This section includes a series of specialized sessions to increase the students' self-awareness, capabilities, and potentials, as well as to develop their knowledge in the profession they have joined. It aims to explore the profession's development prospects and the potential opportunities within it, linking these opportunities to the students' capabilities. The sessions are designed to contribute to the process of professional compatibility, adaptation, and consolidation. The counselor will find a set of tools to facilitate the proper implementation of these sessions.

Understanding the Profession and Its Development Prospects (Two Sessions) Understanding the profession involves acquiring specific knowledge about it, the fields in which students can work, and understanding the development prospects and various aspects of the profession. This is foundational in the process of professional compatibility and adaptation. The sessions in this section contribute to increasing the students' knowledge about their profession, which is essential for professional consolidation.

Session One: Introduction to the Profession:

Session Objectives:

1. Introduce students to the chosen profession.
2. Understand the reality and development prospects of the profession.
3. Identify the fundamental aspects of the profession.

Tools Used:

1. Whiteboard.
2. Profession cards (online professional website).
3. Pens.
4. Colored cards.

To introduce the chosen profession, the counselor can utilize profession cards available on the website. For example, a profession like carpentry could be presented through a real image at the beginning of the counseling session. Students are asked to provide a one-sentence comment, and their responses are displayed and discussed on the board.

1. In the second step, students are asked to clarify the reasons for choosing this profession.
2. They present the positives they see in it.
3. They also present the negatives they perceive.

All responses are displayed on the board. Students are divided into groups, with each group responding to positives and negatives. At the end of the group work, each group's results are presented, highlighting the main points for each group's questions. The counselor concludes the first session by instructing each student to meet with an employer, engage in an open dialogue about the profession, and summarize this dialogue to be presented in the next session. Each student receives a sheet outlining the topics to focus on.

 

Session Two: The Profession and Its Development Prospects

Session Objectives:

1. Introduce students to the chosen profession.
2. Understand the reality and development prospects of the profession.
3. Identify the fundamental aspects of the profession.

Tools Used:

1. Whiteboard.
2. Profession cards (online professional website).
3. Pens.
4. Colored cards.

Execution:

1. The counselor asks students to present the results of their interviews and the new information gained. These points are recorded on the board. The counselor opens a discussion about the key points recorded by students in their interviews and how this information will help them understand their profession.
2. The counselor presents a set of images related to the profession studied by students, representing different environments of the profession, including inside the workshop, on-site, outside the workshop, during professional-client communication, and while working with machines in the profession.
3. A discussion is opened about these images and their representation of the studied profession. The counselor records the stages of the profession and its prospects based on each image.

The counselor concludes the session by summarizing the two sessions, defining the profession and its development prospects, and emphasizing how students can continuously develop themselves.

Session Three: Understanding Available Opportunities within the Profession (Divided into Three Sub-Sessions)

Understanding the opportunities available in this professional field is an important stage. The counselor can apply several activities to assess the students' awareness of these opportunities and work on increasing their awareness of potential opportunities in their chosen profession.

Sub-Session One - Understanding Available Opportunities within the Profession: Objectives:

1. Identify the areas branching out from the profession.
2. Determine which areas can be worked in.
3. Understand the required skills for each field.

Tools Used:

1. Whiteboard.
2. Pens.
3. Worksheets (2,1).
4. Knowledge tests and career exploration (online professional website).

Activity One: The first activity that can be applied in this aspect is conducting a knowledge test and exploring professions in the computer lab. The counselor explains to students that the test is an important tool to assess their knowledge of the profession and explore the ones they have chosen. After completing this test, the results are discussed, and the detailed profession exploration report is attached to the results.

Activity Two: Distribute the worksheet for exploring professions to students and ask them to fill it out for discussion in the next session.

Sub-Session Two - Understanding Available Opportunities within the Profession: Hidden Opportunities in Choosing a Profession. Objectives:

4. Identify the areas branching out from the profession.
5. Determine which areas can be worked in.
6. Understand the required skills for each field.

Tools Used:

5. Whiteboard.

6. Pens.
7. Colored cards.

The counselor starts with a brief explanation, illustrating the concept of specialization and the professions that students can pursue in the job market. Students are asked to sit in groups and discuss the worksheet prepared by each of them. All worksheets are retained for individual discussion with each student.

The counselor asks each group to present its results on the board. After securing all results, the counselor initiates a discussion about the professions included in the specialization and those in which students can work. Each student is asked to choose one of these professions to create a profession card. A tree is created for each specialization, illustrating the professions falling under it and branching out. These trees are continuously used in all counseling stages.

 

Sub-Session Three - Understanding Available Opportunities within the Profession: Objectives:

1. Enter the world of professions and the axes of the job market.
2. Identify the professions we want to work in, enjoying the process.
3. Recognize the professions demanded in the job market.
4. Develop a perception of specializations and professions we can engage in.

Activity One: Continuation of the self-activity and its discussion, focusing on increasing self-awareness and choosing the professions participants recorded in the self-activity. The counselor asks participants about the reasons for their choices of these professions, how well these choices align with their self-awareness, and the key factors they considered when choosing these professions. The counselor records the answers on the board. Participants discuss the importance of specifying the reasons for their choices and the things they look forward to achieving, considering whether these aspirations are realistic and achievable.

