerted and lower performance.
Locke and Latham found that when people are asked to do their best, they do not do so.
Students with specific academic goals, such as, I will earn a four point O GPA this semester, will exert more effort than students with an I will do my best goal.
Specific specificity leads to higher levels of achievement.
Specific goals allow for easier monitoring of progress.
Self-reflection on your progress is an important part of goal setting and achievement.
To determine whether you are on track with an I will earn a four point O GPA this semester goal, you can look at your grades thus far.
Are your current grades consistent with your desired grade?
Grade calculation apps or websites can help you understand your current grade and what grades are needed on future assignments and exams for you to reach your goal.
If, on the other hand, your goal was to do well or do your best, how would you be able to assess this progress?
While no one could argue with the spirit of this goal, it is next to impossible to know whether you have achieved it.
Do you need to get all A's on your assignments to achieve the goal?
Or do you simply need to earn passing grades on assignments and tests?
Are D's evidence of support for this goal?
Hopefully, you're discovering the importance of being specific and how this makes it much easier for you to see if you're on track to accomplishing your goal.
As you evaluate your progress, you may need to make modifications or adjustments.
For instance, if you were aiming for an A in your biology class and you currently have a B average, you'll probably want to increase your studying time and perhaps even add new learning strategies
into your daily routine so that you can achieve your goal.
Students who actively monitor the progress and adjust as necessary are more successful than those who do not engage in self-reflection.
According to a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person will have twelve jobs throughout their life.
Given the likelihood that you will be in many different positions throughout your career, it is important for you to think broadly about what you are passionate about and how this may translate into success in a variety of positions.
Many career opportunities you will encounter in the future may not even exist today, so identifying a specific career goal is probably not as important as identifying a career pathway.
A career pathway is a broader vision of what career field or type of profession you would like to pursue.
Career pathways often align with academic majors.
A good first step, therefore, is to decide on a major.
As you know, you have many options when it comes to choosing a major.
Most colleges and universities have organized major options into broader categories, such as business, arts, or healthcare.
Within each major, there will be many more specific tracks.
For example, business majors might include accounting, financing, marketing, management, or even more specific options such as supply chain management.
Think first about which broad major category fits best for you and then explore the more specific options in that category.
Fortunately, there are many supports that can help students navigate the numerous options available.
Reardon reviewed over two hundred studies that took place over a forty-five year period and found that courses that focus on career exploration are very useful to students.
Specifically, they found that students taking these courses had improved career decision making skills, had better grades, were more likely to stay in college, and had higher levels of job satisfaction.
This text is also a support to help you with this decision-making process.
According to the classic work of Parsons, the three key steps involved in career decision-making are the following.
, knowing about yourself, knowing career information and opportunities, and using information about yourself and world of work to decide on a career path.
While this classic framework is still used as a general guideline to help students or others make career decisions, career decision making is not this simple.
It is a much more complicated process.
Self-awareness and career information are still critical parts of the process.
, but other factors such as social networks also influence career choices.
Green Bank found that students tend to rely on intuition and readily available information from friends and family rather than actively engaging in a thorough process of exploring available career information.
Not surprisingly, family and friends play a significant role in our decision-making, with parents often playing the most significant role.
Significant others, other relatives, and teachers also impact our career decisions.
YMAC found that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds were more influenced by family members as compared to students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
However, teachers and to some extent counselors had a greater influence
on career decisions for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
College provides an opportunity to expand your network and explore career options that you may not have previously considered.
There are numerous career theories that help us better understand how we make career decisions.
In this chapter, the following four theories will be explored, social cognitive theory, values-based theory, happenstance learning theory, and person-environment fit.
Lent proposed a social cognitive theory of career that can help you better understand how career interests develop, how career decisions are made, and what contributes to persistence and high-level performance.
One of the basic premises behind this theory is that situational factors can play a major role in our decision-making.
Situational factors can include the people with whom you interact and the experiences you have.
Not surprisingly, you are more likely to consider careers that you know about or are visible to you.
, your career decisions can be impacted both by role models with whom you have personal connections and those whom you see but do not know personally.
In other words, you can be influenced not only by your friends, families and community members, but also by who you see portrayed in the media.
When you see others, especially those who look like you, working in various fields, it is easier for you to imagine yourself in those careers.
For instance, interacting with teachers, doctors, or business professionals could result in you becoming interested in these fields.
The visibility of these careers puts them on your radar for consideration.
There are many other career paths that may not be as visible, but that you may learn about because of a role model.
