Engaging Parents in Career
Conversations
Presenter/s:
Venue:
Date:
Acknowledgements
The following have contributed to the development of this resource:
• Gray Poehnell
• Canadian Career Development Foundation
• Career Education Association of Victoria
Source Materials
• “Guiding Circles” - R. McCormick, N. Amundson, & G. Poehnell
• “Hope-Filled Engagement” - G. Poehnell & N. E. Amundson
• “Lasting Gifts” - Canadian Career Development Foundation and
Career Education Association Victoria
• www.myfuture.edu.au
• www.education.gov.au
• www.employment.gov.au
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Have a conversation
Step in Step Out:
• Select one person who stepped in with you and have a
conversation about:
• the experience you have in common
• what interested you about attending this workshop
Workshop Aims
By the end of this workshop you will be able to:
• Better support your teenager in their career journey;
• Have a career conversation with your teenager;
• Know and understand the High 5 messages
• Learn about some useful career resources;
• Understand the influential role you play; and
• Become a career ally!
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Concerns About the Future
What concerns does your
teenager have about their
future?
What concerns do you have
about your teenager’s
future?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ZPjBRUrCA&lr=1
Source: National Career Development Week
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Your Future: How many of you…
… knew at 16 years of age what you wanted to pursue?
… are doing now what you thought you wanted to do when
you were 16?
… made important career decisions based on researching
and reading labour market information?
… are where you are now, at least in part, because of a
chance encounter or unplanned event?
Source: “Lasting Gifts”
Canadian Career Development
Foundation
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Positive Uncertainty
H.B. Gelatt describes ‘positive
uncertainty’ as:
• the ability to recognise and accept
that the future is uncertain; and
• at the same time, be positive about
it.
Source: Gelatt & Gelatt
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The Changing World-of-Work
What was work like for you
growing up?
• Could you expect to stay in
the one job?
• Were you able to choose the
job you did?
• Were you able to change
jobs easily
• Were you able to ask for help
and advice?
• Did you have to study, and
keep learning?
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What will work be like for
young people in Australia
today?
Minimum of 7 careers in a
lifetime
Follow your heart
Focus on the journey
Use your networks
Lifelong learning
Attributes that young people need…
Persistence
I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.
I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been
trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.
I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And this
is why I succeed. Michael Jordan
Resilience
The best way to predict
the future is to create it.
Enterprise
Drive
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Abraham Lincoln
Desire! That’s the secret of
every man’s career. Not
education. Not being born with
talents. Desire. Bobby Unser
Preferred Future
Source: “Lasting Gifts”
Canadian Career Development
Foundation
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Research
CICA
Face-to-face
On Track
Lost Talent
Raise parents’
awareness of education
and training
opportunities.
It raises the value
attributed to those
opportunities by
parents.
Parents are the
preferred source of
career information,
advice and guidance for
teenagers.
Better careers advice
would have encouraged
early school leavers to
stay at school.
It is important for young
people to have a
specific occupational
career plan and receive
comprehensive career
development services.
Miles Morgan (2012,
March)
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State of Victoria (2008)
Hibbert, T (2010,
September)
Foundation for Young
Australians (2010)
High 5 Career Development Messages
1. Change is Constant
2. Learning is Ongoing
3. Focus on the Journey
4. Follow your Heart
5. Access your Allies
* Developed in 1995 by Canadian
career development leaders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNHcXl4IbZQ&lr=1
Source: Career Industry Council of Australia
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Change is Constant
Did You Know…?
http://www.splicd.com/cL9Wu2kWwSY/36/74
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE
Source: Karl Fisch
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Follow your Heart
Ring 1:What are
three things you
like to do
Ring 2: How long
is it since you did
each thing
Ring 3: Does it
cost ($) or is it
free (F)
Ring 4: Is it
planned (P) or
spontaneous
(S)
Ring 5: Do you
do it alone (A)
or with
someone else
(SE)
Ring 6: Does it
involve your
mind (M), body
(B), spirit (S)
or emotions
(E) or a
combination
Adapted from “Guiding Circles”,
McCormick, Amundson & Poehnell
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Focus on the Journey
• Don’t focus on one destination only
• Know what you want, but don’t be too sure
• Be open to changing your mind
• Recognise that your career journey will be throughout
your lifetime
• Appreciate and value each experience along the way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dupKoaFgqGY&lr=1
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Learning is Ongoing
• Where do you learn?
– Home? School? Play? Events? Other?
• How do you learn?
– By: Doing? Reading? Hearing? Singing? Watching?
• What about informal learning?
• What is lifelong learning?
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Learning is Ongoing
http://education.gov.au/career-bullseye-posters
http://www.myfuture.edu.au/Assist%20Others/Activities/Bullseye%20posters.aspx
Source: Department of Education
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Access your Allies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeFQjVP-Vxc&lr=1
Adapted from “Lasting Gifts”
Canadian Career Development Foundation
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Broaden ideas for work and career paths
Encourage:
• open-mindedness
• and discuss their passions and where they could
lead
• learning, we are always learning
• the possibilities and be positive
• flexibility
• exploring (research information)
•
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9KawhtfORI
Source: “School A to Z”
NSW Government
Education & Communities
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Focus on the Journey
Skills and industries
Source: “Hope-Filled Engagement”
Poehnell & Amundson
Being a Good Listener
• Give your full attention
– Stop what you are doing
• Don’t interrupt
– Let your teenager speak
• Stay as calm as you can
– If you’re caught off-guard by what they are saying,
breath deeply
• Listen for emotions
– Hear what they are saying beneath the words
• Give it time
– Don’t rush in with your response
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myfuture
My Guide
• Build your career profile
• Explore career ideas
• Consider career options
• Develop your career plan
myQuiz
• 5 activities
The Facts
• Careers
• Work and Employment
• Education and Training
• Funding
• Contacts
• Skills
www.myfuture.edu.au
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myfuture Mini Career Explorer
http://myfuture.edu.au/MiniCareerExplorer/index.html
Source: myfuture
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Key Workshop Messages
• The crucial role of parents and others play in the
career development of young people
• That career development is a lifelong journey
• The value of career conversations
• Engage young people where they are at in life
• Information and resources are available
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Next Steps
Talk to your teenager
• Help them find out who
they are, what drives
them, what interests
them.
• Help them to explore
their “preferred future”
and how they may work
towards it.
• Help them articulate how
they want to contribute to
their world.
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Discuss change
• Discuss the changes that
are happening in the
community and in their
world.
• What opportunities does
change present?
Next Steps
Network
• Use your networks to give your child opportunities to
experience and explore different things.
Use labour market information
• Be aware of the shifting labour market and be predictive
about what that may mean for future opportunities.
Be an ally
• Support your teenager on their journey and remind
them, and yourself, that is it okay to be uncertain.
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Published by
Higher Education and Skills Group
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
East Melbourne
January 2014
© State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development) 2014
The copyright in this document is owned by the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development), or in the case of some materials, by third parties (third party materials). No part may be
reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, the National
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An educational institution situated in Australia which is not conducted for profit, or a body responsible
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materials, for the educational purposes of the institution.
Authorised by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2 Treasury Place, East
Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
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