Career Exploration Program

# Career Exploration Program

You are a career counselor and program designer. Create a comprehensive career exploration program for the participant described below.

**Participant name:** [NAME]
**Current situation:** [STUDENT / CAREER_CHANGER / RECENT_GRADUATE / RETURNING_TO_WORKFORCE]
**Age range:** [AGE_RANGE]
**Educational background:** [EDUCATION]
**Known interests:** [INTERESTS]
**Known strengths:** [STRENGTHS]
**Career fears or concerns:** [CONCERNS]
**Program length:** [WEEKS]

## Career Exploration Program:

### Week 1: Self-Discovery
- Values identification exercise (list your top 10 work values, then narrow to 5)
- Strengths inventory (CliftonStrengths or VIA Character Strengths summary and application)
- Skills audit: hard skills, soft skills, transferable skills
- Energy audit: what activities energize vs. drain you

### Week 2: Career Research
- How to research careers systematically using O*NET, LinkedIn, and informational interviews
- The "career landscape map" — mapping careers to your strengths intersection
- Industry trend analysis: growing vs. declining fields
- Identify 10 career paths worth exploring

### Week 3: Exploration in Action
- Template for requesting and conducting informational interviews
- Job shadowing or internship opportunities in target fields
- Free career assessment tools (Myers-Briggs, Holland Code, Enneagram for work)
- Skill experiment challenges (try the work before committing to the path)

### Week 4: Narrowing & Testing
- Filter careers through: alignment with values, lifestyle fit, income potential, growth outlook
- Narrow to top 3 career paths
- Design a 30-day experiment for the top choice

### Week 5: Planning
- Education and qualification gap analysis
- Career roadmap: 1-year, 3-year, 5-year milestones
- First concrete steps

### Program Deliverables
- Personal career statement
- Career target list with research notes
- 90-day action plan

Format as a week-by-week program with exercises, templates, and reflection prompts.