One of the ironies of trying to make occupational choices today is that more people than ever have the freedom to pursue the occupation of their choice because of greater access to a number of career options available. Yet even with more opportunities they have less exposure to the realities of potential careers. For this reason it is not surprising that surveys of young people typically show interest in well-known professional careers. One study showed that the amount of youth planning to become doctors, lawyers and psychologists exceeded the number needed by 15 times.

In looking at how career decisions are made individuals are commonly motivated by the following two things:

Internal reward - a reward an individual receives from participating in a desired activity.

• External reward - a reward outside of the activity intended to provide motivation (e.g.-money, status).

Often when individuals are looking at jobs, the easiest part of a position to understand is the external reward. We are bombarded with images in the media that paint certain professions as desirable. Besides the occupations mentioned above, other positions that could be lumped into this group include engineer, accountant, architect and corporate business person. For this reason, it only makes sense that young people want to gravitate towards careers that are advertised as appealing.

The problem occurs when we attempt to move beyond the external rewards of a position and get a handle on the actual day-to-day activities. Resources such as Work Futures http://www.workfutures.bc.ca (provincial)  and Job Futures http://www.jobfutures.ca  (national) that detail the nature of the work involved with various occupations are a good starting point. However, this understanding should be built upon through job shadowing or informational interviews. The types of questions that should be included in an informational interview are:

• What are the most boring and exciting parts of the job?
• What is the most stressful part of your job?
• What activities do you perform that you never expected to?
• What misconceptions do people in the general public have about your position?

By interacting with people in the day-to-day reality of various positions you are able to come away with insights that cannot be gained through print or video resources. This holds true of both well known and lesser-known positions.

Because we live in a world where we do get to see the day-to-day dealings of a many professions, it is not surprising that the occupations parents (or influential adults) are most familiar with are the ones they often recommend to their children. For instance, consider the fact that many parents who watch their children advance through the Kindergarten to Grade 12 system suggest teaching as a career direction. However, an outsider's view of the demands of a position and its actual demands may be two different things. Teachers are increasingly required to meet a diverse range of learning needs and personal issues with their students. A person who believes that a successful teacher can adopt a uniform approach to all students is likely to be frustrated or ineffective. For this reason, it's important for anyone considering teaching to talk to a variety of teachers to get an inside picture of the position.

A first-hand approach to lesser known positions is also highly valuable. Depending on a person's background, they may be unfamiliar with the day-to-day responsibilities of a software engineer, market research analyst, actuary, speech-language pathologist, biotechnology research scientist or aircraft maintenance technician. However, it just may be through investigating a less obvious position that a career direction is found.

Tagged In: Adult Learners , Parents , Success Strategies , Transition , Youth