Effective Career Guidance Best Practices for Secondary School Students

This report examines best practices in career guidance for secondary school students, emphasizing the importance of informed career choices in today's job market. It addresses the organization of effective career fairs, highlighting the need for thorough planning and resource allocation to provide students with valuable information. The report also delves into guiding students towards relevant higher studies and appropriate employment, stressing the significance of aligning academic pursuits with personal interests and career goals. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of maintaining a balance between social life and education, as well as managing career expectations. The conclusion reinforces the need for early career exploration and the potential impact on reducing unemployment rates. The report references several studies to support its findings and recommendations.

Running head: BEST PRACTICES OF CAREER GUIDANCE 1
Best Practices of career Guidance for secondary school students
Name
Institution

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Introduction
The issue of career guidance is becoming increasingly important in today’s world,
especially due to the rise in unemployment. Many countries have in the 21st century been facing
educated unemployment partially because students are not advised to take marketable or relevant
career paths that are most likely to secure them a job in the already overcrowded job markets.
Students tend to be stuck in the large scale theories that advocated for a specific path to success
(Joseph, 2017). Many people borrowed these large scale theories, which explains the nature of
the current job markets. The issue of unemployment is a profoundly disturbing one that can no
longer be addressed by holding career fairs and guiding students towards favourable careers.
Critically, there is a need to organise more meaningful technology-driven career fairs and guide
students towards pursuing their interests and avoid being carried away by large scale theories.
How career fairs for given age groups can be organised
Career fairs have in the modern days been reduced to mere exposure events with the
students reaping almost nothing from them. All that students do on these events is to move in and
out of various locations without necessarily gathering adequate information about the concerns
of the specific career. To reap the most out of a career fair, all the parties ought to plan
adequately for the event (School Development Division, Education Bureau, 2014). Firstly, the
organising team must assemble all the required resources for the event to be a success. A career
fair is not an event to be held just because it is a requirement by a certain body or because the
administration feels that the students need it. It must be a productive affair capable of moulding
the learners into whom they would like to be in the future (Wong & Yuen, 2019). Investing
adequately on the career fair means that the organisers will source reputable individuals to

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expose the learners to various careers as opposed to a case whereby employer representatives
come to an institution not quite sure of the information they give to the students.
Secondly, the students need to be told earlier in advance and be guided to acquire the
desired mental state for the exposure. The students need to be discouraged from believing that
they have to participate in the exercise as groups. They should be made to know that career
choice is a highly individualised idea and that the choices made must have a very slight external
influence if any (Domene, Shapka, & Keating, 2016). The organisers should do follow-up
activities after the event to ensure that no student falls victim of misinformed decision-making.
Students should also be made to feel encouraged about the choices that they make and be
stimulated to focus and direct all their efforts through their ultimate career goal. The follow-up
activities should be extended to cover all the participants in the career fair. This move will
definitely help in unearthing relevant insights about the entire experience that could consequently
inform future career fairs.
Guiding Students for Relevant Higher Studies and Appropriate Employment
Students at younger ages tend to approach life with a high level of enthusiasm which
gradually drops as they approach higher levels of learning. It is therefore critical to utilise this
enthusiasm and help the students start focusing on becoming whom they want in future. Higher
studies should be closely tied to the desired employment and students ought to be made to learn
this early enough (Milan & Miroslava, 2017). Ideally, the process of choosing what to pursue at
higher education could be an uphill task especially for the people who did not plan adequately.
After informing the students that their desired employment must be tied to their higher-level
studies, it is also necessary to explain the role of personal interests in both career and higher
studies.

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People tend to excel more in areas of interest than in other areas. As a result, students
should learn from earlier stages that they have to focus more on their interests. Clearly, no one
will ever get tired of doing what he or she likes for an eternity. It is critical to start building on
these areas and perfects one’s skills in the early stages. By so doing pursuing higher studies on
that area becomes an interesting experience and less demanding (Ombaba, 2014). Similarly,
getting employment from one’s area of interest and specialisation is the most rewarding
experience. While guiding students, it is good to help them to identify their areas of interest. At
times, students do not excel the most in their areas of interest especially if they invest lesser
efforts in it. To make higher learning with life, it is critical to maintaining healthy social
relationships. Students must be made to notice that they must always strike a balance between
social life and education at early stages (Bolarin, 2014). They must be made to know that there is
more in life than just academic excellence. Cutting off social relationships works best at
overburdening individuals hence making life eternal strife.
Having successfully completed higher education, students must be made to know that
they are not predetermined to get absorbed in the job markets immediately after the completion
of their studies. High career expectations will only leave them frustrated rather than build their
lives. They should, therefore, be encouraged to take alternative paths that will ultimately lead
them to their dream career. For instance, they can volunteer and offer services at their preferred
organisations (Ballon, 2014). Working diligently in the positions offered will, in the long run,
earn them a promotion to the next level.
Conclusion
The journey towards one’s preferred career could be a very challenging task. People, at
times, end up in the wrong careers, which leads to the scrambling of their entire work lives.

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Students need to be trained to focus on their interests as soon as they are able to conceptualise
the whole idea of employment. This will help them avoid the risk of spending their entire lives
unemployed or straining to work for institutions that they would not like to work for. If people
take charge of their career lives as soon as they are able to, the cases of unemployment are likely
to drop.

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References
Ballon, B. K. (2014). Youth help-seeking expectancies and their relation to help-seeking
behaviour for substance use problems. Addiction Research and Theory, 12, 241–260.
Bolarin, T. A. (2014). Sex differences in the sources of academic and social guidance sought by
secondary school students. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 12,
333–341.
Domene, J. F., Shapka, J. D., & Keating, D. P. (2016). Educational and Career-related Help-
seeking in High School: An Exploration of Students’ Choices. Canadian Journal of
Counselling, 40(3), 145-158.
Joseph, B. (2017). Effects of Career Guidance and Career Counselling Techniques on Students
Vocational Maturity. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(6), 1-11.
Milan, D., & Miroslava, S. (2017). Career Counseling as a Tool for Successful Implementation
of Managerial Competencies of Secondary School Graduates in the Slovak Republic.
TEM Journal, 6(4), 726-731.
Ombaba, S. (2014). Adequacy of Career Guidance Resources in secondary schools.
International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 6(4), 921-928.
School Development Division, Education Bureau. (2014). Guide on Life Planning Education
and Career Guidance for Secondary Schools. School Development Division, Education
Bureau.
Wong, L. P., & Yuen, M. (2019). Career Guidance and Counseling in Secondary Schools in
Hong Kong: A Historical Overview. Journal of Asia Pacific Counseling, 9(1), 1-19.