Career Exploration Part1

This podcast will support listeners to:  

• Explore own values, abilities and interests.   
• Determine how interests could align with future jobs or careers.  
• Recognise ways to develop skills and take on more responsibilities.    

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:03):
Welcome to Vision Australia's podcast series, designed to help children
and young people develop the skills they'll need to open
their future.

Natalie (00:14):
Hello. My name is Natalie and I'm an occupational therapist.
Thanks for joining me today to talk about career exploration.
Do you already have ideas about what you want to
be when you grow up? Maybe you're still exploring possibilities
and all the different types of jobs available. If so,
that's great because that's what this stage in career education

(00:37):
is all about and what we'll be talking about today.
Hopefully by now you know what a job is. And
you're already doing some work around the house. Doing jobs
around the house is the first step in your journey
towards having a job when you're a grown up. You
learn lots of really important work skills like being reliable,

(00:57):
getting things done on time, and problem solving. Let's hear
from Scott about the household jobs he's responsible for.

Scott (01:06):
Around the house. I have a couple of responsibilities. For example,
I take care of my dog, Cooper, by feeding and
changing his water and taking him on walks. I give
him lots of attention as well. I'm learning to use
the stove and the oven in the kitchen, and I
sometimes wipe down the bench to keep the area clean.

(01:27):
I do my own laundry, take out the rubbish and
keep my own room and space clean and tidy. Sometimes
I'll do some jobs around the house for pocket money,
such as vacuuming and cleaning the windows and unpacking and
packing the dishwasher.

S2 (01:45):
Thanks, Scott. You're a legend. The exploration stage of career
education is the perfect time to develop skills and take
on more responsibilities, like jobs at home, or even helping
out at school or in the community. All of these
will be helpful in the long term. It's also a
great time to start thinking about your values, abilities, and

(02:07):
interests and figure out how these could match up with
future jobs or careers. In this podcast, we'll talk about
six key learning activities that will help you get ready
for the next stage in career education, called career preparation,
and ultimately help you in your journey towards work or
a career that you enjoy. We'll be talking about how

(02:29):
you can learn and practice these skills, and we'll hear
from someone who's already pretty good at them. Are you ready? Great.
Let's start with the first three learning activities. These are
all about exploring your personal and career interests. The first
one is exploring the jobs that you might like. The

(02:51):
second is understanding clusters of jobs, and the third is
understanding your values, interests, skills, and abilities. These three topics
are linked and are all about exploring what you're good at,
what's important to you, and the types of jobs that
you might like to do when you grow up. If

(03:12):
you listed all the jobs you knew about, how many
do you think there would be? Five? 15? Maybe 25
if you tried hard. There are actually thousands of different
types of jobs, so many that no one could ever
know them all. And jobs are changing all the time too.
By the time you're a grown up, there'll be new

(03:32):
jobs and industries that don't even exist yet. So in
this stage of exploring, we want you to start discovering
more details about some of the jobs out there, especially
the ones that sound interesting to you. So how can
you do this? Well, I've got some ideas, but first
let's hear from Scott again.

Scott (03:52):
I am interested in becoming a mixing engineer and audio
technician or a live performing musician. I've set up my
own studio at home where I can do some recording,
make some music, and do some mixing of my own.
I have also connected with a mentor who works in
the industry. He's given me lots of tips and advice

(04:15):
and has is also connected me to some local organizations
where I'm able to develop and showcase my abilities. If
you want to start exploring what you're good at and
what you think you want to do as a job,
start today. It's never too early to start, but one
day it will be too late. Maybe ask your family

(04:37):
if they know anybody who works in this industry. Also,
start researching the job that you want to do. Understand
what it needs, what it requires, and how you can
get there.