Exercise: The counselor asks participants to close their eyes, relax, and think about what they aspire to achieve in three years. After completing the exercise, the results are matched with what was recorded in the self-activity worksheet. The counselor summarizes the discussion by emphasizing that understanding ourselves contributes to improving our abilities to make important decisions in our lives. However, this knowledge is incomplete without awareness of available opportunities. As we learned in previous sessions about increasing our self-awareness through understanding our preferences, skills, and values, we now need to explore the available opportunities. The counselor then moves on to the second activity.

Activity Two: Opportunities The counselor explains to participants that opportunities here refer to all areas through which participants can achieve their ambitions and hopes, such as:

1. Obtaining a profession.
2. Getting a job.
3. Starting a private project.
4. Using skills in a family project.
5. Using skills in household chores or volunteer work.

 

 

Session Conclusion: Q&A After the presentation, the floor is open for questions for five minutes.

The career counselor delivers a presentation on the value of work in society and its individual benefits. Emphasizing the importance of work and its values and benefits on both individual and collective levels, the counselor highlights key economic sectors that provide job opportunities. They present sectors, job titles available within them based on profession cards, and training opportunities in the area. Through analyzing a specific profession, the counselor illustrates the importance of making the right choices not solely based on job titles but also on:

1. Analyzing the work environment.
2. Job requirements.
3. Analyzing the tasks and duties.
4. Connecting this analysis with our skills, values, and preferences.

The counselor asks students to take the work values test to obtain results. After obtaining the results, the counselor discusses the test results with students, explaining their implications and how to apply them in real life. At the end of the session, students are instructed to perform a self-activity based on the results of the career awareness test and exploration, as well as their work values.

Self-Activity: Participants are asked to visit a workplace related to one of the four professions they recorded, write a report about the profession, and evaluate whether the workplace aligns with their expectations, values, and challenges.

In conclusion, the counselor informs participants about the upcoming invitation to employers. Participants are expected to prepare a list of questions they would like to hear answers to from employers. The next session will involve interactions with employers.

 

Session Four: Understanding Work Values and Career Awareness (Single Session)

This session includes knowledge and tools to help students recognize their work values, preferred work environment, and fundamental motivations toward work. It explores their inclination to work as employees, start their own business, or work independently, contributing to increased professional alignment.

Objectives:

1. Familiarize students with their work values.
2. Develop positive values and attitudes toward work.
3. Understand available professions and their branches.
4. Recognize the main motivation toward work.

Requirements and Tools:

1. Papers.
2. Whiteboard.
3. Pens.
4. Career awareness test (online career website).

Session Procedures: The counselor provides a detailed explanation of career awareness and work values, connecting this stage with previous counseling phases and the acquired knowledge. Students are asked to take the career awareness test for discussion.

After presenting the career awareness test, the counselor explains its content, the values it measures, and how it helps increase and deepen our career awareness. At the end of the session, the counselor asks students about the new information, tests, and how all of this contributes to their increased self-knowledge and understanding of their chosen professions and career development.

The answers are recorded on the board.

 

Session Five: Discovering Abilities and Linking Them to Professions (Two Sessions)

Recognizing abilities is the second stage in the vocational compatibility and professional stabilization program. This stage involves identifying abilities within the framework of directly linking them to the chosen profession, distinguishing the professional stabilization process from others.

Subsession One: Discovering Abilities and Linking Them to Professions

In a regular counseling process, the first step is always to identify abilities. However, when the goal is to increase adaptation and compatibility with the chosen profession, the process starts by understanding various aspects of the profession, its development prospects, and then linking them to our self-capabilities. This session aims to explore personal tendencies and preferences to affirm the correctness of our professional choices. Now, we can apply the personality test to understand ourselves and connect it with the previously acquired professional knowledge.

Objectives:

1. Linking what the student desires with what is available and feasible.
2. Recognizing professional aspects of their personality.
3. Linking professions, abilities, and inclinations.

Tools Used:

1. Personality tests from an online career website.
2. Papers.
3. Whiteboard.

Session Procedures: The counselor asks students to take the personality test and discusses the results with them in general. They inquire about the results' representation and how to benefit from them. The session ends by requesting all students to bring the results from previous tests, connecting these results with the current test, preparing for the next session.

Subsession Two: Discovering Abilities and Linking Them to Professions

Objectives:

1. Increase students' self-awareness and knowledge of their capabilities.
2. Enhance students' awareness of available opportunities in the job market.
3. Linking self-capabilities with available opportunities.

Tools Required:

1. Whiteboard.
2. Papers.
3. Pens.
4. Projector.

Session Procedures: The counselor explains the importance of adaptation and professional compatibility in achieving personal, social, and professional success. The session starts with each student presenting their personality test results and discussing how they can benefit from them in the adaptation and compatibility process. The floor is opened for students to express their opinions on the method of linking results and whether there are better ways to establish this connection. All comments are recorded on the board, and each student is asked to keep them for future reference.

 

Session Six: Connecting Abilities and Opportunities (Single Session)

This session is crucial for students to connect all the knowledge they have acquired during the previous counseling sessions. Having learned about their profession, market prospects, and their own capabilities, they are now prepared to link these opportunities and capabilities for successful adaptation, alignment, and professional stabilization.

Objectives:

1. Understand the mechanisms of making career decisions.
2. Realize the nature of career decisions related to goals and self-plan.
3. Differentiate between career decisions related to goals and plans.
4. Enhance the ability to make sound career decisions.

Session Outline:

1. Understand the mechanisms of making career decisions.
2. Identify things we want to do and enjoy.