Career coaching exercise package for teachers / study advisors

1. C & C Career & Competence
– Career Coaching for International Degree Students –
Exercise package
for teachers / study advisors
Milja Tuomaala
VALOA-project
University of Oulu, Career Services

2. C & C Career & Competence
– Career Coaching Group for International Degree Students –
VALOA-project aims to increase employment opportunities for international students in Finland by
increasing employers’ awareness of the international talents studying in Finnish universities and
universities of applied sciences. The goal is to help the employers find and recruit foreign
graduates from the universities, and to help the universities build bridges with employers and
enhance the services and training they provide for foreign students.
Career coaching is one way to help international students to increase their employment
opportunities in Finland. For this purpose VALOA–project and Career Services at the University of
Oulu designed and piloted a career coaching group for international degree students in spring
2011.
The group aimed at getting to know what Finnish work life is like and how to apply for a job in
Finland. Also, during the group the students started/boosted their personal career planning and
gained new insights on how to promote their personal skills and know-how. During the group the
students got help in following issues;
 What do I want to do after graduation?
 What kind of career am I aiming at?
 What are my skills and competences and how can I make them visible for employers?
 How can I find a job in Finland and how is the Finnish work life like?
Working methods in C&C group were info-lectures, conversations, self-assessment exercises and
group exercises. The exercises used in the group are introduced in this exercise package.
PowerPoint-slides for career coaching group can be found on VALOA SlideShare-page;
http://www.slideshare.net/VALOA.
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3. Exercises in C&C group
Exercise 1.1 Remembering my future ............................................................................................................... 4
Exercise 1.2 The map of work life ...................................................................................................................... 5
Exercise 2.1 Challenging situation ..................................................................................................................... 6
Exercise 2.2 Accomplishments Worksheet........................................................................................................ 8
Exercise 2.3 TAITO-URA Self-Assessment Tool .................................................................................................. 9
Exercise 3.1 Personal networks in job seeking ................................................................................................ 10
Exercise 3.2 Elevator speech ........................................................................................................................... 13
Exercise 4.1 Value game .................................................................................................................................. 14
Exercise 5.1 Work culture star......................................................................................................................... 16
Exercise 5.2 Cultural circle ............................................................................................................................... 17
Exercise 6.1 Letter to my grandmother ........................................................................................................... 19
Exercise 7.1 Interview simulation .................................................................................................................... 20
Exercise 7.2 My personal project .................................................................................................................... 21
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4. Exercise 1.1 Remembering my future
Remembering My Future
Let’s think that it’s been one year from your graduation and your life is good now
and you are happy with your current job. Write down…
- How are things with you…?
- How do you feel now…?
- What did you do to make this kind of situation possible…? How did you achieve
this positive development…?
- Who are the people who supported you in this process…?
- Couple of years ago, when you were studying, you were a little bit worried about
your future, what made you overcome your worries…?
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5. Exercise 1.2 The map of work life
The MAP of WORK LIFE
Work history:
What kind of work I have had?
(now and previously)
Competences:
My skills, interests, strengths,
special know-how?
I as an researcher Visions of the future:
of my thoughts related to work Imaginable professions,
life work situations, goals, learning,
education, achievements?
Emotions, values, Attitudes:
Which are the most important
inward things in relation to work?
Questions to think about:
- Where should I start?
- What is worrying me most regarding my future?
- What kind of support do I need to progress?
Assignment adapted from R. Vance Peavy’s “kartta työn maailmasta” assignment.
Source: Peavy, R.V. 2001. Elämäni työkirja
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6. Exercise 2.1 Challenging situation
Challenging situation
In the last session you got an assignment to come up with a challenging situation from studies /
work / hobbies that you somehow managed to overcome. The situation should be the kind that
you really had to work hard to overcome the challenge. Now prepare to share it.
1. Make groups of 3 people
2. Divide roles (each student will be in each role once);
a. Describer – the one sharing his/her challenging situation…
b. Interviewer – asking questions in order to enable a broader understanding about
the situation and what skills were required to manage the situation…
c. Observer – Listening, making notes, identifying skills, strengths and personal
qualities… (you can use Personal qualities, skills & strengths –list when recognizing
the skills / qualities required)
3. Use 15 min / case;
a. 10 min for discussing about the situation (describer and interviewer)
b. 5 minutes about observers findings – what kind of skills / qualities were required to
overcome the challenge.
