Making Career Choices Objective: To help students identify their own decision-making patterns and evaluate their effectiveness.

Decision-Making Patterns Later in the book you will learn a technique on how to make good decisions. At this point, we are going to learn the decision-making patterns you use most. Do you identify with any of the following stories?

Eric Has wishful thinking. He concentrates on the most attractive outcomes. He pays little attention to the risks involved or the likelihood of them coming true. Eric wants to be a pro tennis player, but is unwilling to practice and was cut from the tennis team last year.

Louisa She is an escape artist. She focuses on the worst possible outcomes. She would rather take the safe option, even if there is little chance of a bad outcome. She is a straight ‘A’ student in math, but is afraid she won’t pull those grades in college. Instead of becoming an engineer, she has decided to major in elementary education.

Maggie She plays it safe. She would love to be a politician, but follows the safe road because she knows she will be successful as an insurance agent.

Wade Is impulsive. He doesn’t give much thought to any of his decisions. He decides to become a flight attendant because he likes their uniform.

Andy Leaves things to fate. He is going to take a trip to Florida just to see what happens.

Elena Is compliant. She let’s others make decisions for her. Her parents think she should become a computer programmer, so she probably will.

Harold Procrastinates. He plans to think about his future after graduation.

Yoko Agonizes over every decision. She analyzes options multiple times, and with such focus that she rarely makes a decision. She wants to interview several dozen more people before selecting a career path.

Arturo Makes decisions intuitively. If it feels right to him, he goes with it. He likes the idea of a wildlife biologist, but is unsure what they do.

Kenisha Has a rational approach. She looks at the pros and cons of each alternative and the likelihood of her succeeding prior to making her decision. She sees a bright future in computer-related careers, so she plans to train for a job in that area.

Workbook Activity 20 Which of these patterns do you use most often? Write your answer in your Workbook Activity 20.

Reference Bingham, M & Stryker, S. (2011) Career Choices. A Guide for Teens and Young Adults. Santa Barbara, Ca: Academic Innovations.