Unit 1 Career Choices (Youth Expectations & Portfolio’s)

Lecture 1

Jobs 1-4

Jobs 1-4

Lecture 1

General Learner Outcomes

In this lesson you will begin exploring careers as it applies to you. You will think of your dream job and answer related questions. You will read information pertaining to Career Portfolios, which should be useful information as you work on your own Career Portfolio (this is something you can choose to do on your own time, but we will not be working on this during this course). You might say to yourself, I’m only in high school, what have I done to put in a Career Portfolio? You might be pleasantly surprised. If anything, the process will get you thinking about developing a well-rounded set of talents and aptitudes.

Specific Learner Outcomes

C5: Develop a quality career portfolio

LECTURE NOTES

Portfolio Gathering

A Portfolio is a collection of work! Your work! A Portfolio is a collection of work that shows your abilities, accomplishments, skills and talents. Many professionals such as artists, architects and photographers use portfolios to showcase their work, but it is also very common for people looking for work to bring portfolios with them to interviews.

For students, the portfolio is an immediately available summary of abilities and accomplishments. In a world of competitive selection for education, training and employment, the portfolio is a valuable marketing tool. Students document relevant skills from school, community, home and work. Students who have developed portfolios say there are many ways their portfolios have been useful, including:

-Helping them to look inward and reflect upon their values, interests and strengths

-Helping them make career path decisions

-Identifying and demonstrating skills for employment

-Having information readily available for job applications

-Attaining university, college or technical school entrance

-Applying for scholarships

-Getting volunteer positions

-Showing others what they are all about

For employers, the portfolio will provide evidence of essential work skills that will aid in the selection of potential employees. Employers make the best possible human resource decisions based upon documented evidence of Academic, Personal Management and Teamwork skills during the application process.

For educators, the portfolio will showcase to the rest of the community many of the skills that schools have helped engender in their students. Those Post-Secondary and Training Institutions that do consider factors such as prior learning, attitude and interest when selecting the most suitable applicants may use a portfolio to determine registration to limited-entry programs.

A good Portfolio will:

  • Visually Attractive-use a combination of graphics, color, text and images to keep it interesting
  • Up to Date- it must change constantly to reflect new skills, training and experiences
  • Unique- make your portfolio provide an authentic reflection of your skills, your style and your personality
  • Rehearsed- practice, practice, practice- the presentation of your portfolio should be comfortable
  • Specific- it will illustrate specific and concise examples- describe each of the skills and abilities you have gained through each item in your portfolio- remember that the portfolio answers the question, “SO WHAT?”
  • Well-Organized- create meaningful categories for easy organization and demonstration; make sure you are providing a tidy presentation of your working attributes
  • Well-Used!- Bring your portfolio to employment interviews, post-secondary applications, volunteer opportunities and when seeking funding for small business

Ways to Benefit from Your Portfolio:

  • It helps to reflect on your strengths
  • It helps to reflect on your interests and values
  • You can use it to apply for jobs and post-secondary (college, university, and tech/art schools)
  • You can use it to apply for scholarships
  • You can use it to apply for volunteer positions
  • It contains all the information you need when applying for a job
  • It is an easy way to show others “who you are” and “what you are all about”

Portfolios are good “marketing tools” for self-promotion in today’s world of competitive selection for education and employment. For example, in a job interview, you can use your portfolio to show that you have a particular skill. This is an effective way to prove an accomplishment to a prospective employer!

How Do I Start Creating a Portfolio?

Creating a portfolio that shows who you are and what you are capable of doing is difficult. You need to decide what types of skills potential employers are looking for, and determine how your work can prove that you have what it takes to get the job done.
Here are some steps that can help you get started on creating your portfolio.
Step One -- Self Assessment. You have to look at your skills, abilities and past experiences to determine what you have to offer an employer. How do your skills relate to a possible employer¹s needs?
Step Two -- Decide What to Include. Once you know what skills and abilities you need to show prospective employers, you are ready to find samples that will illustrate your capabilities. Look through your work carefully. Find pieces of work, evidence of involvement, or letters of commendation to include in your portfolio as examples of your past success.
Step Three -- Design and Arrange. Choose an organizational method that best illustrates your accomplishments. One idea might be to prioritize your portfolio according to the skills and experiences that are most directly related to your career field.
The key to your organizational format is easy access. Think about using tab pages and/or headers to categorize the materials in your portfolio.
At times you might be asked to leave your portfolio with an interviewer--so it is also important that your portfolio be self-explanatory and simple enough for a stranger to figure out.
Step Four -- Review Your Portfolio. Know your portfolio inside and out. When you go to an interview you want to be able to use your portfolio to illustrate your skills and abilities. You need to be able to find items you are looking for quickly.

What Do I Include In My Portfolio?

What you include in your portfolio is up to you. Different items will be included, depending on your field and the job for which you are applying.
To get started, here is a list of things you might want to include in your portfolio:

  • Academic/Personal Information
  • resume
  • official transcript
  • fact sheet that details your hobbies and interests
  • pictures of yourself doing activities
  • list of references
  • Skills and Technical Abilities
  • writing samples
  • documentation of technical/computer skills
  • Professional Information
  • certification or other documents
  • list of conferences and workshops attended
  • letters of commendation/thanks for service
  • internship or co-op summary report
  • list of professional organization involvement
  • Honors/Award Information
  • certificates of awards/honors
  • nomination to honors/academic organizations
  • newspaper articles about your achievements
  • pictures of yourself receiving awards

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Most of Canada’s youth are likely to experience:

  • A succession of up to 25 different jobs
  • A variety of occupations in up to 5 different sectors of the economy
  • A variety of concurrent work roles (multi-tasking)
  • Planned and unplanned gaps of no work

They will need to manage many transitions between work and learning

In the “transitions” issue there are two widely accepted generalizations:

  1. Employers are generally not aware of the knowledge and skills that students bring from high school.
    - range of student’s learning abilities, programs and courses offered, extracurricular activities experienced
  2. Students are generally not adept at communicating their knowledge and skills.
    -possess many skills, but cannot identify them; they do not know what employers want and they do not understand the relevancy of their skills

Few employers ever ask for a student report card or record of marks during the application/interview process, even though this important document reflects ability level, attendance, punctuality, and effort comments from teachers/supervisors of student work. skills, how do students communicate their skills, achievements, talents and experiences more effectively?

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