Career advice for teachers

It may seem like a long time since you learned that subject in Guidance and Counseling in college, but don’t hesitate! You don’t need to take a refresher course to effectively guide your students toward their most rewarding careers.

1. Be an example of happiness and contentment. The only competition that can offer financial rewards for your money is happiness. Remind your students every day that career is not a matter of immediate monetary returns but of lasting returns. Seeing you smile despite the stresses of your job (and back pay, so to speak) will inspire them to choose careers they will enjoy in the long run. It will also show them how, even if the industry demands change, who they are and what brings them joy, it will stand firm.
2. Encourage self-reflection and self-discovery. With all the fun and recreational activities students have, taking time off to think and reflect might be the last thing on your to-do list. You can help them by giving them a few minutes in the classroom to reflect on some questions such as, “What do I like most about myself?” or “What do I want to do for the next five years?” If this sounds too serious, play games like Icebreaker or Query.
3. Let them express their plans and dreams. Many students, when asked what they want to do in life, just shrug their shoulders and say, “I don’t know.” Maybe they won’t, maybe they will, but they haven’t really thought about it. Allowing them to express their dreams, no matter how distant, promotes the courage to think ahead and the ability to plan. Ask them to create a picture of who they will be in ten years and write about what they have accomplished in ten years. In this way, it will appear that they have already achieved what they want.
4. Commit a student’s strengths to himself and to his peers. Giving compliments where it’s due certainly makes a difference. Notice the smallest victories in any field or area of ​​life. Did someone send an exceptional drawing or essay? Have you befriended everyone? Fixed a broken chair? Receiving positive feedback on their performance or attitude increases self-esteem and encourages the student to seek their best attributes. Having a student’s peers see their sign of approval makes them appreciate the value of the person, creating a community where students are not obligated to see academics as the only standard of value.
5. Introduce them to a variety of successful people. Provide them with passionate role models and good career choices, whether you are a college graduate or a high school dropout. It’s common for students to meet college graduate bigwigs in their lessons. There are too many of them, after all, to show that college is the only way out of poverty. The difficult thing is to convince people that college is not for everyone and it is not the only option. If you name successful celebrities and moguls who didn’t go to college, they might reconsider the whole thing.
6. Talk about a student’s best qualities and possible options to their parents. Hearing about their children’s passion and perseverance at something never fails to make parents proud of their children. Hearing about your child’s best qualities from a teacher improves their understanding of your child and makes them more open to options other than their own. Inform them of the possibilities for your child and emphasize long-term rewards over immediate gains. For those students who are not suitable for university education, insist on the positive characteristics of the student so that parents see the benefits of alternative options such as technical-vocational careers.
7. Organize a simple directory of education and careers. Due to the unavailability of organized information on education and career options, make a simple one for your classroom. You can put together a simple list of college majors and technical-vocational majors and their corresponding job or industry requirements. At the end of the list, include the contact numbers of some colleges or universities and institutions that offer technical-vocational programs. It can also include local office or government agency hotlines.