PERSONS

AND CAREERS
GROUP 1
TEN MYTHS ABOUT
CAREER PLANNING
BUSTED!
Suchitra Surve, Director, Growth
Centre identifies the 10 common
myths about choosing a career
and tells you why it will affect
you in the long run.
Myth 1: Arts/humanities majors usually
are unemployable after college
Fact: Skills matter in every stream
Humanities majors offer training in essential
transferable skills, including interpersonal
communication, writing, research, and critical
thinking.
Arts majors find employment in diverse
careers, humanities graduates sometimes take
longer to discover their niche due to lack of
awareness about available options.

Therefore, it’s essential not to assume that a

specific stream guarantees future
opportunities.
Myth 2: Selecting what's 'hot' at the
moment is safe
Fact: What's hot today may not necessarily
be 10/20 years later
'Hot' today may cool down, or disappear
completely, in the near future.
This choice doesn’t consider the student’s
interests, abilities, or the environment where
they’re likely to thrive.
career satisfaction involves far more than
simply being able to do a particular job -- it
requires interest, commitment and passion.

Therefore, you are on much firmer ground

when you select a career goal that genuinely
interests you.
Myth 3: Career assessments / counselors
will not be of any use for me
Fact: You must know what your aptitude is
before choosing a career
Psychometric Assessments (Aptitude Test) can
provide additional information that may be
helpful as a part of the career planning
process.
provide a clear idea as to ones aptitude,
strengths and weakness and their mental
capabilities, which aids in selecting a career.

Career counselor can help you in

brainstorming. Who can chalk out various
career options based on the match between
the student profile and the career.
Myth 4: If X is happy in a particular field, I
will be happy too
Fact: You are not X
Everyone is different and what works for one
person won’t necessarily work for another,
even if that other person is someone with
whom you have a lot in common.
Be aware that what you like may not
necessarily be a good fit for you.
Myth 5: If I wait long enough, luck will
eventually bring me to the right
Fact: Procrastination is no substitute for
laziness
It is unlikely that you will just “bump into” the
occupation that will perfectly match your
skills and interests.
People who are unhappy in their careers most
likely just “fell into” something without
careful planning.
Myth 6: Making a lot of money will make
me happy
Fact: The ingredients of fulfilling career also
includes passion and commitment to growth
When selecting a career, consider more than
just salary.
finding enjoyment in their work matters much
more.
Myth 7: Once I choose a career I’ll be stuck
in it forever
Fact: You are never too old to switch careers
If you are unsatisfied in your career for any
reason, you can always change.
Many people change careers several times
over the course of their lifetimes.
Myth 8: If I change careers my skills will be
wasted
Fact: Being multi-skilled allows you to learn
and adapt accordingly
Some jobs demand specific, specialized skill
sets. However, most jobs rely on common
skills that many individuals possess.
Myth 9: I will decide after the results are
out
Fact: Impulsive decisions lack planning and
direction
Post-graduation decisions can be impulsive
because your initial educational qualifications
may not directly align with your later career
path.
Planning in advance prepares you better to
deal with the If-and-Or situations better.
Myth 10: I love this hobby, but I don’t think I
can make money out of it
Fact: If you love what you do, you will not feel
like you are working
People are turning their passions into
professions.
These hobby-turned vocations can be
financially rewarding when pursued
professionally.
CAREER CONCEPTS
A career is defined as the combination and
sequence of roles played by a person during the
course of a lifetime (Super, 1980).

Your career basically dictates a lot of things in

your life it can determine the kind of lifestyle
that you will be leading, the quality of
relationships that you have with people around
you like your family and friends, the kind of
balance you will be able to keep with your life
and your responsibilities.
There are two other concepts that we often
associate with the concept of career.

1. Job
2. Occupation
1. A job is a position an individual holds doing
specific duties. For example, if you would look
closely at the job of a lawyer, you can say that a
lawyer's job is working as an associate in X Law
Firm.
2. An occupation is defined as the similar work for which
people have similar responsibilities and for which they
develop a common set of skills and knowledge. For
example, people who are in the mental health occupation
would include psychologists, clinical psychologists,
counselors, and psychiatrists.
A lot of things can influence one's career choice.
A popular career development model, the Trait and
Factor model, believes that skills and abilities need
to fit the demands of a particular career field. This
being said, it is then important that you take stock of
the skills, knowledge and abilities that you currently
possess and those that you still need to develop as
these greatly impacts that kind of career that could
be a good match for you.
A lot of things can influence one's career choice.
Another factor that could influence your
success in a particular career field would be
your personality and interests.

John Holland, a popular career counselor

proposed a theory that strongly believe that
certain careers require certain personality
traits and must also fit our interests.
A lot of things can influence one's career choice.
Our life roles are yet strong factors that influence's
our career choices. Your role as a child, a sister, a
student, and eventually if you choose it, that of a
parent would have an impact in the decisions that
you would have to make as an adult.

Donald Super, another career development theorist

believes that since we play an array of roles in our
lives, these roles are likely to change over time thus
requirements, needs and other external forces would
come into play when we are trying to figure out or
maintain a career.
A lot of things can influence one's career choice.
One's race and ethnicity could also impact our
choices. The culture in which we belong to shape our
values and expectations. In the Philippines, our
collectivist orientation makes our family a strong
influence in our career decisions. More often than
not, the choice of course to take in college, the
location of our job, how strong- willed we will be in
achieving great heights in our career, would most
likely be influenced by our family roles, duties and
obligations.
A lot of things can influence one's career choice.

