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Career Readiness Quiz Pack for Students

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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Power students’ research and goal-setting
Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Introduction
We’ve designed this pack of quizzes to support and structure your
students’ career exploration.
These quizzes help you (and them!) assess their career readiness, and
lead them logically through essential questions. We also guide their
goal-setting so that by the time they’ve completed the pack, they have
solid next steps towards their dream career.
You can use these quizzes in class or as independent assignments, and you can have students
complete them one after the other, or at different stages of their research journey. For
example, you might use the first quiz to establish their understanding and build your strategy
according to their needs, finding appropriate resources and supporting their research so they
have enough knowledge to set truly meaningful goals.
However you decide to use these quizzes, we hope they help you guide students towards
their brightest futures!
And if you want to take it to the next level and give students an interactive platform that
carries out these assessments as part of its intelligent matching process, and can even pair
students with the courses that best fit their abilities and ambitions, make sure you create your
free BridgeU account!
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Quiz 1: What do you know about your career options?
It’s never too early to think about all the exciting opportunities you’ll have when you’re
ready to embark on your career! This quiz helps you start assessing your options and
the ways you can find out more about them.
First, let’s think about some of the research you might have done already sometimes without even realising you were doing careers research.
3. W
hat do you think it’s like to work in those fields? Think
about specific job roles, working hours, working conditions,
specialisations, salaries, or other factors that are important
to you.
1. H
ave you ever heard or learned about careers through any
of these activities or channels? If you have, you’ve already
begun your career-research journey!
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Part-time job
Work experience or internships
Related extracurricular activities/hobbies
Looked online at job postings
Looked at a careers website
Looked at universities’ subject or careers information
Taken career assessments
Attended an assembly or presentation about careers
Spoken with a professional about their career
Interacted with career counselling at school
Watched a documentary
4. What appeals to you about these fields?
Read a book/listened to an audiobook
Listened to a podcast
Followed a related account on social media
Other (feel free to specify!)
If you found any of these especially helpful, why not share them
with your careers counsellor or fellow students? You might help to
shape someone’s future!
Now let’s see how you felt about what you saw, read and heard
through those channels.
5. D
o you know of any notable people who work in those
fields? What can you find out about their work and
contributions?
2. W
hat are the three industries and sectors that most interest
you? (e.g. entertainment, fashion, sports, medicine…)
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Quiz 2: What are your long-term goals?
Now that you’ve thought a little about the options that exist and the ways
you can find out more about them, it’s time to focus on you! In this quiz,
we’ll help you assess what’s most important to you and think about some
specific long-term goals.
4. W
hich of the industries that you’re interested in could
deliver on your values and your day-to-day needs? Why do
you think so?
1. T
here are lots of different things that you can value about
your career. Look at the criteria below, and rank each from 1
- 10 in order of importance.
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A high salary
A good work-life balance
The ability to work remotely
Making the world a better place
Learning and growing throughout my career
Having lots of new experiences
Contributing to social change
Creating new ways of doing things
Prestige and success
A comfortable lifestyle
5. W
hich roles would fit with your values and needs? Why do
you think so?
2. T
hinking about those criteria or any others that matter to
you, describe what career success looks like to you.
3. W
hat does an ideal working life include? Tick all that apply,
and feel free to add your own!
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Lots of teamwork
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Deciding how and when to do things
Working independently most of the time
ollowing a set structure or process and having clear
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instructions
Managing a group of people
Meeting new people all the time
Jumping between different tasks
Focusing on just one task at a time
Thinking creatively
Flexible working hours and/or locations
Working in an office
Working in the field
Pitching ideas and suggesting changes
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Quiz 3: What are your stepping stones?
By this stage, you have an idea of what you want from your career and the
jobs that could meet your key criteria. Now it’s time to think about how
you’ll get there!
For this quiz, you might want to carry out some research as you go or before
you get started. If you’re not sure where you can find useful information, look
back over some of the research channels listed in the first quiz.
1. What’s an entry-level position in your ideal industry?
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hat related or useful subject areas could you study at
university? Do job postings ever say a degree in specific
subjects is required or preferred?
2. W
hat skills and characteristics do employers look for in
entry-level candidates?
5. W
hat do you need to get into a quality degree programme
in those areas? Things to note here could be anything from
portfolios and required grades, to specific deadlines, to
helpful experiences you’d like to mention in essays.
3. D
o they offer internships? If so, what do they suggest are
the benefits of an internship?
6. W
hat extracurricular pursuits could help you develop the
necessary skills and characteristics?
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Quiz 4: Are you gaining relevant skills?
You know what your future employers need, but have you got it? This quiz will help you think
about all the valuable experiences you’ve already had and align them with the key characteristics
that make up career readiness.
