So for my office hours two students came by and wanted Career Advice.
Calling SFU and UBC and asking that same question would probably help your counselors who are most likely overwhelmed with other issues right now. They could tell you.
Why not start off by doing some research into this yourself. After all,
Everyone is smart
https://www.niu.edu/facdev/_pdf/guide/learning/howard_gardner_theory_multiple_intelligences.pdf
Everyone is different, with a unique personality.
Carl Jung’s psychology applied to personality by Briggs and Myers gives us a personality test, a good place to start in understanding who you are, your unique talents and tendencies, along with your weaknesses.
While this link doesn’t give you the most comprehensive personality test it’s a start (the real test is around $1000 from what I remember):
https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test
Using this information, that you’re smart and unique, you can research what sorts of jobs you were made for! Okay, that’s a little extreme, but your own quest into finding yourself and what jobs are suited for you, should follow a pattern something like this:
- Ask yourself, “How do i learn?” (Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence link above) or even “What kind of smart am I” because remember, EVERYONE is smart!
- Now ask yourself, “What’s my personality?” as in, are you outgoing, life of the party, enjoy being around people? then you’re probably extroverted. Like to have your own space and hate people just showing up or getting in your face? probably introverted. An introverted person most likely won’t enjoy an occupation where they need to work in groups and making presentations all the time, just as an extroverted person doesn’t match up well with developing computer software. But there’s more to your personality than just extroversion vs introversion! So try the 16 personalities test, to narrow down what your tendencies are.
- Now use this information, your personality type, to see what occupations line up with your personality most often. Here’s a link where you can enter your personality type to find out things like, what career fits you, among other things: https://www.personalitypage.com/html/index.shtml
- AND/OR find/buy on Amazon Prime or ebay or find at your local library, a book called “Do What You Are” which will give you examples of how people have done similar research as you. People who used their research into who they are to help them figure out what occupation is a good match for their personality.
My high school counselor told me I’d make a good fountain pen tip inspector. After doing a personality inventory like the one above, I was surprised at the result and wondered “Where do I find this job” (not really).
They made a mistake (phew) and told me my new match was, “Aerospace Engineer”. But that wasn’t the only match. Thankfully it also included Teaching, and other career fields like Nursing, Law, and even Property Development. The book “Do What You Are” will narrow down these fields and interview people with similar personalities to find out how they discovered careers they love.
Everyone is different, and we’re hoping at John Oliver, that by the time grade 11 hits, you’re blessed with an idea of what you’d like to spend your life doing. No pressure, you have a lot of time, but something to look into so life doesn’t dictate what job you have. Have a say in what you do. Do the work, the research of finding what matches who you are and then go for it!