Career Research Project (with Choices and True Colors)

Chaffey | CoopEd | Handbook | End-of-Term

Introduction: Your purpose in doing this project is to learn about a career field of interest to you so that you can choose your career goal and major, or do the kind of research that will accelerate your movement toward your goal.

Your Research Topic: You will need to research a specific, occupation within the field you have chosen, one that seems to come closest to matching your personal career priorities. If you are undecided regarding what field/occupation to research, your instructor will select self-assessment assignments in Modules 1, 2 and 3 that can assist you in selecting the topic of your research.

Self-Assesments: For students assigned career assessments in modules 1, 2 and 3, a follow-up appointment is required, to review the career priorities you have identified so that your instructor can select the research modules and criteria for the selected research topic. The assessment instruments for this project are True Colors and Choices CT. Ask your instructor about other assessment options.

Email Follow-up: You are required to keep your instructor informed, with at least one email regarding your progress on this project. You will be given a schedule of due dates for all assignments.

Project Assignments: The number of units for which you are enrolled in this course will determine the number of modules and criteria that your instructor selects for your project, and the number of videos you are to watch. After receiving your project assignment, you may want to review the examples of successful projects that are available in the Career Services Office.

Career Videos: Since there is not a lecture component for this course, the selected episodes from Career Advantage are important lecture alternatives, providing valuable insights into each of your assignments. You may access the Appendix to the Student Handbook on the Chaffey College Career Services site to obtain a current list of Career Advantage videos, along with most of the documents in the Co-op Ed 497/96 packet, in MS Word or PDF format.

Submission Requirements: The assigned reports are to be typewritten, double spaced. Your completed project should be submitted in a folder or a 3-ring binder, with tapped dividers and a table of contents listing each assigned module and criteria. Please state the name, module number, and criteria number of each report.

Career Management: Keep a record of your primary sources of information for your field of interest so you can return to these sources in the future, as you continue your research adn career anvancement. Make a list of the books, periodicals, software, Websites and individuals that were your sources of information for this project.

Modules and Goals:

1. Self Assessment: Take a brief quiz and card sort to learn about careers and majors that suit your personality type.
   
   
2. Self Assessment and Selection of Your Research Topic: Learn about your preferred skills, interest, values and other career priorities, and select an occupation to research.
   
   
3. Determine your top 10 priorities by reviewing the results of your self-assessments.
   
   
4. Print Information Sources: Learn about the occupation you have chosen to research by reviewing relevant print information sources.
   
   
5. On-line Resources: Learn about the professional asssociations and other on-line information sources for your research topic.
   
   
6. Work-based Learning: Learn about internships, community service and volunteer work.
   
   
7. Labor Market Research: Learn about the present and future job market for the occupation you are researching.
   
   
8. Field Research: Learn networking strategies adn conduct informational interviews with experts in the occupation you are researching.
   
   
9. Critical Thinking: Analyze how well the occupation you researched meets your priorities, draw conclusions about it and describe your action plan.

   
   

Module #1: Self Assessment: Take a quick quiz and card sort to learn about careers and majors that suit your personality type.

Goal #1:   Learn what careers and majors your personality type prefers, by taking the True Colors quiz and using the card sort.

Criteria:

1. Visit the True Colors Website at www.truecolorscareer.com and take the quiz to learn your True Colors personality profile. Confirm your results by using the True Colors card sort in the Career Services office. Learn about career options and college majors that are suggested for people with your personality type by reading the chapters on your primary and secondary colors in the text, “Follow Your True Colors to the Work You Love” (by Carolyn Kalil). Copies of this book are on reserve in the Career Services office and the Chaffey College Library. Write a one page report discussing your views on how well this personality instrument describes your personality and include any insights you gained regarding your career choice.

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Module #2:   Self Assessment and Selection of Your Research Topic

Goal #2:   Learn about your preferred skills, interests, values and other career priorities and select an occupational title to research.

Criteria:

1. Open Choices CT and review the following features (as needed/no need to submit anything):
   • Listen to, or read, the “Introduction”, located on the Main Menu.
   • Run the “Guided Tour” to learn how Choices CT works.


2. From the Main Menu of Choices CT, run and print out your results for the following assessments:
   • The Interest Profiler.
   • The Transferable Work Content Skills Checklist.
   • The Work Importance Locator (Values)


3. Review the results of your Skills Checklist and highlight your 10 favorite skills. Highlight several statements that you feel describe your preferences accurately on your Interest Profiler, then on your Values inventory. Re-write them, if necessary, to improve their accuracy. You will be asked to use these highlighted preferences in goal #2, listing your top 10 career priorities.
   
