CAO HANDBOOK ENTRY 2016
17
improving what you know about the kinds of
jobs that are out there. This is very important
because if you don't know about different
careers, you can't make a well informed choice!
Knowing about careers
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate how much you
know about what jobs are out there in the
world of work. 1 means you feel you have little
knowledge of what jobs exist and 10 means
you feel you know quite a bit about the variety
of careers there are to choose from.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
If you rated your knowledge as less than a
10, read on to build up your knowledge of
careers and improve your score.
Step 1.
First things first: to get into a career,
you usually need to study. Do you know
the difference between NC(V), certificate,
diploma and degree study? Do you know
about distance learning, and part-time and
full-time study options? If not, have a look at
the CAO Handbook.
Step 2.
Okay, let's think about what jobs
are out there. Have a look on page 2 of the
booklet at the ‘Programme list' and read
through the career directions. Are there any
career directions there that you don't know
about? Write these down.
Then have a look through the relevant
pages in the booklet itself, for example
Technology/Processing on page 152-153. You
will see that you can study towards different
degrees or diplomas in this career direction.
You will notice that there are different entry
requirements for these options, they take
different amounts of time to complete, and
can be studied at different tertiary study
institutions. Page 60 tells you exactly how to
read and understand the ‘Programme list'.
Step 3.
So you realise there are some gaps
in your career knowledge, but how do you
find out more about careers you don't know
about? Here are some ideas...
• Ask your Life Orientation teacher, parent
or another adult to explain more about
the career directions you're unsure of.
• Perhaps you have a family friend,
neighbour or relative who does the job
you are interested in finding out more
about. Speak to them about their job.
• Use the coupon on page 193 to send away
for more information on your institution
of choice and the career direction that
seems interesting to you. The CAO will
send you lots of free information.
• Have a look at
com/careerscentre
. This great website
provides a lot of information about
different types of jobs and careers. It
also gives you ideas about where to find
out further information, such as through
professional bodies or associations. Do
their extremely helpful quiz to find out
more about what careers you might suit.
• You could also look in your school or
public library for books on careers.
Step 4.
Now that you've done some research
into the career directions on page 2, rate
which three sound most interesting to you.
Look these up in the Programme List to see
how to study towards these.
• Another way to refine your knowledge
of your top three career directions is
to speak to people working in these
fields. You could phone a company in
the industry to find out more. If they
are not too busy, people are often very
flattered to tell you about what they do.
Phone them and say,
"...Good morning/
afternoon, my name is _____ and I want
to study towards a career in ______. I am
trying to find out more about what the
career involves on a day-to-day basis.
I would really appreciate speaking to
someone in this career in your company".
Before you make this call, write down
the questions you need to ask, e.g.,
what do you do on a day-to-day basis, are
there jobs available in this career; what
is the earning potential; how many hours
do you work a week? etc. Remember to
thank the person for their time!
• You could also phone the institution you
are thinking of studying through and ask
