Career Planning Guidelines

and Activities for the

Philippines
 What is Career Planning?
• is a step-wise process which enables
an individual to focus on where he/she
want to be in life professionally.

• With the short-term goal and the long-

term goals in place, career
planning can help to plan their
journey in their professional life.
 In a country like the Philippines, many people pursue
courses
that would lead to occupations which seem to guarantee
immediate employment. There seems to be no thought of
whether there would be a close fit or match between
him/her and the selected occupation.
This trend may be supportive of Maslow’s and Roe’s
beliefs that other needs may not emerge until lower
Because of theneeds areand
poverty satisfied.
instability in the Philippines, many people
are still trying to satisfy the physical and safety needs of Maslow. Hence,
employability is the
major consideration.
Very few are those who would aspire for jobs where they believe they
could make
A difference, become leaders, do something for the country, or
maximize their
But it is also potentials.
possible that the lack of career planning done earlier and
even at present contribute to the sorry state of affairs.
Did you plan your career 10 years
ago?
Interviews with students often reveal that they never talked about
occupations
or careers in the elementary years. However, they did have field trips or
educational trips to manufacturing firms which they considered exciting
mainly because for them it was an outing or a picnic – a break from
boring or fear provoking academic activities.
They don’t remember that the activity was processed
or discussed. Oftentimes, the academic teachers were
responsible for the activity. Some acknowledged that
the guidance counselors were the ones who arranged
for such, but again, there was no opportunity for post-
activity discussion or debriefing.

Many of the interviewed students who came from different

elementary and secondary schools claim that they realized they
had a school counselor only in high school, when the following
activities were conducted:
1.Administration of interest and aptitude tests, either in third or
fourth year
2.Career week
3.Colleges and Universities Orientation Week
4.Filling up of application forms for specific universities
Some remembered having the results of aptitude and interest tests interpreted
to them. But they didn’t remember having results of intelligence, personality,
achievement and values tests interpreted in line with career selection, even if
they had been administered.

In college, some career or occupational counseling is done by the freshmen or

sophomore counselor primarily for those who still do not know what to pursue
or those who want or need to shift. But not many schools offer a formal
program. The senior or terminal college counselor, takes care of job fairs and
preparing the students for job application activities – resume writing, writing a
letter of application, portfolio-preparation, job interview behavior, etc.

Some career placement officers mainly look at job openings and job seekers,
then refer. Hardly is there an interaction to assess and integrate information
about the person and the demands of the work setting.

Head hunters interact more with their clients. They discuss the requirements
and the opportunities in the job setting but rely mainly on what client may say,
without formal or standardized evaluation or assessment done.
In the industrial or corporate world, career planning activities are hardly ever
focused on. The Human Resources Management department may just post
opening within the institution. It is up to the interested parties to apply. Some
HR departments take care of the career pathing of their employees. Recent
trends have, however, highlighted the role of the HR to identify people who
need to be terminated or to be transferred to suit streamlining or reengineering
or the merging of activities. Much career planning needs to be done here, but it
isn’t a practice in 99% of the work settings to have provisions for this.
 Counselors should help their students with career
planning very early in life. If they lump everything in
third year high school, they will be cramming.
Haphazard deliberation and planning will be done by
students who are forced to think of careers only when
they are about to graduate or when they are supposed
to write down the chosen course in the application
form. Some just put anything down, especially the
non-quota courses, to get to enter the school. Shifting
or academic difficulties will follow.

