career
3 tips to help students to pursue their dream career goals
Supporting students identify their passions and strengths is crucial to help them prepare for their career and future jobs. Research has shown that students feel more engaged in school activities when they are able to acknowledge the connection between their studies and the real work. In other words, knowing that what they are studying will be beneficial for their career after graduation seems to boost students’ confidence in their skills and motivation to pursue their dreams.
As Coach, when working with graduates, the goal is to help them discover their higher self in order to be able to choose the best possible career. The more clarity one gets on their career path, the more likely they are to stay on that path.
Austin Distel on Unsplash
3 key tips for students:
- Define and articulate your strengths
Strengths constitute a unique combination of skills, attributes, talent, experience, and knowledge. It is often the case that students think that they need to excel at everything that comes their way. Being aware of your strengths and working on developing yourself continuously will make you more efficient, improving at the same time your performance and engagement, and boosting your motivation and self-confidence. In today’s VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world, employers are looking for motivated talent, confident in their skills and potential, and ready to take charge of their carer.
Image par Igor Link de Pixabay
Hence, when applying for a job, focus on the targeted company’s job description and go beyond it, researching the company’s core values, mission, and vision, and select your strengths that go in hand with the job requirements and corporate culture. Practice your elevator pitch delivering it with several people by asking yourself powerful questions such as: What are the strengths that help you stand out against your competition? What evidence do you have that demonstrates those strengths? Ensure that you say it with energy, confidence, and enthusiasm.
- Failure means learning, develops perseverance and enhances learning!
Stop fearing it! Evaluate the risks and take one small step at a time. Going too fast and not celebrating small steps can make you overwhelmed, lower your energy, and even lead to backfire. However, you need to move forward! Avoiding the situations that are you afraid of can be a temporary solution, making you feel better in the short term, and increase your anxiety in the long-run.
denys-nevozhai on Unsplash
Failure is a lesson which makes you stronger, wiser and experienced. Have a deep conversation with yourself or your mentor about your fears and your challenges in facing them, helping you to identify what barriers you need to remove and create an action plan, measuring your success steadily. Face your fears gradually, and embrace!
By working towards your dreams, opportunities will start showing up! Define your smart goals, stay motivated and follow your dreams despite the challenges you may encounter on your path.
- Have a vision and follow your dreams!
Young adults won’t necessarily listen to parents’ career advice.
Every adult can remember being a teenager and ignoring parents’ advice. As a parent, being emotionally involved, being fully objective in advising can be very challenging. Additionally, despite the fact that parents may have good ideas for their children career, it is also likely that these may be based on the career beliefs they used to have while being at school. Thus, using a skilful objective career coach who explores students’ interests and personality, helping them identify the way forward, can prove to be more effective for students’ career path.
Image par Comfreak de Pixabay
Whether you are just graduating or still a student trying envision your long-term career path, keeping these ideas in mind can help you navigate your new career landscape.
About the author:
Adelina Stefan – Career Coach, Intercultural Facilitator & Executive Consultant
Adelina is a licensed Career Coach and Intercultural Facilitator specialized in the areas of International Human Resource Management and Intercultural Communication. She helps expats professionals achieve clarity in their career goals, enabling them to increase their self- and intercultural awareness and formulate their unique career blueprint. Adelina is a dual citizen of Greece and Romania, and has lived in Zürich, Switzerland for the last five years. Holding a Master Degree in Sociolinguistics and Intercultural Communication, she also specializes in translations and interpreting, being fluent in English, Greek, Romanian and German.
www.adelinastefan-ttc.com
www.facebook.com/adelinastefanttc
www.linkedin.com/in/adelinastefan
