Counselling activity: using career journals
Asking students to fill in career journals can help them to focus their interests and understand what they want from their future careers
It is important to help students clarify their goals and identities before they consider universities. We know it’s challenging for students to think of a specific destination but hopefully through reflecting on what they want from their university experience, they can find their direction.
One of the activities I use during my counselling sessions is career journals. Before we do our one-on-one counselling session in grade 12, early in the school year I give students a booklet to fill out to maximise their counselling time. This is what they write in their personal career journals:
Pages 1 to 3: students answer questions reflecting on who they are as a person. They need to think about their goals and aspirations, their talents, their capabilities and external forces that can hinder or support their dreams.
Pages 4 to 8: based on their answers and reflections from pages 1 to 3, they write down the majors and universities they are interested in. We encourage students to make their decisions based on “best fit” and their previous reflections. Students then create a shortlist of universities and rank them by priority (safe, target, reach).
Pages 9 to 12: students create their own timeline and goals. Goals are divided into short-term (for example, taking IELTS), medium-term (for example, preparing for application essays) and long-term (for example, studying for the IB exam). This empowers the students to be independent in their application process and to keep them on track with deadlines.
Page 13: The last page is a home conference page containing a written statement confirming that they have discussed the contents of the journal with their parents, and the parents and child sign at the bottom. This is done to empower the parents so they remain on the same page as their children. Parents are crucial in career counselling, and it helps to not treat them as “other”. Every parent makes decisions for their children for their own reasons, even when we don’t agree with the reasons.
In my experience, filling in the career journal equips students with independence in their career search and helps them take accountability.
After filling in the career journal, each student has a one-on-one session or a group tutor session with the counsellor. I make myself available every Wednesday after school.
The group sessions focus on career counselling, such as writing their personal statement or advising on their university choices. I also use the time to meet with parents and students together.
I work on making students feel safe in my classroom, even when they are only hanging out during lunch time. I have a variety of beanbags for students to sit on and tea for them to drink.
Sometimes, students will ask for career advice without doing their own research. Or they will choose a major or university without researching properly, relying solely on university rankings.
But doing the journal and engaging in a critical discussion during our one-on-one session will trigger them to reflect and think about the path that is the best fit for them. This makes the counselling process more effective.