What are the different activities that we can

apply to help students with career planning?
Elementary Level
Getting to Know about work and workers
1.Ask children to find out and share what their parents do the whole day.
2.Ask children to go around the campus and interview the people regarding their
work and what it is called.
3.Ask children to talk to as many relatives as they can and find out what kind of
work they are doing.
4.Make students bring to discussion as list of occupations and discuss what they
have discovered about each
5.Point out certain materials within the children’s view (uniform, pencil, paper,
shoes, bag, table, chair, etc.) and ask them what kind of people made them.
6.Take a walking tour outside the school perimeter and point out establishments
and people, and name their work or occupation.
7.Go to a nearby establishment (post office, fire department, police station, etc.)
to observe what people are doing. Encourage students to briefly interview people.
Arrange for a short group session with some personnel, where they bring their
tools.
8.Invite some parents to come and talk about their work, what specific things they
do, and show what kind of tools they use.
9. Give a lecture on the different occupation paths: Creative
path, Business Path, Nature Path, Building and Technology
Path, Helping Path and Health Path.
10. Invite students to recall people they have met in each
career path.
11. Turn on the local television, surf for one hour and list
what kinds of occupations for each career path they saw.
12. Ask students to bring pictures of certain occupations
and have the classmates guess the occupation.
13. Hold a game show whereby students are made to
guess the occupation or job described, or the tools for
specific jobs or occupation.
14. Conduct a contest to name as many occupations as
there are for each letter of the alphabet.
15. Conduct a contest for identifying as many occupations
as they can under each career path.
Getting to value and respect occupations
1.Ask students to whom they would go when circumstances arise (fire, robbery,
sickness, tooth ache, party, etc.)
2.Ask students what would happen in the absence of street cleaners, dress
makers, teachers, plumber, electrician, pilots, etc.
3.Direct students to bring something that is important to them and ask what kind
of worker/s might have produced it.
4.Ask children to talk about the good that their parents’ work s doing.
5.Brainstorm on society’s need for the different occupations.
6.Conduct a debate to defend which of the career paths is the most important.
7.Ask students to share what they enjoy doing and to identify the occupations
that contribute to the provision of what they need to enjoy it. (e.g. reading, writer,
editor, printing, encoder, etc.)
8.Invite students to group together and role play the occupations of their choice
in interaction with one another.
9.Ask the students to role play a challenging life situation and have the class
decide the occupations and tasks that have to be performed in order to improve
the situation.
Getting to know the requirements of each occupation
1.Ask students what specific tasks have to be performed in certain occupations on a
day-to-day basis.
2.Ask the students to share what strengths or abilities people in different
occupations must possess.
3.Ask the students to observe what time their parents go to work and arrive from
work.
4.Assign students to ask 3 relatives occupying different occupations to tell them
about school subjects they must be good in to do well in such.
5.Invite relatives or family members to share the demands of their work and what
they must do to cope with them.
6.Show students different products (movies, canned goods, clothes) and ak them
what they think was necessary in order to come up with the product.
7.Bring students on a field trip to observe what people are doing and to identify what
is required to perform the tasks.
8.Ask students to match occupations with tasks performed.
9.Ask students to identify the skills and abilities needed for each occupation.
10.Make a collage of tasks performed and decide which occupation is being
presented.
11.Discuss school subjects needed in each career path.
High School Level
Acquiring skills to investigate the world of work vis-
à-vis self-knowledge
1.Ask students to identify their favorite subjects and relate them to possible
occupations.
2.Ask students to identify the subjects where they get the highest grades and
lowest grades in and relate them to possible occupations.
3.Conduct brainstorming on emerging careers related to something students
enjoy doing.
4.Ask students to look at what they have preferred so far-activities, roles and
what they have tried to avoid and link these to possible occupations or careers.
5.Invite students to look at activities they have done well in and where they did
not do well in and link these to possible occupations or careers.
6.Ask students to discuss a hobby or recreational activity and how this can be
transformed or related to a possible career.
7.Ask students to identify classmates with special talents and relate this with
requirements of possible careers.
8. Invite the class to nominate classmates for specific occupations and ask the
nominator to explain selection.
9. Discuss desired occupations and what skill each one still needs to develop to
qualify for the occupations.
10. Discuss possible programs, activities, institutions that can help develop
needed skills.
11. Invite speakers who turned a hobby or interest into a career and how they
went about it.
12. Ask students to research on their top three occupational choices and the
physical, social, emotional, and academic requirements of each and decide on
which requirements they already fulfill, can still fulfill or can no longer fulfill.
13. Ask students to make a list of requirements that they still want to and can
fulfill and share the plan on how they would go about it.
14. Ask students to make and share a list of requirements they have that must
be fulfilled by the occupation and determine whether these will be fulfilled.
15. Discuss the value of a match between the person and the occupation.
Narrow down choices based on the greater degree of mismatch.
College Level
Assessing self versus demands of occupations and
job under construction
1.Create an opportunity for students to understand the nature of the tasks and
the task requirements of each occupation for the students to decide on whether
they could or are willing to fulfill such task requirements (e.g. working overnight,
going to dangerous places, etc.)
2.Explain the value of time management-knowing when to do what.
3.Invite entrepreneurs to show possibility of alternative jobs.
4.Invite someone in a non-traditional role to discuss his/her career path.
5.Develop a positive attitude toward work and learning by inviting speakers to
share how work can satisfy personal needs.
6.Discuss and clarify students’ concepts on sources of job satisfaction.
7.Discuss realities of work which lie in various setting or occupations.
8.Invite employers to orient graduating classes.
9.Conduct actual career planning.
What are the steps in career planning?
 Specific Career Planning Steps
Step 1: Assist client in self-discovery
Step 2: Explore with client options and opportunities
in the world of work at present and in the near
future.
Step 3: Guide client in matching the person and the
occupation/job.

- evaluate possible careers in depth in terms of

pros and cons.
Step 4: Encourage client to make and refine plan by
keeping track of changing trends – opportunities,
education, experience and qualifications needed for
chosen career.
Step 5: Help client prepare for job entry.
Step 6: Help client maintain a job.
Step 7: Orient client to look and prepare for growth
opportunities.
Step 8: Prepare a client for retrenchment/retirement