Throughout your work in the Inventorium, your personal rainbow will have been filling, indicating which career dispositions the curriculum you have been working in best fits.  This does not mean that you have to follow those dispositions, it simply suggests that if you've been enjoying particular curriculum areas, you are likely to enjoy working in roles which fit those career dispositions.

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So what is a career disposition?

Career dispositions are the combination of values, sense of purpose and work preferences that align to guide an individual in their career choices for a ‘best fit’ future at work. 

Until someone has an opportunity to experience a particular career path or work experience, it is not actually known how they will behave in that experience.  However, given the ways in which people behave in other experiences, it should be possible to draw out insights into how someone would be expected to behave and hence predictions can be made.  For example, if someone likes working in a team in one work context it is likely they have a disposition to team working and hence would be likely to work well in a team in another context.  They are also likely to have a sociable disposition so would predictably not like to work in an isolated manner using a computer all day without interacting with others.  The seven career dispositions used in the Inventorium offer insights into how you will likely behave in different work situations, and hence suggest which types of work situations and careers will suit you best.

The TEDx Talk by Charlie Parker discusses 'what should I do with my life?' by asking people of different ages about their career choices.  The talk is fascinating in terms of how we compromise our ideas and dreams as we get social feedback and understand the 'real world'.  

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If you look at your list of what you wanted to be, is there a pattern?  For example, do they involve you in teams, or doing something creative. or helping others, or leading people in some way?  The career dispositions can be summarised in the following table: 

Let's look at each column in turn.  The first one is the 'disposition'.  This is the career group that you will be disposed towards working in according to the next columns.  The second column (the middle one) is the most important for you to think about in terms of deciding whether or not you fit a disposition.  For each of the dispositions, it lists the driver that represents the value you want to achieve; the motivator in terms of what keeps you going through the day; and finally the type of work that is generally found in that disposition.

ACTIVITY:

In the 'career dispositions template' the third column is left blank for you to note down examples of things that you do that would relate to each of the dispositions.  Are you finding a pattern in that some dispositions are fuller than others?

The third column in the table above indicates which 3 of the 6 adaptability attributes underpin the disposition the most.  These help you understand what attributes you need to develop in order to succeed in these different dispositions.  In addition, should you decide to change or switch between dispositions, this column indicates the attributes you need to develop in order to be skilled in your new disposition.

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The six adaptability attributes help you move both within your career disposition and between them, depending on which you develop most strongly, and which dominate your decision processes.  The first 4 stem from the work around career adaptability by Savickas (there is a video of him at a conference in the additional resources section); the last 2 have been added in response to the general idea of 21st century skills.

Let's look at each in turn:

Curiosity in this context is about the need to discover something, either to discover the answer to something that you need or want to know, or the curiosity of finding a new discovery or answer.  Either way, curiosity has a desired outcome and people will either require that or they will be happy working with broader boundaries.  

ACTIVITY:

Read the Fast Company article on 8 habits of curious people and then - being honest - note in the Curious or Not Choice how many of the habits you really have.  

Concern in this context is about caring about an outcome, whether that outcome relates to a broad societal outcome or specifically to someone else.  It is arguably what makes us human - our ability to care for others.

ACTIVITY:

This article in the Huffington Post looks at how to be more compassionate to others.  

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/habits-of-compassionate-people_n_5522941

Have a read and then discuss in Caring Chat whether you think you can develop concern or it is something you simply have or don't!

Control is about an individual having  a strong internal locus of control so that they define the world in a way that they can own how they behave within it.  People with an external locus of control feel less in control of their circumstances and tend to 'go with the flow' more, while people with an internal locus of control reframe circumstances so that they are in control of how they react to them.

ACTIVITY:

You can take a quick 13 question test to see how strongly you have an internal or external locus of control here: 

http://www.psych.uncc.edu/pagoolka/LocusofControl-intro.html

Note that this can change over time and even people with high internal loci of control can have days when they feel they just shouldn't have gotten out of bed because everything has gone wrong that day!  The test is just an indicator and food for thought.

