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Career Planning

So what is career planning?

Career planning is about your making a clear, accurate, up-to-date career plan for your future, for your next step. Making an accurate plans means…

  • Recording your unique mix of interests, skills, values, preferences
  • Discussing and learning more about your unique mix with an Approved Smithells® Professional
  • Pinpointing career directions that fit you best
  • Looking at all the options for your next step
  • Selecting the best option for your next step
  • Choosing subjects or courses or papers
  • Making a realistic career plan that suits you
  • Acting on each step on your plan to make it work for you

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Who does career planning?

Teenagers and young adults aged 15-30 years who want to set first or clearer career directions for their lives and work.

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What makes career planning worth the cost? (How will it help me keep my costs down?)

Independent career planning is worth the cost for three reasons…

  • Taking your next step knowing it is one of the right options for you means you are much more likely to become qualified in minimum time, and to start earning sooner. From informal surveys, over 90% of Smithells®NZ clients reach this goal and keep costs down.
  • Without career planning, many teenagers and young adults (some surveys quote up to 60%) take an extra 6-12 months to complete their qualifications. This extra time costs you in two ways: lost income (earnings) and extra learning and living costs.
  • The cost of doing the Smithells® Questionnaires online and seeing an Approved Smithells® Professional is usually less than the cost of one paper or subject at university, polytechnic or institute of technology. (To complete a tertiary qualification, you may end up completing a total of 16-32 papers or more).

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How do Approved Smithells® Professionals do career planning?

  • All Approved Smithells® Professionals use the same accurate career counselling process and step-by-step career planning system:

    Before your appointment, you…

  • Complete online Career Questionnaires
  • Receive by email a confidential Career Information Summary with some explanation and feedback
  • Read and discuss your Summary, think about career paths
  • Request or confirm a face-to-face appointment with an Approved Smithells® Professional by email or phone

    • At the appointment with your Approved Smithells® Professional, you…

  • Discuss and explore your Summary to learn more about yourself
  • Set a career focus and 1-3 career paths for you to explore
  • Choose subjects, select courses or qualifications to fit those paths
  • Look at options of where to go, pick the best options for you
  • Make steps in a realistic career plan that suits you

    After your appointment, you…

  • Carry out each step of your plan, to make your plan work for you
  • Keep your Approved Smithells® Professional updated
  • Can go back and see your Approved Smithells® Professional, to fine-tune or add to your career plan

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I have a (fairly) clear idea of what I want to do. How will career planning with an Approved Smithells® Professional help me?

Career planning with an Approved Smithells® Professional will help you confirm how well (or not) your career idea fits you, what qualifications are required, what range of learning options there are for you and which options are likely to be the best ones for you. It will also help you generate steps in a workable career plan.

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I have no idea, or only a vague idea of what I want to do. How will career planning with an Approved Smithells® Professional help me? It will…

  • Help you pinpoint a career focus and one or more career directions that fit you best, that you can explore and check out
  • Inform you about what qualifications are needed for that work
  • Let you know what and where your learning options are
  • Let you know which options are likely to be the best ones for you
  • Generate steps in a realistic career plan that suits you

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Can career planning with an Approved Smithells® Professional help me with choosing school subjects?

Yes. You will need to check that…

  • your school offers each of the subjects you want to take
  • you can take the right subjects at the level(s) required for entry to the qualifications you targeted through career planning

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Can career planning with an Approved Smithells® Professional help me with choosing tertiary courses and qualifications?

Yes, definitely. After career planning, you will need to double-check with liaison (student recruitment) staff at the tertiary learning centre(s) you plan to apply to…

  • that you have the right subjects to gain entry to each qualification you apply for
  • what results you need to obtain, to have your best chance of gaining entry
  • when applications for your courses and for accommodation open and close

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