For instance, having a neighbor who is a fragrance chemist, someone who studies odor molecules to develop perfumes, or a member of your church who is a voiceover artist, someone who is a voice for a cartoon character, a documentary, or a radio show might lead you to explore these options.
Role models also provide you with vicarious learning experiences that can directly impact your career decisions.
Vicarious learning experience means that you can learn from watching others.
For example, if you hear others talk about how much they enjoy their career, or if you see them getting recognition or an award for their work, this might inspire you to consider options you previously did not think about.
You are also more likely to pursue a career path
if you have seen others achieve and do well, especially if you perceive the role models to be like you in some way.
In an interesting study by Kofod and McGovern, they found that the race and gender of the mentor for cadets was related to their career requests.
Specifically, black cadets who worked with a black mentor were six percent more likely to choose the same branch of their mentor
than if their mentor was white.
Similarly, female cadets were almost five percent more likely to choose the branch of their female mentor.
Because you are most influenced by others who are like you, it can be important to actively seek out role models and mentors who identify with the same gender and race that you do.
Experiences also matter when it comes to the career decision-making process.
Academic experiences and self-efficacy have been cited by students as playing an important role in career decisions.
When you take on tasks, you quickly discover what you enjoy and what you do not enjoy.
Similarly, you find out your strengths.
You are more likely to pursue careers if you had had successful experiences related to that path.
For example, if you did well in science courses, you may pursue a health career.
In addition to social factors, Lent emphasized that cognitive factors also play a central role in career decision-making.
Specifically, they noted the goal-setting, expectations, and self-efficacy really matter when it comes to career decision-making.
You are most likely to pursue careers that you believe you will be successful in.
This relates to the B and ABCs of goal-setting frameworks.
According to this social cognitive framework, your career interests are shaped by your beliefs and social experiences.
It is more likely for you to be interested in a task if you think you will succeed at it and believe that by doing so, positive things will happen.
You're also more likely to believe this if you have experienced success previously or you have seen others experience success.
, Brown's value-based theory for career choice and satisfaction emphasized that cultural and work values are the primary variables that influence the occupational choice-making process, the occupation chosen, and the resulting satisfaction with the success in the occupation chosen.
According to this theory, work values played an essential role in career decision-making for individuals
who identified with cultures that value individualism.
Individualism refers to placing value and importance on the individual versus society.
Brown noted that women, people of color, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and people with disabilities who identified with cultures where individualism was valued
, often made career choices based on a more restricted list of options due to the realities of discrimination.
Work values are less important for individuals who identify with cultures that emphasize collectivism because they will be more likely to place the needs of the family or group first when making decisions.
Brown believed that work satisfaction for individuals from cultures where collectivism is highly valued
would be most influenced by whether there is a match between the cultural and work values of the employee, supervisor, and co-workers, and if significant others approved of their work.
Not surprisingly, researchers have demonstrated that gender and race impact career values and choices.
For example, in a study with over thirty thousand college students,
Duffy and Sedlicek found that men valued making money more than women and that women valued the opportunity to work with others and contribute to society in a positive way more than men.
White students were more likely to value independence and African American and Asian students were more likely to value salary and perceived availability of jobs.
These different
, differing value systems can lead to different career choices.
Tom Boltz, a social learning psychologist, believes that most career decisions are the result of happenstance.
According to happenstance, learning theory, career journeys do not necessarily follow a predicted path, but rather happen as a result of planned and unplanned events.
, and Levin discovered that many people are employed in careers that they did not plan to enter.
In fact, they found that very few people followed a planned, predictable path and that many individuals were employed in areas that were not directly connected to their college major.
Rather, individuals often choose careers based on experiences, network, and being open to new opportunities.
Because of this, Crumbold's is less interested in students deciding on a specific career and is more interested in whether they engage in an active lifestyle to generate unexpected events, to remain alert to new opportunities, and to capitalize on the opportunities that they find.
Crumbold's and Levin noted that people who engaged in action steps discover many excellent career opportunities.
Here are some examples of action steps you can take.
Talk to others, such as professors, friends, family, and coworkers about career options.
Take a variety of courses in college and talk with professors and classmates about your career aspirations.
Participate in clubs and organizations and talk with the club advisors and members about your career goals.
Seek out work experiences in a variety of settings and talk to coworkers about career issues.
Participate in an internship program to gain experience in a work environment in your field of interest.
Engage in a service learning project.
Conduct informational interviews with individuals from different careers.
Ask others you meet at social events, conferences, and club meetings about their career journey.
One of the most well-known career theorists is Holland.
His theory focuses on a person-environment model.
According to this theory, interests, personality types, and work environments can be characterized according to six basic themes.
Realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional.