Our social identity, specifically our gender,

also possess challenges and opportunities for
us when choosing a career. Although
nowadays, the gender divide in terms of
careers have slowly narrowed, it is a known
fact that men and women experiences career-
related stereotypes.
A lot of things can influence one's career choice.

One of the strongest considerations in career

decision making has a lot to do with social and
economic conditions. Our choice of career is
contingent to our capabilities to sustain the
monetary demands of pursuing formal
education to train for it. Also, our financial
obligations and roles likewise would determine
the kind of occupation we would be pursuing in
order to fulfill these duties.
WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR
CAREER CHOICES?
 Influence Factors
Skills and Abilities
- Considering your skills and abilities and how
they may fit a particular occupation comes out
of one of the earliest career development fields,
Trait-Factor theories, and still used today.

Interest and Personality Type

- Holland’s Career Typology is a widely used to
connect personality types and career fields. This
theory establishes a classification system that
matches personality characteristics and personal
preferences to job characteristics.
 Influence Factors
Life Roles
- Being a worker is just one of your life roles, in
addition to others such as, student, parent, and child.
How we think about ourselves in these roles, their
requirements of them, and the external forces that
affect them, may influence how we look at careers in
general and how we make choices for ourselves.

Previous Experiences
- Having positive experiences and role models
working in specific careers may influence the set of
careers we consider as options for ourselves.
 Influence Factors
Culture
- Racial and ethnic background, as well as the culture
of an individual's regional area, local community, and
extended family, may impact career decisions. . Our
culture often shapes our values and expectations as
they relate to many parts of our lives, including jobs
and careers.

Gender
- Both men and women have experienced career-related
stereotypes. How we view ourselves as individuals may
influence both the opportunities and barriers we perceive
as we make career decisions.
 Influence Factors
Social and Economic Conditions
- All of our career choices take place within the context of
society and the economy. Events that take place in our
lives may affect the choices available to us and oven
dictate our choices to a certain degree. Changes in the
economy and resulting job market may also affect how
our careers develop.

Childhood Fantasies
- What do you want to be when you grow-up? You may
remember this question from your childhood, and it may
have helped shape how you thought about careers then, as
well as later in life.
Work with your career counselor!
It’s important to understand that career choice is not
made based on any one factor. Our choices are
subject to many influences – individual, cultural,
social, and environmental. The combination and
interaction of various influences on your decision-
making are unique to you and your situation. There
may also be multiple options, several “good-fits” for
you, instead of a single, right choice. Keep in mind
that as you change, learning and experiencing new
things, and external factors change, such as the
economy, you will continue to revise and fine-tune
your career choices.
Work with your career counselor!
There is a lot to consider, but you don’t have to
figure it all out on your own. Work with a career
services counselor at your institution’s career center.
These professionals will be able to assist you with
assessments and additional resources, and discuss
how different theories may be applied to your career
development process.
SUPER’S CAREER
DEVELOPMENT
THEORY
 Donald Super influenced the idea that
developing a sense of self and realize that
you change over time is important when
planning your career.

One of Donald Super's greatest

contributions to career development has
been his emphasis on the importance of
the development of self-concept.
According to Super, self- concept changes
over time, and develops as a result of
experience. As such, career development
is lifelong.
 Super developed the theories and
work of colleague Eli Ginzberg. Ginzberg's
theory enumerated three stages in a
person's career development: Fantasy
(from birth to 11 years old), Tentative
(from 11-17 years old), and Realistic (after
age 17). Super thought that Ginzberg's
work had weaknesses, which he wanted to
address. Super extended Ginzberg's life
and career development stages from
three to five, and included different sub
stages.
 Super argues that occupational
preferences and competencies, along
with an individual's life situations, all
change with time and experience.
Super developed the concept of
vocational maturity, which may or
may not correspond to chronological
age: people cycle through each of
these stages when they go through
career transitions.
 Super’s five life and career
development stages

Stage Age Characteristics

Development of self-concept,
Growth birth - 14 attitudes, needs, and general
world of work

“Trying out” through classes,

Exploration 15-24 work hobbies. Tentative choice
and skill development
 Stage Age Characteristics

Entry-level skill building and

Establishment 25-44 stabilization through work
experience

Continual adjustment process to

Maintenance 45-64
improve position

Reduced output, prepare for

Decline 65+
retirement
 Development tasks at these
different stages

Adolescence Early adulthood Middle Late adulthood

Life stage
14-25 25-45 adulthood 45-65 65+

Reducing
Giving less time Focusing on Reducing
Decline sports
to hobbies essentials working hours
participation

Verifying Making
Holding one’s
current occupational Keeping what
Maintenance own against
occupational position one enjoys
competition
choice secure
 Adolescence Early adulthood Middle Late adulthood
Life stage
14-25 25-45 adulthood 45-65 65+

Settling down Doing things

Getting started Developing
Establishment in a suitable one has
in a chosen field new skills
position wanted to do

Learning more Identifying Finding a good

Finding desired
Exploration about new tasks to retirement
opportunity
opportunities work on place

Developing and
Developing a Learning to Accepting
valuing non-
Growth realistic self- relate to one’s own
occupational
concept others limitations
roles
THANK YOU