   
4. Write brief descriptions of your experiences using 3 or more Transferable Work Content Skills, and 3 or more Workplace Know-how Skills, using the Employability Skills section of the Portfolio Planner. Print out both sets of skill descriptions.



5. Open the database of Post-Secondary Occupations (Keep in mind that an additional database of Graduate School Occupations is also available for your search if you envision graduate school in your future.). Briefly review the 4 databases on the upper half of the screen. You will be working primarily with the Occupational data base.
   • On the lower half of the screen, select the Search function from the menu of options. A scrolling text field lists the various ways you can search the Occupational Database.
   • Begin by selecting Transferable Work Content Skills (Skills Checklist) from the list.
   • Click on Use to narrow the list to only those occupations that use the skills you checked earlier.
   • Reduce the list further by repeating the process with other search terms on the list, selecting Interests, then Values then Fields of Work, etc. Apply additional search terms until you have reduced your list of occupations to 10 or 12, reviewing the list each time to make sure you haven’t eliminated an occupation in which you are interested. Read Reports on Occupations as you make decisions.
   • Print out Reports on the three occupations you like most. From these three options, decide which one you want to research first. Depending on what you have learned from researching occupation #1 thoroughly, you may choose to return to your list at a later time to research another option.


6. After selecting your target occupation in the Occupational Database, click on the adjacent, Majors database. Print out the list of majors for the occupation you plan to research.



7. After selecting the major corresponding to your target occupation, click on the adjacent Schools database to view a list of U.S. schools offering that major. Use the Search function to narrow your list to schools in the region you desire, eg. Riverside/San Bernardino. Print out a list of schools you would consider attending.



8. After selecting the name of the school that interests you most, click on the adjacent School Programs database to view the courses offered at that school. Print out the course information.



9. If your Choices results do not fit with how you see yourself, it may be to your advantage to run additional on-line assessments, such as O*NET OnLine, the Self-Directed Search, Keirsey Temperament and Character Web Site, The Princeton Review Career Quiz; or use print instruments, such as The What Color is Your Parachute? Workbook (Richard Bolles, Ten Speed Press), in order to “triangulate” on your career options, and discover the common factors reported by each instrument. Ask your instructor about alternate assessment instruments.

Module #3:   Determine your top 10 career priorities.

Goal #3:   Determine your top 10 career priorities.

Criteria:

1. Review your Choices CT Skills, Interest and Values printouts and the words you highlighted in criterion 1.3. On a page entitled “My Top 10 Career Priorities”, list 3 skills from those you highlighted. Then list the highlighted statements from your interests and values; include other factors essential to your career satisfaction and success, such as special categories of people or causes to be served, information to be managed, desired earnings or geographic location. Use this list of priorities to evaluate information you gather in the research that follows.



2. Schedule a follow-up appointment with your instructor who will review your work to-date and select your research assignments. Bring your completed self-assessments and your priority list.

Module #4: Print Information Sources

Goal #4:   Learn about the occupation you have chosen to research by reviewing print information resources.

Criteria:

1. Compile a list of the books commonly used by individuals employed in the selected fields or jobs to become, and remain, well informed in their field, using resources available in Career Services’ resource room, the Library or the Internet. Review one of the books listed and complete a 1-2 and summary of useful information found in the book you reviewed.



2. Compile a list of periodicals used by individuals employed in the selected fields or jobs to remain well informed in their field. Select one of the periodicals listed and summarize the relevance of the information found there to your career research, in a 1-2 page written report on an article in one of the journals on your list.

Module #5: Professional Associations

Goal #5:   On-Line Resources: Visit their Web sites to learn about the professional associations to which people employed at the occupation you are researching might belong; and learn about other on-line information sources for these professionals.

Criteria:

1. Compile a list of Web sites representing professional associations or trade organizations, representing the targeted field. (Suggestion: Enter the name of a professional association, or key words + “associations,” into Google or one of the search engines at Best Search Tools Page - Infopeople). Review each site, identify which offers the best information and complete a 1-2 page summary of useful information found on that site.



2. Attend a chapter meeting of one of the associations listed, or a conference where one of the associations will be represented. Complete a Meeting Summary for each meeting attended. (Ask your instructor for this form.)
   
   
3. Compile a list of Web sites that people in the occupation you are researching are likely to visit for professional information. (Note: This need not be a professional association site as required in #1) Pick the most useful site on your list and evaluate the relevance of the information found there to your career research, in a 1-2 page written report.