The basic premise of the person environment theory is that if you can identify a work environment or career that matches well with your personality and interests, then you will be satisfied with your career choice.
Holland refers to this as congruence.
The better the match between your personality and interests and the work environment and tasks, the higher level of congruence.
higher levels of congruence have been connected to higher levels of satisfaction.
Research studies have shown that there is indeed a connection between interest, job task, and satisfaction.
It is not uncommon for students to enter college unsure of what major or career to choose.
Some researchers have found that up to seventy percent of traditional age students defined as high school student or recent graduate and sixty-five percent of older students are undecided about their career choice.
If this is the case for you, you are certainly not alone.
Some career theorists have argued that deciding on a specific career may not be necessary, but rather determining what actions will lead to a satisfying career and personal life matters most.
Edmondson stated that students should major in happiness, meaning that students should choose a major that matches their interests and values instead of trying to chase the latest employment trend or identify a major that is associated with a high salary.
He noted that when students choose a major that they are passionate about, success will follow.
Discovering what matters to you and what will bring meaning to your life and the life of others will help you identify a major and actions you can take to have a successful career.
Making effective career decisions requires exploration.
Engaging in actions such as reflecting on your values, interests, and skills, learning about career options, and talking with others about possible paths will help you make a career decision.
With all the academic tasks on your plate, it is easy to put off the work associated with career exploration.
However, there is no doubt that you will make a better decision if you make career exploration a priority and engage in actions that will help you determine a career pathway.
, while it is important for you to explore before committing to a career path or major, choosing a major aligned to your career goals sooner versus later can help you stay on track with your graduation timetable.
Waiting too long before choosing a major may have negative consequences in terms of time and money.
It may take longer for you to earn a certificate or a degree.
Taking longer to graduate also means you will be paying more tuition and perhaps
more room on board, which can add to your student loan debt.
It is worth noting that choosing a major is not the same as choosing a career.
In some cases, such as nursing, you will need to choose a major that is directly aligned with your career goal.
However, in many cases, you can enter your career path through a variety of majors.
For example, if you want to become a police officer, the major that would likely come to mind is criminal justice.
And this is, of course, a great option.
But other majors such as psychology, sociology, communications, or a foreign language could also set you up for success in this field.
It is therefore more important to identify a career path and then determine which major can best help you reach this goal.
As you are discovering, career decision-making is complex.
, for instance, identified three primary types of career decision making difficulties.
One is lack of readiness.
Some individuals may not be motivated to engage in the career exploration process and decide.
Others may have a difficult time making decisions in general.
Two is lack of information.
Individuals may lack information about themselves, such as their interests and values, career information,
or how to find information that will be helpful in this process.
Three is inconsistent information.
Individuals may struggle to decide because the information they have is not consistent.
For example, maybe you are excited about the job tasks and salary when reading about it online.
But when you talk to professionals in the field, their description of the tasks and salary is not as positive.
In addition, career options
could cause internal or external conflict.
An example of internal conflict could be if a career option matches many of your important values, but conflicts with one value that is very important to you.
An external conflict, on the other hand, could occur when your career choice does not match what your family or significant other had in mind for you.
Seeking professional guidance from career counselors who are experts at helping you with this process is recommended, especially if you are uncertain about your career goals.
Unfortunately, only eight percent of the students in a study conducted by Wurzburger and Gotti reported meeting with career advisors, even though this service was available free of charge.
Students instead tend to get most of their career information from friends and family.
While using your network is certainly important, seeking guidance from career specialists can also be quite helpful, especially if you are struggling with the career decision-making process.
A career specialist can help increase your motivation to engage in the career exploration process, help you find additional information, or help you navigate and interpret inconsistent information.
Another benefit of reaching out for help is that you will be less likely to change your major if you work with a career expert.
As you can imagine, changing your major can sometimes increase the amount of time and money needed to graduate with a degree, thus investing your time and effort in this process now so that you make a choice after
Exploring options will help you save time and perhaps money in the future.
You will also be more likely to choose a career path that will make you happy.
Self-assessment is an important part of the career decision-making process.
Personality, values, interests, and abilities all play a role in career decisions.
Even if you have a clear career goal and have declared an academic major, engaging in self-assessment can be a worthwhile activity.
As a result of this process, you may feel more confident with your chosen career path, be clearer about which specialty area within a chosen field best fits for you, or you might question your initial goal and be interested in exploring different options.
Exploring your values is a great place to begin the career exploration process.
Values are a driving force in your decisions.
Values refer to what matters to you or what is high on your priority list of importance.
