Travelling the career highway

First edition, first impression

ISBN l 86888 011 7

The choice of an appropriate career is one of life's most important events. It will have a far-reaching impact on a person's social, emotional and physical existence. During the career development process a person will make a number of decisions. The most important of this concern the choice of a career path and the educational preparation that has to be made for that career. This decision point occurs in most cases during the last two years at school or soon after leaving school. People still make career changes at later stages of their lives, but the process remains essentially the same. In spite of its importance, the career decision-making process is often treated in an offhand way. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Many people are not adequately exposed to the world of work, with the result that when they have to make career decisions, they do so on the basis of inadequate career information. These people may be regarded as being career immature and should be educated in the career decision-making process. If not, they run a serious risk of making incorrect career decisions.

• Many people do not have access to professional career counselling, and this situation is bound to become more serious in the future. Professional career counselling would imply that adequately trained professionals who are able to use sophisticated psychometric tools are available to users, as indicated above.
• Many people regard a career decision as a one-off event. They believe that individuals are suited only to one occupation and have to be told by outsiders on what these suitable occupations are. They are unaware that a career decision is a process which often results in a compromise between the ideal and reality.

Travelling the Career Highway was written as an educational aid to assist career decisionmakers who find themselves in any of the categories mentioned above. Career decision-makers have to use the book under the guidance of trained professionals such as psychologists and teachers, who are required to provide counselling in school settings. The book is aimed primarily at career guidance teachers. Throughout this guide two terms are used which need to be clarified. They are facilitator and traveller. A facilitator is someone who will guide individuals or groups through the career education process as conceptualised in Career Highway. The facilitator should be thoroughly acquainted with the contents of the book and be classifiable in one of the categories mentioned earlier. A traveller is someone who uses Career Highway to become more career educated. It is used under the guidance of a facilitator. Travellers may be educated individually or in groups. Working through the book will expose travellers to a range of options or choices which they can consider at their leisure.

The book also stresses that a career decision is not a one-off event, but a series of steps or stages that have to be completed in sequence for the desirable end result to be achieved. Perhaps the main benefit of the book is that travellers are actively involved in the career decision-making process. It is not imposed on them from the outside. The outcome of the process reflects their input, and that is something they are likely to accept and act upon.

The book is written in the metaphor of a journey. A journey is an event that all people can identify with. They can understand the steps involved in a journey and what they have to do to reach their destination. The idea of movement from one position to another emphasises the dynamic nature of a career rather than the statism with which it is regarded by many people. The career journey is divided into stages, which stresses the point that making a career decision is not a single event but a process of sequential steps or stages.