Evaluating Careers - Are You As Smart As A Middle Schooler?
One of my favorite features of the Couragion app is how it helps students learn to critically evaluate potential careers and assess how a given career fits their interests, values, and desired work characteristics. Our app enables students to prioritize what is important to them in a career so that they can then thoughtfully compare and contrast career options.
After seeing each of Couragion’s careers firsthand, students have the opportunity to journal about their thoughts. These journal comments demonstrate our students’ deep levels of self-awareness and strong critical thinking skills. Here are some recent examples from middle school students….
“Teaching always sounded fun to me, but I would like to teach more art forms or something like that. I also am good with kids, so a lower grade class would be more fun for me than a college professor.” Comments made by 8th grader after viewing the Technology, Arts & Media Professor career.
“The job definitely sounds interesting, and I feel like I would enjoy some aspects of it if I decided to pursue it. I love spending time outside, which would be a plus for this job, but I also don't know how I would feel if I had to travel for 5-6 weeks at a time because I would be leaving my family.” Comments made by 6th grader after viewing the Hydrogeologist career.
“I really like how this career sounds. I am very interested in things with the ocean, I would love to work in the field.” Comments made by 6th grader after viewing the Climate Dynamics Researcher career.
“I like that this is part of the medical field and I would be able to discover new things and experiment, and hopefully help people out.” Comments made by 8th grader after viewing the Biomedical Engineer career.
“I think being an Animal Nutritionist would be very interesting and fun. I have always liked animals, so I would like working with them. I'm very good at math. The only downside is there aren't many openings to the job.” Comments made by 6th grader after viewing the Animal Nutritionist career.
“I like it because it involves having to move around. I am a person who wants to be active.” Comments made by 8th Grader after viewing the Training & Development Specialist career.
“This will be a great fit for me because I love painting and using tools.” Comments made by 6th grader after viewing the Paint Technician career.
“I think this career would be fun because of the variety of work and opportunities it has, I would like to be able to be creative in a work environment like that.” Comments made by 7th grader after viewing the UX Technologist career.
“I would love to work with the 3D printing technology, but I would not be fond of sitting at a desk most of my day - I need to move around and be outside. I believe that I have decent leadership skills, so this career could possibly be a good fit for me.” Comments made by 8th grader after viewing the General Manager of Mechanical Engineering career.
“Overall I would like to work in this position because I would like to push a group to get where they would want to be and would support them in any way I can.” Comments made by 8th grader after viewing the IT Manager career.
As the above comments illustrate, even our youngest students are able to critically evaluate career options – a skill that many adults lack. I wish that I had this knowledge when I was in middle and high school as it would have helped me to better select my post-secondary education and find my career passions much sooner.
How do you help your students assess potential careers and post-secondary pathways? Our customers use Couragion to start this skill development in as early as 4th grade! I’m thrilled that educators are utilizing Couragion to arm students with skills that will give them the best chance of long-term job satisfaction. Please reach out if you would like to learn more (info@couragion.com).