Getting Started Exploring Careers

Tips for Career Exploration

In order to effectively explore careers, it is important to first consider what you have to offer a prospective employer. One way to accomplish this first step is to prepare a self-analysis profile sheet. The steps in this process are:

Write down your top ten interests (the things you most enjoy doing).

When you consider your interests, think broadly and don't limit yourself to simply writing down interests that you consider "marketable!"

• What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
• What do you enjoy doing when you are in school, at home, and in the community?
• What activities do you engage in that bring you the most pleasure?
  
  

Write down your top ten abilities (the things you are best at doing).

Again, think broadly about the skills or abilities that you have and can demonstrate.

• What were your best subjects in school?
• What kinds of activities do others ask you to perform?
• What skills or abilities have you used in the past to accomplish your work or maintain your home?
  
  

Write down your top ten values (what you believe in).

Writing out your values can be more difficult than writing about your interests and abilities, because the things you believe in are rarely discussed. They are in evidence typically in your behavior and attitude. However, it is the things that we believe in that often motivate us in work and attract us to others who hold similar beliefs. Some possible values include:

• health
• wealth
• fame
• adventure
• security
• independence
• family and friends
• religion

Values are important in career exploration because people who believe in the goals of their employers and whose values are in synch with their coworkers' values are more likely to be successful getting and keeping a job than those whose values conflict with others in the workplace.

Write down what you consider your three most critical work-related barriers (liabilities or problems).

When you write out your liabilities, consider what is most likely to inhibit or prohibit you from going to work. For example, some common barriers or liabilities are:

• lack of transportation or limited access to transportation
• limited or poor work experience,
• inadequate vocational training,
• personal difficulties (child care concerns, poor health, marital problems, etc.),
• and poorly developed compensatory skills (reading and writing with braille or optical devices, use of assistive technology, applied orientation and mobility skills, etc.).
  
  

How to Use Your Personal Profile

The advantage of doing this personal profile is that you can use it now as you search for a career direction and in the future when you look at specific jobs.

As you read about careers, consider how the career matches your interests, abilities, and values. How would you circumvent or manage with the liabilities you identified in the career you are considering?

Career exploration helps job seekers define what skills they need to develop or what equipment they will need to use in order to get a job accomplished.

Sometimes, career exploration points out to job seekers that they need to relocate or redefine their career goals, if they are unable or unwilling to move. Having a personal profile at hand while you do your career exploration can help you make a good, viable decision about your future in the workplace.

On AFB CareerConnect® you can search for general career information three ways: by entering specific job titles, by browsing occupational categories defined by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) in their Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), or by browsing jobs based on your interest areas. The interest areas listed are from the Guide for Occupational Exploration, another DOL publication written for job seekers. These interest areas are defined briefly on the site.

Using any of these techniques, you will get a listing of the jobs that match most closely to your criteria. Choose the title you'd like to explore further and you receive a detailed description of what the job entails and a listing of related jobs. In addition, you will find out whether there are any workers with visual impairments in the CareerConnect mentor database doing the job you have selected. If there are mentors, you can click on that link and log in to communicate with them by e-mail.

Ideally, career exploration follows this pattern: looking at yourself, looking at jobs in general, and then, looking at specific jobs being performed by people with attributes similar to yours.