4. Change roles
Pictures from www.chumpysclipart.com
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7. Personal qualities, skills & strengths
Personal Qualities
Able to concentrate Curious Meticulous Responsible
Able to manage stress Diplomatic Modest Risk-taking
Accurate Discreet Motivated Self-confident
Adaptable Easy-going Open-minded Self-controlled
Adventurous Efficient Optimistic Sensible
Aggressive Emotional Organized Sensitive
Ambitious Empathetic Outgoing Sincere
Analytical Enthusiastic Patient Sociable
Assertive Friendly Persevering Stable
Attention to details Good-natured Persuasive Supportive
Business-like Helpful Poised Tactful
Calm Honest Practical Teachable
Careful Humorous Precise Tenacious
Cautious Imaginative Progressive Thorough
Cheerful Independent Punctual Thoughtful
Clear-thinking Intelligent Quick Tough
Competent Inventive Quiet Trusting
Competitive Kind Rational Trustworthy
Confident Likeable Realistic Understanding
Conscientious Logical Reflective Versatile
Conservative Loyal Reliable Witty
Consistent Mature Reserved
Creative Methodical Resourceful
Skills & Strengths
* Communication skills * Creative skills * Problem solving skills * Maintenance skills
Explaining Inventing Investigating Compiling
Listening Decorating Researching Handling detail work
Persuading Designing Observing Record keeping
Selling Entertaining Locating Setting up
Speaking Dramatizing Obtaining information Updating
Teaching Innovating Trouble shooting
Writing Displaying Asking
* Organization skills * Leadership skills * Interpersonal skills
Anticipating Administration Advising
Setting priorities Coordinating Cooperating
Planning Deciding Confronting
Predicting Delegating Greeting
Preparing Initiating Group facilitating
Managing time Managing Interviewing
Budgeting resources Supervising Negotiating
Analyzing Motivating Participating
Evaluating
Harold D. Steinbright, Career Development Center
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8. Exercise 2.2 Accomplishments Worksheet
Accomplishments Worksheet
Think about your work experience, studies, project works, hobbies and community activities,
organizational activities, volunteer experience, and write 5 accomplishments of which you are
really proud or that you enjoyed doing.
Try to identify the skills, strengths and personal qualities you developed/utilized to achieve each
accomplishment.
Accomplishments Skills, Strengths & Personal Qualities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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9. Exercise 2.3 TAITO-URA Self-Assessment Tool
TAITO-URA
TAITO-URA, a web-based self-assessment tool allows you to explore your personality traits, knowledge and
skills. The TAITO-URA tool provides you with a report of the self-assessment results. You can save the
report and print it out for later use, such as job seeking.
http://www.uraohjaus.net/DefaultUK.aspx
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10. Exercise 3.1 Personal networks in job seeking
Personal networks in job seeking
a) Who are the important resources for you in your life?
 If I need a good listener, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I need constructive feedback from my performance or achievement, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I feel myself lonely and need some support, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I need someone to challenge me to work better, I turn to ………………………….
 If I need reinforcement for the fact that what I’m doing is valuable, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I wish to identify and enhance my skills and competences, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I want to share my emotions and affection, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I want to express my creativity or wish someone to admire it, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I want to have a discussion about my studies, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I want to have a discussion about my work, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I need to talk about my moral choices or ethics, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I’m worried about a made mistake or mistake I might make, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I want to celebrate the good things in my life, I turn to ………………………………….
 If I want to be with someone who belongs to the group I most identify with, I turn to ………………………….
Is there some situations missing…?
 What do you give for these people in return…?
 Would you like to have more people in your personal network…? or maybe less…?
 How could you put more effort on those relationships, which are meaningful to you and give you the
most…?
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11. b) Who could help me finding a job?
Now start pondering your network and thinking who could help you in job hunting…
 Family / relatives
 Friends
 Mentor
 Teachers
 Study pals
 Hobbies
 Student union / fraternity
 Voluntary work
 Internship
 Project work



c) How could I broaden my network?
Then start thinking how you could broaden your personal network… How could you get more
people to your “inner circle”?
 Networking events
 New hobbies
 Parties
 Social media


Make a concrete action plan how you will broaden your network. For example; “I will find two new
contacts / week”.
