When I use the term “additional career experiences” in the context of the Systematic Career Exploration Approach (SCEA), I’m referring to activities and exposure related to the world of work.

Examples of Additional Career Experiences

  • Part-time jobs, internships, service-learning roles, volunteer work, and themed summer camps
  • Academic courses, field trips, and activities
  • Extracurricular activities, clubs, and organizations
  • Discussions with family, friends, teachers, advisers, counselors, mentors, members of businesses and organizations in your local community
  • Learning from internet media that accurately describes the world of work (e.g., career stories)
  • Attending career fairs, conducting informational interviews, and job shadowing

The more experiences you have, the more your preferences can come into focus.  By getting exposure to different subjects and work tasks, we get to see how much we like or dislike them.  This can help inform our future decisions about how we want to earn a living.

Additional career experiences and systematic career exploration are symbiotic.  Additional career experiences inform exploration.  Exploration helps clarify what kinds of additional career experiences a person could benefit from.  As an example of the latter, if you have narrowed your occupations Roster down to several occupations related to mental health or physical health, you can then focus on getting additional career experiences in each area in order to help you develop a more informed opinion about what kind of health is more interesting to you and in line with your skills, values, etc.

As I note elsewhere, successful career exploration will most likely require you to alternate between exploration and getting additional career experiences.  Ideally, you will be engaged in both over the course of your life until you’ve found a career path that fits you well.

Please use the left-hand menu to return to where you left off in the Systematic Career Exploration Process.