Page 698 - Business Principles and Management

Chapter 25 • Developing an Effective Organization

preparation, and determine the additional education and experience
you will need to qualify for those careers.
4. Discuss the education and experience you will need with people (coun-
selors or businesspeople) who are familiar with education programs and
employment opportunities. Ask them to help you select those that fit
your career plans and qualifications.
5. Develop a career plan that identifies the knowledge and skills needed
for the career you have chosen and how you will develop them through
a combination of education and experience. The plan can identify
the jobs in a career ladder, the schools or educational programs you
plan to attend, the length of time it will take you to ascend each step
of the career ladder, and the ultimate career goal you would like to
achieve.

PREPARING A CAREER PORTFOLIO

Artists, models, and advertising people have used portfolios for many years to
demonstrate their abilities and present examples of their work. You may already
have been asked to develop an education portfolio to document your work in
several of your classes. A career portfolio is an organized collection of informa-
tion and materials you develop to represent yourself, your preparation, and your
accomplishments. You might want to create a portfolio to help with career plan-
ning and to represent yourself when you apply for jobs or for admission to an
educational institution.
Your portfolio should provide clear descriptions of your preparation, skills,
and experience. Those descriptions can include examples of projects you have
completed in school and on the job or for organizations to which you belong.
They can even be work you have done as a hobby that demonstrates an impor-
tant business skill. You can include evaluations of your skills and work evidenced
through tests, checklists of competencies you have mastered, and performance
reviews from employers. Also, you might ask people who know you well to write
recommendations that relate to your skills and abilities or critiques of your projects
or work.
You can develop your portfolio over a long
period of time. You might start it now and continue
to add to it as you complete high school, go on for
additional education, or move through jobs in your
career ladder. You should prepare a portfolio that Many fun and informative career planning
allows you to add and remove items. Put your mate- resources can be found on the Internet. ACT
rials in a binder or other protective covering to keep is an independent, not-for-profit organization
them in good condition. As you become increasingly that provides a variety of career assessment,
skilled with computer technology, you might want to research, and information resources. An inter-
develop a digital version of your portfolio. You can esting tool for matching personal interests with
scan printed materials and photograph objects and jobs is ACT’s World of Work Map. Point your
add digital video and audio files to your digital port- browser to www.thomsonedu.com/school/
folio. Whether in digital or print form, make and bpmxtra. Use the tool to see what types of
keep backup copies of your important materials in a careers match your personal interests. Did you
secure place. identify careers that you had not considered
The portfolio should include your best and most
recent materials. Many people develop a personal in the past?
Web site that includes a summary of their career port- www.thomsonedu.com/school/bpmxtra
folio and some examples of recent accomplishments.
It provides an efficient way to share information

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