Career Pathways  

Career Expos and Subject Selections and VTAC Applications – oh my! 

It has been a busy time in Careers, with students planning and preparing for their future. The future though, is appearing to be very different to what we perhaps thought it may look like.

The following document sheds some light on the impact of the pandemic on the Victorian labour market and its implications for young people. Thank you to Mr David Graham for sharing this resource from the National Skills Commission.   For senior students and families, this is an interesting read, particularly the sections about what employers are looking for in terms or experience and education. Not surprisingly, employees who are VET qualified (TAFE) are on par with degree qualified employees.

One of the most common discussions I have with students is about clearing up career advice misinformation, from outdated or not so reliable sources. When I hear a sentence that start with, “my friends mum, who is a doctor, said when she went to university in 1990…” or “I can’t remember who told me, but I’m pretty sure you have to do Psychology in Year 12 to study it at university…” I often wonder what other information our students are taking on as fact, without checking it out first.  I found the following infographic (“Visual Capitalist”) helpful to recognise some of the cognitive biases that influence why we believe what we want to believe.  Knowing about this list can help you make more informed decisions, or at the very least, make you consider that there may be other information out there to be considered.