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12. My personal resource map for job hunting
Make a mind map of your own resources. Draw yourself in the middle of the paper and then
others around you. Remember that the resources can be much more than just the closest friends
and family. What about your friends’ friends and your friends’ families? Consider the whole
network we have been discussing about…
Assignment adapted from R. Vance Peavy’s “Suhdeverkostot merkityksen luomisessa” assignment.
Source: Peavy, R.V. 2001. Elämäni työkirja
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13. Exercise 3.2 Elevator speech
ELEVATOR SPEECH
What would you say, if you met a person who could lead you to your dream job and had only 30 seconds to
state your case?
Prepare to describe briefly:
 Who you are?
 What are you looking for? (What kind of industry and organization you interested in? What kind of
work would inspire you the most?)
 What do you offer? (What are the main contributions you can make? What kind of competence,
experience and achievements you have that makes you stand out from all the other candidates?)
Everyone presents his / her own elevator talk to others
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14. Exercise 4.1 Value game
VALUE GAME
Values are the things that are the most important, most valuable in our lives. In career planning
process we should also give emphasis for the things we value in work.
Preparation: Print and cut value cards for each student (every student should have all listed values
plus some empty cards)
Step 1) Give students 10 minutes to leaf through the cards and to choose max 20 values which are the
most important for them. If some values are missing, they can write down their own values to empty cards.
Step 2) When students have chosen 20 value cards, divide the group into pairs.
Step 3) Ask one of the pair to pile up the chosen value cards and put them on table. The other person takes
two value cards from the table and asks a question “I have two jobs for you. The one job has more X, but
less Y. The other job has more Y, but less X. Which job will you choose?” Put the chosen cards to “important
values” pile and the abandoned cards to “abandoned values” pile. Continue until the person has 10 value
cards on “important values”.
Step 4) Are there some important values, which are placed on “abandoned values”? Student can still take
them to “important values”, but they need to abandon as many values as they transfer to “important
values”. Student will end up having 10 most important values.
Step 5) “Important values” are piled and now those need to be put in right order from most important to
least important. The other person takes two of them and asks “I have two jobs for you. The one job has
more X, but less Y. The other job has more Y, but less X. Which job will you choose?” Most valuable card is
put uppermost on the table and least valuable at the bottom. Then there are 8 cards left. The other person
continues to take one card at a time and asks the pair to compare cards on the table (starting from most
valuable) by asking question “I have two jobs for you. The one job has more X, but less Y. The other job has
more Y, but less X. Which job will you choose?”. This question is asked until the right place is found i.e. until
the card in hand is more valuable than the next one in line. Continue until you have Top 10 value cards in
the right order.
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15. VALUE GAME can be played also individually.
Step 1) Student chooses max 20 values, which are the most important for him/her.
Step 2) Chosen value cards are piled and student starts to cut one card at a time pondering the order of
values after every card. The most valuable card is put uppermost on the table and least valuable at the
bottom.
Step 3) After going through all chosen cards the student has his/her own Top 10.
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16. Exercise 5.1 Work culture star
Work culture star
Compare work cultures between your home country and Finland. Use different colours to describe each
culture.
Communication
Management style Time management
WORK
CULTURE
Decision making Relationships
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17. Exercise 5.2 Cultural circle
Cultural circle
“Cultural literacy” requires understanding of culture specific meanings and mechanism. You need to be able
to understand your own culture and interpret cultural meanings to host culture’s representative as well as
learn about host cultures. This exercise is to compare the cultural meaning of your own country and your
host country.
First think about your own culture and fill in the cultural circle (home country). Then find a Finnish person
and discuss about Finnish culture with him/her taking into consideration these different cultural
components. Fill in the cultural circle (host country). What are the biggest differences?
