How early career exploration programmes are giving the young a head start

Youth engaging with professionals from the creative sector in one of many educational and career guidance programmes by the National Youth Council. PHOTO: NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL

Beyond discovery, such programmes help school-going youth and first jobbers chart their educational and career pathways

At only 15, Kranji Secondary School student Devangi Kalita felt she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: A lawyer, just like her uncle.

But on 19 Oct last year, that changed. That day, it dawned on her that there were other attractive options.

It happened during the Day X programme, a half-day career exploration workshop at her school to help the youth discover meaningful careers and chart their path to realise their aspirations.

A virtual session with an e-commerce product manager opened her eyes to the possibility of a career in the tech industry. “I learned that what you may dream (of working as) at the beginning might not always become true. It changes with time,” says Devangi.

She was one of 252 Kranji Secondary students that participated in the programme, organised by the school in partnership with non-profit career guidance outfit The Astronauts Collective (TAC), and the National Youth Council’s (NYC) On My Way (OMW) platform.

Launched in 2020, OMW is an education and career discovery platform that provides accessible support for youth to discover their interests and work towards their career aspirations. Programme partners include TAC and career education centre Bold At Work (BAW).

From their classroom, Kranji Secondary students got to engage with 16 professionals from different industries. They could choose professionals to interact virtually with from a “Career Human Library”, or sample bite-size experiences in person through “Job Tasters”.

The Day X programme was chosen as part of Kranji Secondary’s education and career guidance curriculum, which tailors programmes for students of each secondary level. PHOTO: KRANJI SECONDARY SCHOOL

The professionals, all volunteers, were chosen to provide a diversity of career experiences. These include roles such as data technologist, management consultant, journalist and park manager.

“Youth often do not see the value of career exploration until they need to make key decisions, such as applying for a job,” says TAC co-founder and programmes director Wong Yi Fong, 37. “It would be too late to only start exploring at the eve of such decisions.”

He adds that many teenagers struggle to see the link between their future career aspirations and where they are currently, which could make them less motivated in school.

“To help youth see the value of career exploration today, we design our programmes to connect career exploration with education pathways.”

More possibilities or no go?

While a legal career remains an option, Devangi says the virtual session with e-commerce product manager Joanne Tan, 29, was “very captivating”.

Says Devangi: “The session allowed me to understand what a tech product manager does, its responsibilities and requirements, and how good of an occupation it is when considering future job options.

“Ms Tan helped me to discover a newfound interest in the tech industry, and I will certainly keep my choices open.”

What she found most relatable was Ms Tan’s sharing of her own journey, starting from primary school to where she is today. It was a lesson in being adaptable and embracing opportunities as they come.

“In the case of Ms Tan, she didn’t think of joining the profession,” she explains. “That’s like me, in a way. For quite a long while, I’d thought only of becoming a lawyer. I never thought of working in tech. But now, it’s an option.”

Fellow Kranji Secondary student Choo Zi Xuan, 15, also gained new insights from the Career Human Library.

Before the programme, her perception of an operations role was to oversee that work processes and protocols were managed seamlessly and “make sure that people do their job well”.

Operations manager Daniel Liew, 48, provided her with a more realistic perspective on the job responsibilities.

“They have to plan a lot, such as daily schedules to make sure people complete their tasks on time. And they have to manage people all the time, and face complex issues,” says Zi Xuan. “It sounds very challenging to me.”

Through Mr Liew’s sharing, Zi Xuan has developed a better understanding of the aspects to consider, should she decide to pursue such a career.

Sparking interest

While engaging and enlightening, the Day X programme was also designed with a deeper purpose: To guide school-going youth towards careers of their interest.

“The youth can use the career insights gleaned to inform their decisions and choices in subsequent education pathways, such as which Institute of Technical Education, polytechnic or university courses to pursue,” says TAC’s Mr Wong.