Module #6: Work-based Learning

Goal #6:   Learn about internships, community service and volunteer where one can, as an intern or volunteer, gain exposure to, and experience in work environments which are representative of the selected field or job.

Criteria:

1. Visit Orange Coast College’s grant-funded Work-Based Learning Web site, OCC Work-Based Learning, and review the resources on the QT Newsletters to learn about internships. Compile a list of the organizations that offer internships in work environments that are representative of the selected field or jobs. Highlight those organizations and internships of interest to you. Use the listings in the Internships binder in Career Services, the MonsterTrak internship listings or from internships listed elsewhere.



2. Contact the Chaffey College Workforce Preparation Program’s Internship Coordinator to provide that office with a copy of your resume and cover letter, and establish a working relationship with the Coordinator, so that when you locate an interested employer, she can help to establish an official Chaffey College internship. Submit a 1-2 page summary of contacts, dates and outcomes.



3. Ask a Chaffey College instructor to recommend organizations from which to seek internships in your field of interest. Submit a 1-2 page summary of contacts, dates and outcomes.



4. Compile a list of the organizations (potential internship sites) which do not officially list internships, but where the occupation you are researching exists. Choose your favorite organizations, using newspapers, the yellow pages, employer directories, trade magazines (eg. Inland Empire Business Journal | Online), on-line resources, etc.



5. Compile a list of the organizations where one might gain experience in or exposure to work environments that are representative of the selected field or jobs as a volunteer.

Module #7: Labor Market Research

Goal #7:   Learn about the present and future job market for the occupation you are researching.

Criteria:

1. Obtain several position announcements, classified ads or job postings for jobs in the selected field/job from print media (newspapers, periodicals, flyers, etc.).



2. Obtain several postings for jobs in the selected field/job from the Internet.



3. Find estimates of the present and future labor market demand in the selected field/jobs, using resources available in Career Service’ resource room, the Library or the Internet (Suggestion: www.bls.gov/oco/). Write a one-page paper summarizing the information you found. Cite your sources.

Module #8: Field Research: Informational Interviews and Networking

Goal #8:   Obtain first hand information about the occupation selected for research by interviewing professionals employed in that specialty.

Criteria:

1. Watch “Informational Interviewing: A Foot in the Door”. Write a one page summary of this video, outlining the main concepts presented.



2. Visit the Orange Coast College Web site to explore the QT Newsletter links on the topic of informational interviews. Write a one page summary of useful information found there.



3. Prepare in writing, a personal statement that you would be comfortable saying when introducing yourself to an expert in the occupation you are researching. It is helpful to review the Informational Interview handout (available as MS Word or PDF file in the Appendix to the Student Handbook) before writing your personal statement. In your statement, explain the nature of your request, by stating your name, and:
   1. The title of the occupation you are researching;
   2. Why you want to learn more about this job, in terms of the personal priorities (a few of your “top 10”) that make this occupation particularly interesting to you.
   3. And state what you would like that person to do: make your request for an informational interview.


4. Conduct 2 informational interviews with individuals employed in the selected field/job, using the Informational Interviewing handout and your personal statement. Maintain your credibility by limiting the length of this interview to the length of time you requested (20 minutes is recommended.) Interviews should be conducted at the experts’ work sites, if at all possible. This will give you an opportunity to try to visualize yourself in that workplace at a moment conducive to career decision-making; impressions to be carefully reviewed later using your priority list. Promptly send each person you interviewed a thank you note, after making a copy to submit with your report.



5. Write a 1-2 page report of findings for each interview. Your report should include the names and job titles of the people you interviewed, where the interviews took place and what you learned from them. The questions on page 2 of the Informational Interviewing handout are also recommended report topics.

Module #9: Critical Thinking: Analysis and Conclusions

Goal #9:   Analyze the information you have gathered and describe your conclusions about the selected fields or jobs in terms of your personal career priorities and skill preferences; including a description of your current long and short range goals.

Criteria:

Write a 1-2 page summary of questions 1-3:

1. Using your list of “Top 10” career priorities from module #3, indicate the extent to which the occupation you researched met each of your 10 priorities.

 

2. What did you learn in doing this project? Were you able to confirm or reject the career goal you researched?

3. What additional research do think you need to do?

 

4. List 2 long-term goals (which you hope to achieve in 5 or more years):

 

5. List 3 short term goals (less than 5 years), and your timeline for achieving them:

6. List 3 specific objectives, or actions you plan to take, for each short-term goal, including a timeline for completing each objective:

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