Career Exploration 101

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Career Exploration 101 (2:24)

“The most rewarding thing about my job is working with children. You’re helping people resolve probably the worst thing that’s going on in their life. The potential that it has to positively impact the life of a cancer patient.”

Role models in order of appearance: Dawn Thompson, Beverly B. Martin, Erica Bozeman, Ph.D., Keisha Perry, Evelyn Reyes, Kiara Felder, Shauna Williams, Anne Feighan, Stacy Shuker Reece, Ph.D., Helene Gayle, M.D., Dionna Thomas, Dr. Rachael Feigenbaum, Julie Dash, Audrey Cooper, Alicia Masse, Josie Castro, Maryam Borumand, Ph.D., Kate Scott, Jacqueline Piccolino, Susan V. Booth, CJ Omololu, Danya Bacchus, Dorothy Sears, Ph.D., Amy Fulford, Katie Corner, Aisha Krieger, Noelle Bowlin, Ramana Hannigan, Beverly Kim, and Alexandra Drane.

Quick Start

1) In the video, each role model in the video shared something they really liked about their career. Is it important to find some things you really like about your career?

2) The role models in the video name different things that they liked about their careers. For example, they said they liked to help children, keep people safe, solve problems, and so on. Which career on the video sounded like one you would be interested in and why?

3) Many of the role models said they liked helping people the most. Is being able to help people important to you? Why or why not?

4) Some of the role models said they liked being able to be creative in their careers. Do you think creativity will be important in your career? Why or why not?

5) Several role models said they liked solving problems the most. Would you enjoy solving problems in your career? Why or why not?

6) Many of the role models said they enjoyed teaching and sharing information with others. What would you enjoy teaching to others and why?

7) Some of the role models said they enjoyed helping others to live safer lives. Would you enjoy a career that keeps people safe? Why or why not?

8) A few of the role models said they liked helping children and animals. Tell why working with children or animals would or would not be a good career for you.

Video Transcript

The most rewarding thing about my job is working with children.

You’re helping people resolve probably the worst thing that’s going on in their life.

The potential that it has to positively impact the life of a cancer patient.

Being able to help people make their dreams come true and make sure that they’re protected in doing it.

Be able to get my creativity out there.

Everyone will stand up and applaud. All your hard work, your sweat, your tears was all worth it.

Was using your imagination to create this 3D environment.

And all of a sudden, you see your TV ad come on, and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, that’s my spot. I worked on that.”

Being able to solve a problem and solve it very quickly.

To see how a $2 loan can give a woman the opportunity to start a business.

Helping people to just stay safe while they’re trying to provide for their family.

Make an animal feel better and alleviate pain.

Recreate worlds, recreate realities.

Every day, you have a newspaper that you produced from nothing the day before.

Bringing people together to have a solution to a problem.

You get to solve a mystery all the time, which who wouldn’t like to do that?

Just sharing my knowledge and experiences with others I think is amazing and also meeting new people all the time.

Help people live healthier and better lives.

Just to be able to be paid to do something I love, to talk about sports.

Sharing the gift of music with people.

You make a whole world every day, and nothing’s impossible.

Readers who have read my books and somehow been affected by it.

It’s the fact that I am a voice for people who I feel wouldn’t necessarily have a voice.

It’s very gratifying to be teaching the next generation.

They’re able to learn from me, and I can instill my passion for social media to them.

The idea of millions of people picking up their phone and seeing the service that my team built, that’s just a very magic moment for me always.

I get to go into somebody’s worst day and make it as good as I can make it.

I get to study something that is unknown.

Getting to see the kids grow, see their accomplishments.

When people go out to eat, it’s definitely an enjoyable experience, and I enjoy giving them that experience.

The work that we’re doing is so important to real people in their lives, to their families, and that, I think in the end, makes everything extremely worthwhile.

Discussion Guide

Independent Learning Guide: This all-purpose guide can be used by educators, parents, and mentors to jumpstart a lively discussion about career exploration.

Classroom Lesson Plan

Would you like to get paid to do something you love? Watch this video to see what women working in 30+ exciting careers love about what they do. You’ll be inspired to work hard and dream big about your future career, too!

Classroom Lesson Plan: This step-by-step lesson plan is available to guide a more in-depth “before, during, and after” learning experience when viewing the video with students. This lesson plan is also suitable for use in after-school programs and other educational settings.

Empowerment Activities

Use Empowerment Activities as a fun way to reinforce the video topic and build community with your students.

Fun Page Activity

Fun Page Activity: Test your career knowledge! What do you know about being a pediatrician, a TV producer, or an aquatics director? Match careers with descriptions to learn more about careers that let you be creative, keep people safe, study new things, start a business, solve problems, even help people make their dreams come true!