Confidence in this context combines your self-confidence with your self-efficacy.  Self-confidence is about how you feel about yourself generally; self-efficacy is about how well you believe you can do a certain task.  Self-efficacy is specific to a task, situation, role or outcome, while self-confidence is a general state of mind.

ACTIVITY:

Post some images of what represents 'confidence' to you in the Confidence Wiki and discuss what it is about the images that strikes you as confident.  What does this say to us about how the media and society portray confidence? 

Conformity in this context is the ability of people to adapt and conform to the norm in a specific context.  It is about being able to fit in and be a team member, work to group or organisational norms, and understand and be content with the boundaries and processes that operate within a workplace.

ACTIVITY:

In the Conformity forum share a story about a time when you conformed to something when you didn't want to, and why.  How did it make you feel?  There are no right or wrong answers here; some people prefer to conform while others prefer not to.  Some people will feel uncomfortable conforming while others will feel a sense of comfort and belonging.  Have a read of each others stories to see how different the experience of conforming is for each of you.

Creativity is rapidly emerging as an important 21st century skill as the notion of being a creative thinker is seen as adding value.  In reality, most organisations need conformity more than creativity, but this would probably be the fourth attribute needed by all the dispositions except for the artefact creators who by their very nature, need this more than anything else.  

CHANGING WITHIN DISPOSITIONS

As you go through life, your situation changes.  You might get married and have a family; you might need to look after elderly parents; you might win the lottery and not need to earn a living any more; or something less drastic but nevertheless attitude changing.  Think of it a bit like a jigsaw with lots of pieces that you will fit together to make a picture of something.

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As your life changes, your priorities may change, and hence your motivation and drivers can change.  This can shift you between dispositions, but it can also shift between job roles within dispositions.  For example, you may have a social justice disposition which means as a student you do charity work for Amnesty international for free.  Then when you graduate you go and work for a not for profit company in advocacy.  This might be long hours and lots of domestic travelling, so when you marry and have a family you might shift to a more administrative role which is less demanding.  Then when the family grow up and the cost of keeping them increases, you might seek a management position or promotion to earn more money.  As you wind down to retirement you may choose to shift to a part-time role.  All of these are within the social justice disposition, but they are very different job roles.

ACTIVITY:

In the 'My Life Template' list down all the parameters that are important to you at the moment regarding the job that you want, and what these mean for your job choices.  For example, you may not be able to afford to leave home, so the parameter is 'living at home' and the implication is 'must be within 1 hours public transport route of home'.  See if you can come up with 10 different parameters that are going to impact your job choice now.  Once you have listed them, you will see how they may change in the future.

Now that you know what the parameters are, and which career dispositions you are job hunting within, it is time to start searching for jobs to apply for.

The job market is a market place like any other, with 'buyers' who in this case are the recruiters and companies seeking people to do the work, and 'sellers' which includes you - ie someone who is looking for a job of work with someone else.  

When you first enter the market place there can be a lot of noise going on, and it is easy to get overloaded with information and not know where to start.  In the days before the internet, you used to have to look in the newspaper for job adverts and generally you were limited to those in your local area as that's what the papers printed.  Now with the internet you can see virtually every job advert that appears anywhere in the world if you want to - so knowing how to navigate the communication channels is important.

GENERAL RECRUITMENT WEBSITES

There area number of internet job sites where recruiters generally post their job adverts, such as Seek.com; Monster.com; Indeed.com.  These are general websites that post jobs in different areas and anyone can pretty much post anything so long as they pay the posting fee. 

These can be a good starting point if you have clear parameters you want to search within, such as those you noted in your 'My Life Template'.  For example, you might want jobs in a 10km radius of Adelaide, in the public sector, at an entry level in marketing.  Put these parameters into the recruitment site and see what jobs emerge.

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Alternatively they are good for searching through listings if you aren't so sure of your parameters and just generally want to see what is out there.  Just search by location and salary band and see everything that's available and whether any appear.

