Mapping Career Development Processes (MCDP):
- Personal Management
- Learning and Work Exploration
- Life/Work Building
- Work Preparation
- Career Transitions
Personal Management
Self-awareness involves understanding yourself by clarifying and assessing your present situation on an ongoing basis and establishing and implementing action plans for improvement. This includes reflecting on:
- Interest’s
values
- Aptitudes
goals/dreams/expectations
- Work preferences
multiple intelligence
- Skill—academic, essential, technical learning styles
Learning and Work Exploration
Work options
Exploring Work Options involves investigating:
- Various forms of work; e.g., paid, unpaid, full-time, part-time, contract
- Occupations—work environment, education requirements, skills required, potential career paths
- Industries—work environment, occupations involved, potential career paths
- Self-employment
- Labour market trends/projections
- Volunteer/community opportunities
Learning options
Exploring Learning Options involves investigating entry requirements, expectations—courses, portfolios—articulation agreements and/or transfer points for:
- Apprenticeship—various trades, local and regional opportunities
- Post-secondary study—technical institutes, colleges, universities
- Workplace training
- Volunteer/community learning opportunities
Life/Work Building
Understanding Career Planning/Building Processes, Principles and Guidelines involves: Understanding basic process—know Yourself, Explore Possibilities, Set Directions, Take Action Reflecting on career planning principles (High 5+1) and guidelines when making decisions Knowing how to access and assess career information and sources of support Knowing effective strategies for work search
Career portfolio
Developing a Career Portfolio includes:
- Evidence of skills or experiences and key work search tools, sample résumés (various types), sample letters, personal resource/network list
- Selections from work undertaken in Personal Management; e.g., goals, personal inventories
- Selections from work undertaken in Learning and Work Exploration; e.g., work/learning investigations, career pathway reports, personal career transition scenarios financial support.
Accessing Financial Support involves identifying sources, requirements and expectations for:
- Continuing learning—scholarships, grants, loans, bursaries, income supports
- Work transitions—subsidies
- Budgeting and saving
Action planning
Action Planning involves:
- Establishing and implementing plans for self-improvement:
- Academic qualifications
- Technical qualifications
- Essential competencies
- Learning capacity
- Developing personal career transition scenarios
- Documenting personal support network
Presenting
Presenting involves describing yourself, your competencies and your goals for work and learning transitions through:
- Interviews
- Presentation portfolios—targeted to purpose/audience
- Networking
Work Preparation
Work Preparation involves developing the academic, Essential/employability and technical skills needed for the transition Process. This development occurs throughout all core and complementary Courses. Intermediate and advanced level career and technology studies courses, as well as fine arts, second and international languages, and physical education courses can prepare students for related occupations.
Career Transitions
Career Transitions include:
- Identifying and applying for employment—undertaking work search
- Applying for entry into a post-secondary institution
- Applying for an apprenticeship
- Identifying and applying for financial support; e.g., loans, grants, scholarships, bursaries