He adds that the Day X programme was met with a positive response from the students. During their post-programme reflections, 90 per cent of the students at Kranji Secondary felt they had more career options to consider after the programme.

Additionally, two-thirds recognised the importance of contributing to society or serving the community in their chosen career paths, up from less than half before the programme.

Watching her class immerse itself in the workshop, form teacher Ng Shi Lei, 27, was awed by how far career guidance had evolved.

“I was very amazed by the Day X programme itself,” says Ms Ng. While we would have career fairs back when I was in secondary school, it was a touch-and-go situation.

“(Today) they get to know these jobs better. Most importantly, they understand where they’re standing currently, the skills they’re lacking, and how to get there.”

Mr Joshua Ang, the school’s education and career guidance team lead, says that such career frameworks are crucial in providing a realistic look into the world of work.

“The key advantage is the opportunity for our students to interact and dialogue with actual career professionals,” says Mr Ang, 33. “It provides a glimpse into what the world of work is like.

“This helps them to better appreciate the knowledge, skills and competencies they learn in school, and how they would eventually serve them well.”

The OMW platform has since expanded to engage older youth, especially those at key transitional points in institutes of higher learning. NYC will also work with partners to design education and career discovery programmes that encourage early career planning and experiential job trials.

Lessons beyond the classroom

When Ms Jamie Jian, 22, enrolled at the Nanyang Technological University in 2020, she struggled to decide on which course of studies to pursue. She only knew she was interested in healthcare.

“By then, I was deciding between speech therapy and linguistics, but ultimately chose linguistics as it was more general,” says the Year Three linguistics and multilingual studies student. “My plan was just to find out more about the healthcare industry in the meantime.”

Last year, she saw an advertisement for a healthcare career exploration programme in an NYC newsletter. She seized the opportunity.

As part of OMW's Job Taster programme organised by BAW, she was exposed to different job roles and got hands-on experience with micro-job tasks at host organisation, NTUC Health.

Ms Jian had the opportunity to trail an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist and a therapy assistant last December.

At half a day rotating between three job roles, the session may appear to just scratch the surface but for Ms Jian, the experience served her needs.

“A big part was really just discovering a lot of things that I’ve read or heard about. It was an opportunity to be in an actual clinical setting,” says Ms Jian. “I wasn’t able to have that before (Covid-19).”

While experiencing the healthcare space and getting hands-on with the equipment used offered a dose of reality, she found the communication skills and techniques used to manage recalcitrant patients particularly interesting.

“Going into the programme, it was one of the main areas that I wanted to learn more about,” she says. “It was a lot to do with listening and being empathetic. That was the biggest takeaway for me.”

The healthcare, communications and new media, and sustainability themed sessions are the most popular among students. PHOTO: BOLD AT WORK

Helping individuals like Ms Jian gain clarity in their careers is one of BAW’s key objectives, says its co-founder Clarice Song, 36.

“We encourage them to reframe (their career path outlook) to ‘I don’t have to always know where I am going, but I can always know whether I am heading into the right direction by gathering clues along the way’.

“This reduces the pressure to get it right at such an early stage and embrace changes and evolution that may come as they continue exploring options and possibilities.”

5 key resources for youth

Through the National Youth Council’s On My Way platform, youth can learn about different jobs and industries, connect with school seniors and industry professionals, and get a taste of various job roles to find out what suits them best based on their interests.

Here are its five key features:

Let’s Talk
Take part in live sessions with working professionals to learn about their industry and what they do.

Network Connects
Meet with school seniors to learn about their education and career paths in a youth-to-youth sharing session.

Taster Programme
Bite-size programmes that give youth first-hand experience in different job roles and industries.

Know It All
Pick up facts, handy tips and answers to common questions about specific job roles.

Day In The Life
See what daily life is like for over 80 professionals from diverse sectors through short and engaging videos.

Article Source: branded content from Straits Times, and this article was produced in partnership with the National Youth Council