Examples of career values include the following, being able to help others or make a difference in society, functioning independently, room for creativity, working alone,
working with others, salary, prestige, job security, engaging in a variety of tasks, having consistent, predictable job tasks, working in a competitive, fast-paced work environment, working in a calm work environment, flexible hours, consistent schedule, such as a nine-to-five workday, having reliable and likable coworkers,
having fair and responsive supervisors, opportunity for advancement, recognition for achievements, opportunity to use strengths or talents, supportive work environment, easy to access, help when needed, travel opportunities, leadership opportunities, managing or supervising others.
Your values may change over time.
For example, you might value the opportunity to travel now, but if you have a family in the future, you might then place a higher value on family time and traveling may no longer appeal to you because it might mean you will miss out on important family events.
Although it is difficult to predict what will matter to you in the future, spend some time thinking about what might be important to you in five, ten, or even twenty years from now.
Unless you're in an extremely difficult situation, you will likely not take a job or enter a career that conflicts with your value system.
For example, a person who is totally against smoking probably would not take on an otherwise ideal position at a tobacco company.
If a position clashes with your values, this will likely be a deal-breaker.
and abilities are also important considerations as you engage in career decision making.
Research has shown that ability is linked to career success.
You are more likely to choose a career that builds on your strengths instead of highlighting your weaker areas.
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence is a great way to start thinking about your abilities and strengths.
He identified several different types of intelligence.
ability to engage in social behavior, naturalistic ability to identify patterns in nature, existential and philosophical ability to think deeply about philosophical questions such as meaning of life.
It is important to note that Gardner did not place a higher value on one type of intelligence as compared to another.
Rather, he believed all types of intelligence are valuable and worthwhile.
Gardner viewed these types of intelligences as being on a continuum, with everyone having some level of intelligence in each area, but being stronger in some areas than others.
This theory provides you a great way to focus on where your strengths lie.
Thinking about your strengths can help you choose a career that builds on these strengths, maximizing career success.
, employers are looking for both technical skills related to the career field and other essential skills that are important in most, if not all, careers.
Technical skills vary from career to career.
For example, teachers need to be able to write lesson plans while pharmacists need to know how medications may interact with one another.
Essential skills can be used across all careers and include being able to communicate and work well with others.
In a study conducted by Robles, employers indicated that soft skills are very important.
Specifically, employers were asked to rate ten soft skills.
As you can see, the skills were highly valued by employers with integrity and communication skills being the most important.
You can increase your ability in these areas by seeking out assistance and relevant opportunities.
For instance, if you want to increase your verbal or communication skills, take additional courses in this field.
Work with your professor or a tutor or participate in activities where you can develop these skills.
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According to this theory, there are five distinct personality factors or characteristics.
Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
The mnemonic ocean can help you remember them.
The factors are on a continuum, meaning you'll be low, moderate, or high on each dimension.
, which we have previously discussed, emphasize personality and interests and the importance of matching one's personality and interest to job tasks and work environment.
Your top three personality types or interest areas are often referred to as your Holland Code.
For example,
SEC would be the code if your highest interest areas were the social, enterprising, and conventional dimensions.
To find out your code, you can take an interest inventory.
The strongest interest inventory and the self-directed search are two very well-known interest inventories based on Holland's theory.
Stop by the Career Center at your college and see if there are career interest inventory resources available.
There are also many resources available that describe careers using Holland's coding system.
For example, O-Net Online lists Holland's code for various occupations.
To understand your personality more fully, you may want to consider taking more comprehensive personality assessments.
, the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment is one of the most widely used personality assessments and is often recommended by career counselors.
It summarizes your psychological preferences for interacting with the world.
Knowing your preferences can aid you in the career decision-making process.
For example, if you are extroverted, getting your energy from others, it will be important that you choose a career where you will have the opportunity to be around others.
, now that you have considered your values, abilities, personalities, and interests, it is time to explore career information.
Knowing the education or training requirements, job tasks, salary information, and other important information about various careers will help you with the career decision-making process.
It is difficult to know if a career is a good match for you if you do not know much about the profession.
Finding and evaluating career information is therefore important.
Some students have many interests and therefore want to explore numerous careers.
It is easier to decide on a career when you focus on a manageable number of options.
If you have too many options that match your interests and values, spend some time and energy thinking about your values and what matters most to you.
You can then use your core values as a way to screen potential options, eliminating career options that do not match your most important values.
Once you have a list that is manageable, then you can start exploring.
However, some of you may begin the process with a narrow list of values or interests and this can result in too short of a list of career options to pursue.
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If your list is too small, you will likely miss out on exploring options that could potentially be good matches for you.
