Why Awareness is Important for Career Planning

Career exploration is important for students to plan for their future and feel secure. But, how do we increase the effectiveness of career exploration or career development? The answer is self-awareness and opportunity awareness!

TL;DR

• What is self-awareness and its benefits? 
• What is opportunity awareness and its benefits? 
• How to improve self-awareness and opportunity awareness 
• How Chatterhigh can help increase awareness

Preparing for life after high school can be stressful and confusing as students get exposed to different future pathways. This is where self-awareness and opportunity awareness will help students navigate through all available pathways and effectively plan ahead for their life after high school! 

Self-awareness 

Self-awareness is defined as “Conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives and desires.” It is a lifelong process of thoughtful reflection. Students with self-awareness are conscious of their likes, dislikes, what they’re interested in, what brings them happiness, and more. Giving students a chance to reflect on themselves through the exploration of opportunities can help expand their self-awareness and provide new insight into their futures.

Benefits of self-awareness:  

• Identify and capitalize on strengths:
  • Being self-aware helps students identify their strengths and build their confidence. They can seek opportunities that match their strengths and set themselves up for success. 
• Increased focus and clarity:
  • Students can align their values and actions toward their goals. A better understanding of themselves and their interests will help students to get a greater sense of clarity, purpose, and success.  
• Greater satisfaction:
  • Self-awareness will help students have an optimistic viewpoint. It empowers them to face problems confidently and they can then utilize this self-understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, and values to produce results. A change in perspective and clarity can help increase decision-making satisfaction, which can lead to greater career satisfaction. 
• Increased creativity and confidence:
  • Self-aware students tend to be more creative. Enhancing creativity allows students to push boundaries and discover new perspectives.
    
    

Opportunity awareness 

Opportunity awareness is knowing when to seize an opportunity for growth and improvement. Students who are aware of available post-secondary opportunities can make more informed decisions about their future. It assists students with performance planning and development as they concentrate their actions in the direction of opportunity. As a result, students can also set realistic expectations about an opportunity or career option.

How to improve self-awareness and opportunity awareness:

The analysis of one's self and opportunities helps students make informed decisions. Here are some tips to improve awareness among students;  

• Help students set time to reflect and assess their wants and needs.
• Provide time for students to learn about what opportunities are available to them. This can be done through our 10-question daily quiz!
• Help your students understand the depth of their actions or behaviour by practicing the 5 whys technique.
• Utilize online self-awareness questions and tools in the classroom. 
• Teach students the importance of networking and how expanding their network can help them learn about new opportunities while gaining industry knowledge.
• Discuss the thoughts-actions-feeling circle to help them understand how their thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to feelings. This can help students develop self-management skills. 
• Create an environment where students see change as an opportunity and look for possibilities in ideas. The growth mindset and freedom to experiment would help them seek more opportunities. 
• Help your students create strategies to set goals and manage their own progress through frequent self-reflection. 
• Promote mindfulness among students. 

How Chatterhigh can help you improve self-awareness and opportunity among students

ChatterHigh offers a personalized exploratory experience that allows students to dig deeper into their areas of interest while also being exposed to myriad possibilities. By participating in career exploration, like through our daily quiz, students can learn about a variety of future opportunities. Early career exploration helps students have improved self-awareness and opportunity awareness. For further reading, you can check out our previous article to learn about the benefits of early career exploration for students. 

ChatterHigh’s goal is to help students engage in divergent career exploration, so they are aware of different opportunities to make informed decisions. The Daily Quiz allows students to explore career and post-secondary options, as well as health, financial literacy, and labour market resources. Each question is accompanied by a research link to assist students in finding the answer while allowing them to become acquainted with the real-world research process.

To boost engagement and motivation among students, Chatterhigh offers competitions and challenges. We host both national and regional competitions throughout the year. Competitions can be based on the Daily Quiz or specific Modules.

In collaboration with Let’s Talk Science, Skills Canada, and Engineers Canada, ChatterHigh hosts the national Let’s Talk Careers Competition. In this competition, students compete for individual student bursaries and school-wide prizes by answering questions in our Daily Quiz. Check out our live competitions here for information on upcoming competitions and learn more about how they work by checking out our previous article, “Everything you need to know about ChatterHigh Competitions."

Want to start using ChatterHigh in your class and help your students become more aware of their future opportunities? Click here to book a demo or create your free account today.