You can consider for example following issues, when thinking about meanings of different areas of life:
1. Work: habits, attitudes, work related means in families, knowledge of work possibilities, career
development, job market, economical issues, work permits, working language, salaries, working hours,
gender issues…
2. Learning, studying: educational methods, learning methods, rules, principles, social status, learning
environments, funding, gender issues, language, career management…
3. Health, corporality: eating and food, medication, social security and health care, shibboleth related to
healthiness and sickness, sleeping, personal hygiene, clothing, gender related behavioral norms…
4. Human relationships: family structures, childcare, role of children / parents / grandparent, relationships
with officials/ police/ teachers / employers / people from different cultures, friendships, socializing, sexual
relations, dating…
5. Creativity, recreation: arts, theatre, musical activities, instruments, handicrafts, sports and physical
exercise, activities within family, hobbies, games, cooking, gardening, watching TV, travelling, reading,
pets…
6. Spirituality, ideology: religious activities, ceremonies, praying, meditation, inspirational people,
philosophical conversations, reflective writing, personal development and stocktaking, religious and
spiritual movements, religious symbols, religious music…
Assignment adapted from R. Vance Peavy’s “elämänkenttä” and “sosiodynaaminen menetelmä
kulttuuristen siltojen rakentamiseksi kulttuurisesti erilaisten minuuksien välille” assignments.
Source: Peavy, R.V. 2001. Elämäni työkirja
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18. Cultural Circle (home country)
Work Learning, studying Health, corporality
Human relations Creativity, recreation Spirituality, ideology
Cultural Circle (Finland)
Work Learning, studying Health, corporality
Human relations Creativity, recreation Spirituality, ideology
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19. Exercise 6.1 Letter to my grandmother
Letter to my grandmother
This exercise is to practice how to describe your skills and knowhow, and how to convey it
in an understandable way.
Write a letter to your grandmother telling her;
 What do you study?
 What have you learned in your studies?
 What is the topic of your graduate thesis?
 How would your dream job be like?
Remember to put it in an understandable way! Tell things in a way that ”even your
grandmother would understand it”!
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20. Exercise 7.1 Interview simulation
Interview simulations
On the last session of the C&C group students are having interview simulations. It is important to appoint
the interview pairs and give careful instructions to students in previous session. Each student will practice
both the role of an interviewer and the role of interviewee. It might be a good idea to make interview
schedule in a way, that students will change pairs after first round. Make sure that everyone knows who
they are interviewing and who is interviewing them (i.e. who they need to send the applications to).
Instructions for job seeker:
 E-mail your revised application & CV to your interviewer by xx.xx.xxxx
 Remember also to send the job announcement for the position you are applying (if it’s not an open
position, describe the imaginary position; company, title, responsibilities etc.)
 Bring all needed documents with you (certificates, testimonials, letters of reference)
Instructions for interviewer:
 Read the job announcement / description carefully – what skills / competences / personal qualities
is needed and how can you find out if the applicant is good for the position or not?
 Prepare interview questions for your pair (see previous materials and use your imagination)
 Bring job seekers application documents with you to the interview
Instructions for both interviewer & job seeker:
 Be on time!
 Dress properly!
 Behave like it’s a real interview!
Interview schedule
 Hand out the interview schedule to students in advance
 Make sure they change e-mail addresses
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21. Exercise 7.2 My personal project
My personal project
– career goals and action plan for job seeking
Set your career goals;
• Where are you aiming at with your career?
• Long-term goals & short-term goals
• Express your goals in a positive way
Prepare your action plan, to help you to direct your action towards your goals;
• Make it YOUR plan – that of benefits YOU most
• Make your action plan concrete and realistic
• What are your next steps?
• Describe your intentions with ’functional words’ (I will explore, I will write, I will
call…)
• Concentrate on present – what will you really do next?
Think also about following aspects of your personal project;
• What skills / information does my project require?
• Do I have all the required skills / information?
• Have I discussed my project with a person whose ideas and suggestions I value and
whom I trust?
• Am I ready to adjust my project or build an alternative project if this doesn’t work?
• Do I feel that this is MY project and it has a personal meaning to me?
• Have I visualized my project somehow? You can consider making a drawing, visual
map, mid map or illustrate it some other way.
Assignment adapted from R.Vance Peavy’s “henkilökohtaisen projektin rakentaminen tavoitteen
oteuttamiseksi” & Norman E. Amundson’s ”toimintasuunnitelman laatiminen” assignments.
Sources: Peavy, R.V. 2001. Elämäni työkirja & Amundson, N.E. 2005 Aktiivinen ohjaus
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22. University of Oulu
Career Services
VALOA-project
Milja Tuomaala
Project coordinator
milja.tuomaala@oulu.fi
(08) 553 4163
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