Seeking out new opportunities and experiences, talking with others, and exploring online career information resources can help you identify additional potential options you might not have previously considered.
You can meet with a career specialist to help you expand or narrow your list before you start to research career information.
There's a wealth of information on careers available.
The challenge is determining what information you need and then sifting through the vast amount of information out there to find this essential information.
One of the most widely information gathering strategies related to career exploration is reviewing career websites.
, excellent approach is to connect with professionals in the field.
Informational interviews and social media can be used for this purpose.
Career websites provide you with basic information about the educational and other requirements needed to enter a specific career.
An overview of job tasks and responsibilities, salary and job outlook.
Job outlook refers to the number of job openings expected in the future.
One very good resource that you'll want to use is O-Net Online.
Most of the data presented on career websites is based on national data, so it is important for you to know that some of the information may vary significantly across different geographic areas.
After gathering general information from these national resources, be sure to also look for information specific to where you plan to work.
Salaries and job opportunities, for instance, can vary quite a bit based on location.
Use websites such as salary.com for more specific information related to your geographic location.
Although you probably do not yet have all the skills, knowledge, and credentials needed, job searching is a great way to find out valuable information about career fields.
For example, you can explore what positions in your field of interest are available and the job requirements for these positions.
Websites such as LinkedIn, Indeed.com, or Monster.com can work well for this purpose.
Looking at the necessary job requirements can help you determine what types of experiences you will want to seek out during college to build a strong resume.
This increases the likelihood that you will be offered a position in the field of your choice in the future.
You might even come across part-time opportunities that you are able to take advantage of now.
Websites can provide you with a very clear overview of the career, but informational interviews can give you a more personal look at the career.
An informational interview is a brief meeting with a person who wants to investigate a career and a person working in that career.
The goal of the interview is to learn about the career, not land a job.
The first step is to find someone working in your field of interest.
Here are some tips to find professionals in careers you would like to explore.
Ask your family and friends if they know anyone in your field of interest.
Ask your professors, especially those in the major related to your career choice, if they would be willing to meet with you or connect you to a professional working in the field.
Check with your alumni office on your campus.
Alumni are often willing to help you explore career options.
Visit social media sites such as LinkedIn to find a professional who is willing to do an informational interview with you.
Once you identify a person to interview, reach out to that person to request their participation in the informational interview.
You can conduct the interview in person or via video conferencing.
Video conferencing may be more convenient and enables you to connect with professionals from across the world.
However, attending an in-person informational interview provides you with the opportunity to also seek the work environment.
Although most individuals are interested in helping college students with career decision making, professionals can be very busy.
You may therefore want to have several individuals in mind to interview in case someone does not respond or is unable to do the interview due to their other responsibilities.
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Prior to the interview, generate a list of questions you would like to ask.
Keep the interview brief, approximately fifteen to thirty minutes.
Prioritize what questions you want to ask as you will likely only have time for a few questions.
Here are some questions you might consider.
How did you get started in this career?
Describe a typical day in your position.
What do you most enjoy about your career?
What are the challenges associated with this career choice?
What suggestions or advice do you have for someone who is interested in this field?
On the day of your interview dress professionally even if conducting the interview virtually.
You want to make a good impression because this is also a networking opportunity.
Arrive on time or better yet, a little early and end the interview on schedule.
In addition to thanking the person at the end of the interview, send a formal thank you email or letter later that day.
These personal conversations can provide you with details about what it's like to work in that field.
This is such valuable information, but you will not want to rely solely on this type of data because the experience of one person may not be representative of the experience of others.
As always, take in information from a variety of sources and look for themes that emerge.
This leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the career field.
Another great way to learn about careers is through social media platforms, especially those designed for professionals.
Utz found that using social media, especially LinkedIn, increased knowledge of careers.
You can look for and follow professionals in careers you are considering.
By following professionals, you can often learn about their job duties, as many professionals will post updates on their achievements.
Social media posts can also provide you with some information about the personality and values of professionals in the field.
In an interesting study by Rosen, they found that personality could be accurately predicted by reviewing Twitter feeds.
Many employers review social media to learn about job applicants.
In addition to following individuals, you can also follow organizations that relate to fields of interest.
Organizations often post blogs, articles, conferences, reports and other information that can help you learn about the field.
You may discover some of these organizations when searching for career information, but it's also a good idea to ask professors or other professionals for suggestions of organizations to follow.
, Samson cautioned that just like all other sources of data, it is important to evaluate the information being reviewed.
They noted that many only post positive aspects of their work and the posts that you view may be unique and not representative of others in that career.