Natalie (04:51):
Thanks, Scott. Awesome ideas there. Here are my tips on
easy ways to find out about a range of jobs.
Think about the places where you spend a lot of time,
like school and the community, and all the jobs that
are done there. Are any of them interesting? When you

(05:11):
have excursions to different workplaces. Ask them lots of questions
about the work they're doing to better understand all the
jobs that are there. Spend time with different grown ups
in their workplaces while they're working. That's called job shadowing.
Sign up to be a volunteer for events at school
and in the community, and learn how to do an

(05:33):
informational interview with people doing the jobs or careers you
want to investigate. The second key learning activity in career
exploration is understanding job clusters. Now, clusters are groups of
things that match in some way. So a job cluster
is a group of jobs that are similar to each other.

(05:55):
For example, a job cluster might require similar skills or
abilities performed in certain locations, or the people doing those
jobs work towards the same goals and outcomes. And job
clusters are really useful because if you hear about one
interesting job, then you can use its cluster to explore
other similar jobs, and chances are they'll be interesting too.

(06:18):
And you never know, you might find another job that
sounds even better than the first one because it matches
really well with your talents and skills. Plus, when you
grow up, you might do a few different jobs all
within the same cluster because you have the right skills
that transfer or switch easily between the roles. I wonder

(06:39):
what job clusters might suit you. How could you find out?
The third key learning activity in career exploration is understanding
your own values, interests, skills, and abilities. These are things
that are unique to each person and are equally important
to keep in mind when exploring ideas for future work.

(07:01):
I'm going to explain what each one is about, and
if you like, you can pause the podcast and make
a list of your values, interests, skills and abilities. This
will help you get to know yourself better, and knowing
these will help you figure out which jobs might suit
you best. First values. Values are the things that are

(07:21):
important to you. For example, one person might list honesty
as one of their values. While someone else might list freedom,
what might one of your values be? Skills. Skills are
things that you've learned how to do, like playing the piano,
making a sandwich, or reading Braille. Abilities. Well, these are

(07:41):
your talents. What comes naturally to you? For me, it's talking.
Can't you tell? But what are you naturally good at?
Interests are what you enjoy doing or learning about. Sometimes
our interests change over time and some will stay the
same as you get older. So what do you most
enjoy doing or learning about? You could also ask people

(08:04):
you trust what they think your skills and abilities are too.
Let's hear from Scott.

Scott (08:12):
I value equality, honesty, and hard work. People around me
who I respect and like uphold these values, and I
wish to do the same, to be like them and
be a good model to others. I also wish to
make a positive impact in the world. When I was
in primary school, I picked up a ukulele and a

(08:33):
guitar and just couldn't stop playing them. I loved the
instruments so much and I practiced them daily today. In
terms of my skills, I've spent a lot of time
on orientation and mobility, learning how to use a cane
and independently catch public transport. I've also learnt how to
use mainstream and assistive technologies. I use something called a

(08:55):
screen reader, which allows me to use my phone and
my computer to do things like schoolwork and have conversations
with people on the internet through text and perhaps on zoom.

Natalie (09:06):
Thanks, Scott. Great hearing about your values, interests, skills, and abilities.
So now we've talked about the first three learning activities
in career exploration. Exploring the job that you like, understanding
clusters of jobs, and understanding your values, interests, skills, and abilities.

(09:29):
You heard of a couple of ways to learn more
about jobs, especially the ones you're interested in. You found
out jobs with similarities can be grouped into job clusters,
and you can use these clusters to discover other jobs
you might find interesting. And finally, you considered your values, interests, skills,
and abilities, and how understanding these can help you find

(09:50):
a job that suits you. Thank you for listening to
part one of Career Exploration. We're going to pause here
so you can take some time to reflect on everything
you've just learned, but make sure you tune in for
part two so you can hear about the next three
learning activities in career exploration. And those are positive work

(10:11):
habits and skills, time management and money management. We'll see
you soon. Bye.

S4 (10:20):
Vision Australia.

S5 (10:22):
Blindness. Low vision. Opportunity.

S2 (10:25):
The content in this podcast is based in part on
the research and ideas of Doctor Karen Wolffe, the Foundation
for Young Australians and Resources, published by American Printing House
for the blind.