ACTIVITY:

Choose 2 different general recruitment websites and carry out a search using the same search parameters.  See how different the jobs are that come up - there may be a lot of overlap.  Note down your top 10 jobs from each site in the 'Job Search Template' and then compare the list to decide which site you prefer the most.  This should be your top site for searching for jobs in the future.  Not all sites cater to the same tranche of the job market so it is important to find the site that best caters to you.

SPECIFIC MARKET PLACES

There are some websites that cater for specific professions or job markets.  For examples Unijobs.com.au has all the jobs that are in the University sector; ethicaljobs.com.au covers the charitable sector; and various professional bodies advertise jobs within that profession, such as nursingjobs.com.au covering all jobs in the nursing profession.

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ACTIVITY:

Search on the internet and see if you can find any good sites that have jobs advertised in the specific area you are looking at.  Post any good links in 'Job Search Site Chat' to share with others.

PROFILE SITES

A third type of job searching website is the type of site where you load your profile and this gives you access to the job adverts which are listed, but they also give recruiters access to your profile so they can search for candidates rather than waiting for you to find them.  LinkedIn is perhaps the best known of these sites, and you create your LinkedIn profile in the 'Who Do I Want To Be?' curriculum area.

COMPANY WEBSITES

If there is a particular organisation that you wish to work for, have a look at their website and see if they are advertising any jobs on it.   Some companies have a 'want to work for us' option that allows you to submit your CV/resume regardless of whether they are hiring or not, so you can be looked over prior to a need arising.  Then when a need does arise, they already have your details on file.

This next video talks through some of the steps to take when seeking a job: 

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ACTIVITY:

List down the top 10 organisations you think you would like to work for in the 'My Top 10' template.  Now go to their websites and see if there are any jobs you can apply for, or if you can generally submit your details for future job opportunities.  Keep updating the list as opportunities in each company come up and you apply for them.  

OFFLINE COMMUNICATIONS

While most recruitment processes involve some form of online advertising or communication these days, you can also make a big impression with offline communications.  For example, local shops or businesses may simply post a notice in a window staying 'Staff Wanted'.  Even if they don't have such a notice, they may be thinking about needing more people and so just popping in and asking if they have any work opportunities can prove fruitful.  Always have a printed copy of your resume ready to leave with them if they are interested.  

ACTIVITY:

Identify at least 10 local businesses that you would be happy to work for and drop in on them to see if they have any vacancies.  Make sure you are dressed appropriately and have your CV to hand.  Tell us about how you got on in Drop In Chat and we'll see if any patterns arise across business types.

You'll have seen from the Navigating the Job Market element that there are certain items you need to have ready to hand in order to communicate successful within the job market.  We look at these in this section and help you prepare them so you are ready to go.  These include a good CV/resume; a good introduction; a short presentation (ideally a video) about yourself and your achievements; and some good interview preparation.

PREPARING YOUR CV/RESUME

Your Curriculum Vitae or Resume is basically your life summary to date in terms of your achievements and what you have been doing.  It gives a prospective employer an overview of who you are, what you can do, and what you have done.

This next video was written by a University in the Netherlands but is not location specific so is a great outline of what you need to include: 

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ACTIVITY:

Complete the My CV Template to start to put together elements of your CV.  Remember you will need to tweak it to every job you apply for to make sure you include the specific elements that job is looking for, but this gives you a basis from which to work.  Save it in your portfolio for use for job applications.

Sometimes people try to be creative with their CV's/Resume's and this is great - but have a look at this next video as to how your resume can be reviewed by others!

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Now that you've seen this video, go back and change your resume template if you need to.  Remember that you should be continually updating your resume as you gain different experiences and skills.  Don't leave it until you are looking for a job as you will have forgotten much of what you did and the task seems endless.  Make sure your revisit it and add to your template every time something significant is achieved.

HAVING A GOOD INTRODUCTION

In the 'Introducing Yourself' curriculum area we look at how you can have different introductions for different occasions, and job seeking is one of those occasions that needs a specific introduction!

Think about the first impression you want to make when meeting a prospective employer and how you can 'manufacture' that impression.  What are you going to say?  What are you going to wear?  How are you going to hold yourself in terms of your posture?  Practice this!  When you are nervous you are likely to revert to a default position that shows the nervous you rather than the positive professional you can be.