These are broad, transferable skills that apply to whichever path you hope to pursue. But it’s a
good idea to look over the career-specific skills and characteristics you listed in the previous
quiz, and see how all the things you’ve done so far are developing those, too!
For each of these qualities, list at least one experience or activity you’ve done that develops and
demonstrates the quality, and explain how it does so.
And don’t worry, we’ll give you a little definition and some examples to get you started! If you
can’t think of anything you’ve done yet, these examples could also give you some inspiration of
things to try out…
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ritical thinking and problem solving
This refers to the ability to assess a problem and make decisions to solve it. It could mean dreaming up a creative
solution, or using logic to think through a problem step by step.
E.g. A science project for which you built something that can be dropped from the third floor and float safely onto the concrete
ground…
2. Written and spoken communication skills
Chances are, you talk and write quite a lot every day. But the trick is to be able to do it clearly and concisely. Luckily,
because you do do it every day, you’ll likely have lots of examples to draw from.
E.g. Written essays, debate club, fostering team spirit for a sports club, a personal blog
3. T
eamwork and collaboration
This is all about being able to work with people to share and combine ideas. It means being positive and friendly, and
willing to share your best thoughts and efforts with the whole team. It’s also all about listening to others, and
recognising when somebody’s idea might be better than yours (it does happen from time to time!).
E.g. Fundraising events, sports teams, part-time jobs, group projects
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
4. D
igital technology
Here’s an area where your generation tends to have a clear advantage - you’re probably really familiar with lots of
digital technology. But that also means that to stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to think carefully about the
special skills you have and the ones you need. Plus, the biggest question of all: how are you using technology to do
brilliant things?
E.g. Filming and/or editing videos, using a content management system to publish your blog, creating a digital solution to a
problem or project
5. L
eadership
Not everyone gets lots of leadership opportunities in the most straightforward sense until they’re advancing in the
workforce. But having leadership skills isn’t all about being somebody’s boss or manager! And even if you’re not a
captain, leader or president, there are probably moments where you’ve proposed a solution and helped everybody
see your side of things and deliver on your ideas. It might be brief, but it’s still leadership!
E.g. Babysitting, suggesting a particular tactic/game-play in a sports match, leading on a group project in school, planning a
charity event, organising a trip with your friends
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rofessionalism and a strong work ethic
This is all about showing commitment to your work. Usually, actually enjoying what you do and caring about it are
crucial ingredients (which is why it’s so important to find the right career for you!). It’s things like always showing up
to work on time and with a positive attitude, acting professionally and politely, not procrastinating or shirking
responsibility, volunteering to do certain tasks and taking initiative where appropriate. Basically, being a great person
to work with - which we’re sure you are!
E.g. Your conduct in school, your commitment to an extracurricular activity, your participation in work experience or
internships, your part-time job
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
7. C
areer management
Essentially, the purpose of these quizzes is to develop this skill! It means you understand your field, the trajectory you
envisage your career taking (it has to be realistic!), and what makes you such an asset to employers. It’s also about
spotting opportunities for growth - like some of the examples we’ve given already. Finally, you should be able to
assess your skills and know your strengths and weaknesses.
E.g. The contents of this pack of quizzes! Any of the research tasks listed in the first quiz, any form of self-assessment you’ve
done, any time you’ve reflected on your extracurriculars and why you do them…
8. G
lobal and intercultural fluency
This final competency refers to the ability to think on a global scale, and understand and work with different cultures.
It means being aware and accepting of all kinds of different identities (e.g. racial, gender, sexual orientation, religious)
- and that should translate into any work you do and every team you’re in. It’s also why it’s such a good idea to study
abroad - it’s the best way to develop and demonstrate your global and intercultural fluency!
E.g. Studying abroad/doing internships abroad, working as part of a diverse team, social activism
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Career Readiness
Quiz Pack
Setting your goals
Congratulations on finding answers to all those questions! Your career readiness has grown in leaps and
bounds, and now it’s time to turn everything you’ve learned into action.
In this final section, you’ll set yourself some long and short term goals to ensure you have a detailed plan
of how you’ll get where you want to go!
There are all kinds of tasks you could set for yourself. Some good examples are joining a school club,
securing a summer internship, undertaking pre-university programmes, researching micro-credentials or
setting up a video journal… The world is your oyster here.
The main things to keep in mind are how each goal is getting you closer to your ultimate destination, and
making every goal as specific and detailed as possible.
Once you’re done, why not share it with a counsellor or guardian? They can advise you on your goals, make
further suggestions, help you find the opportunities you need and hold you accountable so that you stay
on track.
Good luck - we know you’ll be achieving great things very soon!
This week I will
This term I will
Over the summer break I will
In the next two years I will
At university I will
My long term project will be
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