Teaching your child how to choose a career they will enjoy – Mindscreen Review – Part 7
*This post and the proceeding/subsequent posts in the series are sponsored by Mindscreen – an online mental health and wellbeing tool which guides children towards higher self-esteem, at home or in the classroom.*
In Part 1 of our Mindscreen Self-Esteem Series, I talked about how to spot the signs of low self-esteem in your child by using an online tool called Mindscreen. If you haven’t done so already, please read the following articles in the series first:
- Part 1 – How to spot the signs of low self-esteem in your child
- Part 2 – Lesson 1 – Why self-awareness is important to build your child’s self-esteem
- Part 3 – Lesson 2 – How to encourage your child to build positive beliefs and build confidence
- Part 4 – Lesson 3 – How to build on your child’s strengths and increase their self-confidence
- Part 5 – Lesson 4 – Helping your child build a bank of personal unique skills
- Part 6 – Lesson 5 – Helping your child choose subjects that suit their skills, hobbies and interests
In this article, we deep dive into Lesson 6, easyCareerChoice, which is about helping your child identify career options that they are more likely to enjoy. We will also go through helping them recognised the importance of taking action to achieve their aims and career goals.
BEFORE YOU START
Please note – you need to purchase the Mindscreen Experience to access these lesson plans. Follow the link below to get 10% off your Mindscreen Package now.
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In Part 2, I go through the general structure of the lessons, so please check out how it all works here.
What is easyCareerChoice?
easyCareerChoice is an extension of easyStudyChoice which helps your child identify career options they are more likely to enjoy. This lesson will also assist them in recognising the importance of taking action to achieve their aims and career goals.
I recapped with the boys what they learned in Lesson 5, easyStudyChoices.
“To find the job that suits you and the right options to use,” Aidan responded.
I advised that this lesson was a continuation of what they learned in Lesson 5, but in this lesson, I was going to help them pick their career options based on their skillsets.
I also reminded them not to stress about not knowing what career they wanted to choose yet because they are still very young. But it was a good idea to have something in mind and be actively thinking about it already – the younger they start pursuing their careers, the more successful they will be later on.
I asked the boys to turn to their Mindscreen Profiles so they could take a look at their ‘My Career Choice Insights’. I then asked them to circle two careers they were interested in, in each of the shaded areas in the six columns provided.
We talked about the different career options and both seemed interested in the military serviceman role. But after I explained what they had to do, i.e. getting up early to exercise and being prepared to head to war at any given moment, Aron changed his mind. Aidan was still considering it.
The boys picked one career in each column they found interesting and recorded six of their chosen careers in their Learner Diaries:
Aidan wrote three – Military Serviceman, Electrician and Lab Technician. He felt the other career options weren’t for him.
Aron picked Police Officer, Roofer, Sportsman, Painter and Decorator and Firefighter, which were interesting subjects to pick! Aron loves drawing and painting, so the Painter and Decorator role seemed like a suitable career option to keep in mind should he want to pursue his painting career.
I then asked the boys to select just one of the career options from their chosen selection. Aidan picked Military Serviceman and Aron picked Police Officer.
Interview time!
Instead of me interviewing the boys, the boys would get the chance to be interviewer and interviewee this time, and ask each other questions related to why they picked that certain career option.
Aron went first.
“So why did you pick military serviceman?”
Aidan – “Because I like the sound of it?”
Aron – “Do you know what skills you need to do?”
Aidan – “To be brave, to be careful.”
Aron – “But why did you pick military serviceman?”
Aidan – “Call of Duty?”
Aron – “The game?”
Aidan – “It got my mind to it.”
Aron – “Can you use a gun?”
Aidan – “No.”
Aron – “Well, Call of Duty is not like Military Serviceman. You will have to use a real gun.”
Aidan – “I don’t want to use a real gun.”
Aron – “Then I don’t think the Military Serviceman is for you.”
Aidan – “No.”
Aron – “Do you want to pick something else?”
Aidan – “I don’t want to be an electrician though!”
Me – “Ok, well let’s leave it for now. Why don’t you interview Aron?”
