Issues in the career decision making process

The career decision making process requires you to think carefully about your interests, talents,
abilities and values. Usually what you are good at indicates your career interests.
making career decisions requires a commitment of time and energy that is well worth the effort.
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Lack of information about occupations, and majors. Based on a taxonomy of difficulties derived
from decision-making theory. Lack of information about jobs and career options, and about how to
find additional information which might help one make the decision. Readiness
for making educational and vocational choices.

3. Presentation Transcript

1. Career Decision-Making The Decision-Making Process & Decision-Making Styles

2. The Decision-Making Process • Decision-making involves choosing between 2 or more
alternatives or options • Sometimes its easy; sometimes its difficult • Choosing not to decide is also a
choice • It’s a 5-step process • Use the same steps whether you are making a decision about • A
career • Choosing a college • Buying a used or new car
3. Step 1 – Define the Problem • The term problem refers to a question in need of a solution •
Become aware of the ‘problem’ and see the need to make a decision • Examples: • “What are my
goals in life?” • “For what occupation do I want to prepare?” • “How can I earn money for Saturday
night?”
4. Step 2 – Gather Information • You cannot make a good decision without getting all the
information • How much information is enough?? You don’t know • The amount of information and
the amount of time you spend fining it is directly related to the importance of the decision you need
to make • This is the gather stage – get as much information as you can
5. Step 3 – Evaluate the Information • Organize all of your information into categories • Identify
the PROS and CONS of each possible choice • Eliminate any unacceptable choices • This is where
you would narrow your choices down • What would be the pros and cons of not doing your
homework for the next days class? • PROS – • CONS -
6. Step 4 – Make a Choice • Choose 1 of your alternatives • Making this choice can be difficult •
Look for the alternative that leads to the most desirable result and has the highest possibility of
success • The option with maybe more “PROS” than “CONS” • There are always ‘trade-offs’ with any
choice
7. Step 5 – Take Action • At this point, you begin to carry out the alternative you chose in Step 4 •
Taking action also involves committing yourself to make a successful decision • Sometimes your
choice does not always work out • Back to Step 1!! And begin the process again
8. Occupational Decision-Making • Step 1: “Which occupation should I chose?” • Step 2: Identify
interests, aptitudes, self-information, collect occupational information • Step 3: Organize information,
compare and evaluate, evaluate own feelings and attitudes, eliminate the unacceptable occupational
alternatives • Step 4: Based on your work values and career goals, choose the occupation that
seems best to you now • Step 5: Enroll in an appropriate education program that will prepare you for
the occupation
9. Decision-Making Styles • People tend to have different decision-making styles or typical ways
of making decisions • These styles are gained over a long period of time • There are 7 styles that are
most common • The agonizer • The mystic • The fatalist • The evader • The plunger • The submissive
• The planner

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10. Decision-Making Styles 1 & 2 The Agonizer • collect information and spend a lot of time
evaluating it • Spend so much time doing this that they end up not knowing what to do! • Get
overwhelmed with data The Mystic • Makes decisions because it “felt right” • Decision based on
intuition (feeling or a hunch) • Some people make most of their choices this way
11. Decision-Making Styles 3 & 4 The Fatalist • Do not believe that they have much control over
their choices • Do not spend much time gathering information The Evader • Hopes that if you delay
long enough the problem will go away • Considered the “Ostrich Style” • Sticking your head in the
sand • Letting someone else make the decision for you
12. Decision-Making Styles 5,6,7 The Plunger • Eagerly makes decisions • Frequently chooses
the 1st alternative that comes to mind The Submissive • “What do you want me to do?” • Want to let
someone else make the decision for them • Decision is made based on what they think someone
else would want them to do The Planner • Most likely to use a good decision-making strategy •
Thorough and weigh all information • Maintain balance between facts and emotions What is YOUR
decision-making style???
13. Other Influences on Decision-Making • Information, decision-making styles, and willingness to
accept responsibility ALL influence decision making • Previous decisions • Environment and
Experiences • Your surroundings – family, neighborhood, friends, school • Real-World Restrictions •
Events or situations you have little control over • Economic Conditions • Jobs/economy
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Career Decision-Making Steps Making a career decision, or any decision for that matter, can be very easy or
very difficult depending on the amount of information you have about your choices. In choosing your career
path it is important to think about many factors. Use the steps below to guide your through your career
decision making process. Step One: Identify the Decision to be Made Before you begin gathering information, it
is important that you have a clear understanding of what it is you are trying to decide. Some decisions you
might be facing could include: • Should I have pursued a college or university education? • What should my
major be? • Do I want to be a full-time or part-time student? • How soon do I want to transfer to university? •
What do I want to do when I finish my education? Step Two: Know Yourself (Raise Consciousness) To make an
informed career decision and prior to any exploration of the world of work, it is important to have a good
understanding of your own personal attributes. Think about some of these questions; Interests: • What do I
enjoy doing? • What activities do I enjoy he most? • What kinds of people would I like to work with? • What
kind of job settings would I most enjoy? Skills: • What can I do best? • What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What are my strongest skills and abilities? • What skills do I want to use on the job? • What skills would I like
to acquire? Values: • What kinds of things are important to me in a career? • In what ways must I be
challenged and rewarded on the job? • What types of work environments would make me happy? Step Three:
Identifying Options and Gathering Information (Explore Options) To continue gathering information and
researching careers, you will need to start identifying your options. Some things to think about are: • At this
point in my life, what choices do I have? • Do I have a strong interest in specific careers? • What other types of
careers should I be considering? • What information do I already have about my career preferences? • How
can I get more information and access more resources about the career(s) I am interested in? Step Five:
Evaluate Options that will Solve the Problem After completing your research, you are now ready to evaluate
each of the options you have been exploring. • Identify the pros and cons of each option. • Identify the values
and needs that are being satisfied by each option. • Identify the risks involved with each alternative. • Vision
the probable future consequences of selecting each option. Step Six: Select One of the Options Based on the
information you have gathered and analyzed, you should now be able to choose one of the career options and
start creating a plan of action. Good luck with making your career decision!!