This next video gives you some tips on how to behave: 

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And this video shows you how things can go wrong!

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Lot's of learning in this video.  Pay attention....

This final video helps you with your body language and tone to overcome the issues raised in the previous video: 

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ACTIVITY:

Practice your introduction for a prospective employer, including dressing up in what you will wear, how you will walk, how you will shake hands and what you will say.  Video yourself doing this and watch it back.  When you are happy with it, either show someone else for feedback, or practice 'live' with someone else for feedback.  Discuss how you are going with this in 'introduction chat' so you can see that you are not alone in experiencing difficulties with this.  This is not easy!  In fact, it is scarily difficult so it is important to practice it.  Many people who look great on paper blow it within the first 30 second of an interview!!!!

CREATING A VIDEO CV

For some people, the best way to make an impression is to submit a video CV rather a written one. Take a look at the following examples - the first one doesn't even have the person talking or appearing on camera, so you can do this even if you're shy:

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Which one do you prefer? The shy person looking to present a video to avoid having to talk, or the humorous person looking to appeal to the viewer in a way that other people won't? Watch this video for guidance on how to put together a video CV:

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Note that most smartphones can record high-quality video, so the advice in in the video about buying a camera is a bit out of date.

ACTIVITY:
Record your own video CV and post it on the 'Video CV Wiki' for others to give you feedback. Provide feedback to other posters, too. It's your CV so you can amend it as much and as often as you like. Don't worry if the feedback feels negative initially - by the time you nail it, it will be an Oscar-winning performance! Feel free to share it with family or friends before posting it on the forum.

INTERVIEW PREPARATION

It is very rare to get a job without having to attend an interview.  Although it can be argued that interviews are not particularly good predictors of performance, they do give you an idea of the people and culture of the organisation and whether you will fit in.  Hence you want to make a good impression so that the organisation wants to employ you.

Equally, you also need to get a good idea of the organisation as to whether you want to work for them, so it should be a two way conversation.

There are two things you can do to prepare for interviews.  Firstly you can have model answers worked out to questions you anticipate being asked; and secondly you can practice answering them when asked in a mock-interview situation.

This video gives overall advice on how to prepare for an interview generally.  Watch this first and then complete the activities that stem from the video.

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ACTIVITY:

The video highlighted three areas of research that you need to prior to attending an interview, plus preparing about yourself.  Use the Job Interview Research Template to note down all your research for a particular job.  Note that you need to complete this for every job you go to, and while some bits may be transferable, others will differ.

When it comes to interview questions, there are some which are generally asked at every interview.  One of these is 'tell me about yourself?'  This is really open and leaves it up to you as to what you decide to talk about.  This next video gives you some guidance on this.  While it gives examples of people who have work experience, you can use your Courage Quests as examples of what you have done and achieved as they are examples of experiences.

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If you want some more ideas on developing your elevator pitch, go to the 'Elevator Pitch for Courage Quests' section of the curriculum and apply the exercises as if getting the job is the courage quest.

Another common question is 'what is your biggest weakness?'  Answering this can be tricky as you can put someone off hiring you if you highlight something that is a concern to them.  This next video gives you some ideas on how to answer that question - whether you are going for your first job, for a promotion, or just a change of job.

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ACTIVITY:

The Job Interview Question Template outlines some common questions that you can be asked at an interview.  Try to draft answers in the form of bullet points to each question so you have an idea of what you can say when you are asked the questions.

SALARY AND PACKAGE

LOCATION

HOURS

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

CHANGING CAREERS

A WORD ABOUT LEAVING A JOB

This video is of Mark Savickas giving a keynote speech at a careers conference where he talks about the notion of life design.  It is a long watch - 40 minutes - but very interesting if you are interested in understanding some of the theory behind careers and adaptability. 

This is where you can add any resources or ideas in the wiki to share with others and for us to consider in our next curriculum update.  Thank you for sharing!

Once you've finished this section you can press submit for review for your facilitator to give you feedback and then claim your certificate.