Aidan perked up – “Ok!”
“What did you pick?”
Aron – “Police officer.”
Aidan – “Why did you pick police officer?”
Aron – “It’s because I can be a good detective.”
Aidan – “What skills do you need?”
Aron – “To find out the mystery.”
Aidan – “And what would you use the mystery for?”
Aron – “To write everything down. So, for example, if someone killed someone, they were trying to get out of it by making up a story. I would write everything down and work it all out. So, say if they said, ‘my battery ran out and then I went to this alleyway and found a dead body,’ I would say, but if your battery ran out, how would you call me?”
Aidan – “But what would you use to find out though?”
Aron – “A magnifying glass, a pen and a notepad.”
Aidan – “But what kind of skills do you need to be a detective?”
Aron – “I will use my magnifying glass to search for a weapon.”
Aidan – “And what about how many doughnuts you’re going to eat?”
Aron – “1,500!”
Aidan – “But why did you pick that career?”
Aron – “I want to solve crimes.”
The boys did a great job interviewing each other and once they were done, I asked them to turn to the ‘My Skills Insights’ in their Mindscreen Profiles, so they could take a look at the shaded areas and check which skill suited their favourite career.
Aron picked out skills like problem-solving and decision making which were great choices, while Aidan picked out skills like leadership and efficiency. I asked them to record the skills they picked in their Learner Diaries.
Where can you find more information about your chosen career choice?
We discussed where the boys could find more information about their chosen career options and they came up with some great ideas:
- Google it
- Job Centre
- Government careers website
- Police website
- Speak to people already in the job
I asked the boys to think again about whether their chosen career suited them. Did it sound like their type of career? Did it suit their skills?
Just do it!
The last activity in the lesson was all about showing the boys that determination is the key to success.
We humans are highly intelligent beings and have a brain no computer in the world can ever reproduce. To prove what I meant, I lit a candle and asked the boys to use their brains to put the candle out without blowing it out.
They first stared at the candle for a few seconds then they started to think smart. They took a piece of paper and fanned the air around the candle. They also blew through their nose and used pieces of plastic. Aron finally put the candle out by waving his hands to create wind.
I asked them if they knew what the candle activity represented.
Aidan – “It means that our brain is smart and if we use our minds to think of something we can put it out.”
If you know someone who has a great idea but they never did anything about it, putting out that candle is taking action. And you have to take action to achieve your aims.
We played the candle experiment a few more times before we closed the lesson with a review of what we learned today, which was to take action on your career and to not just expect it to fall on your lap.
Aidan – “Can I tell you why it’s really important? Say you pick a job and then you get really bored with it and you’ve had to pay all that money to go somewhere else then you’ll be sad. So you have to think of a job you want to stay in and take action so you actually do that job!”
Aidan got it.
How did we get on with Lesson 6, easyCareerChoice?
It was another great lesson with minimal resistance from the boys. They especially loved the candle experiment and enjoyed using their brains to put the candle out in as many unique ways as possible.
How long was the lesson supposed to be?
30 – 45 minutes depending on the level of engagement with your children.
How long it took us
Over an hour but we engaged in a lengthy discussion which was needed to explain some of the career choices.
What did I want the boys to learn in this lesson?
I wanted the boys to learn that it’s really important to choose a job that matches their skills and interest so it’s therefore fundamental they know what they’re good at so they can choose the right job for them. If they pick the right job then it won’t feel like work and they’ll be happy later in life because they followed their passion. It’s also important that they know how to get information about their careers and work hard to achieve their goals.
What did I learn from this lesson?
The boys were really interested in working in the army at first which I did not expect. But, I’m not fully convinced they understood what being in the army really entailed. I also was surprised to see how engaging they were in this lesson. I thought career choices would go over their head because they’re so young, but they got the importance of picking the right career to help them live a happy and fulfilled life later. I’m proud of them for being so grown already.
What’s next?
In the next lesson, we’ll be looking at Lesson 7, EasyCV, which is about providing your child with the opportunity to prepare the most important part of their CV, their personal statement. We’ll also go through the “dos” and “don’ts” in CV writing.
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