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5 Steps to Good Decision Making
Each day we are faced with situations in life that require us to make choices. Some of these choices are
easy, and at times, some of them can be difficult. Easy decisions consist of things like what clothing
you should wear; most people choose what to wear based on the season of the year, the weather of the
day, and where they might be going. Other easy decisions consist of things like what to eat, what movie
to see, and what television programs to watch.  

Decisions that seem to be the most difficult are those that require a deeper level of thought. Examples
of difficult decisions consist of things like where to attend college, what career path would be best,
and/or whether or not to marry and start a family. These types of decisions are difficult because they
are life changing decisions; they shape who we are, and they shape our future.

Making good decisions is a method that must be learned. It is not something with which we are
innately born, but merely a step by step process that is usually ascertained from life experience. Most
adults know that experience can be a costly, ineffective teacher that teaches more bad habits than good;
and because decisions can vary so obviously from one situation to the next, the experience gained from
making one important decision is often times of little or no use when another decision-making problem
arises.

When decision making, there are many steps that can be taken; but when making good decisions there
are really only five steps that need to be considered. These steps are as follows:
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Step 1: Identify Your Goal

One of the most effective decision making strategies is to keep an eye on your goal. This simply means
identifying the purpose of your decision by asking yourself what exactly is the problem that needs to be
solved? And why does this problem need to be solved?

Figuring out what's most important to you will help you make good decisions. When you know the
reason why you have making a particular decision; it will better serve you in staying with it, and
defending it.
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Step 2: Gather Information for Weighing Your Options

When making good decisions it is best to gather necessary information that is directly related to the
problem. Doing this will help you to better understand what needs to be done in solving the problem,
and will also help to generate ideas for a possible solution.

When gathering information it is best to make a list of every possible alternative; even ones that may
initially sound silly or seem unrealistic. Always seek the opinions of people that you trust or speak to
experts and professionals, because it will help you to come up with a variety of solutions when
weighing all your options for a final decision. You will want to gather as many resources as possible in
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order to make the best decision.
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Step 3: Consider the Consequences

This step can be just as important as step one because it will help you determine how your final
decision will impact yourself, and/or others involved. In this step, you will be asking yourself what is
likely to be the results of your decision. How will it affect you now? And how will it affect your
future?

This is an essential step because it allows you to review the pros and cons of the different options that
you listed in the previous step. It is also important because you want to feel comfortable with all your
options and the possible outcome of whichever one you choose.
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Step 4: Make Your Decision

Now that you have identified your goal, gathered all necessary information, and weighed the
consequences, it is time to make a choice and actually execute your final decision.  Understanding that
this step can cause some people a lot of anxiety is important because this is where you have to trust
your instincts.

Although you may still be slightly indecisive about your final decision, you have to take into account
how this makes you feel. Ask yourself, does it feel right? And does this decision work best for you
now, and in the future? When you answer those questions back, you should feel good about the result.
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Step 5: Evaluate Your Decision

Once you have made your final decision and put it into action, it is necessary to evaluate the decision
and the steps you have taken to ensure that it works. This final step is probably just as important as step
one, if not more important, because it will help you to further develop your decision making skills for
future problems. This step is also fundamental because it may require you to seek out new information
and make some changes along the way.

Remember, this step requires some patience and it can also encourage perseverance. Why? Because it
may take some time to see the final outcome. Recognizing that if the first decision is not working, you
may have to go back to step two and choose another option.

Always looking for and anticipating unexpected problems will help alleviate undue stress, if and when
a problem occurs. Although these five steps can help assist in simplifying the decision-making process,
there are some common drawbacks that you must also take into account. Consider these:
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Misidentifying The Problem
Many times the problem will be obvious; but there may come a time when identifying the main
problem is not that easy. When this issue arises, figuring out exactly what it is, and where you need to

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focus your efforts will save you a lot of time and energy in the long run.
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Having a Single Source
When considering the consequences, you must be open to a broad choice of alternatives in order to find
the best solution. This can become a problem if you rely solely on a single source of information
because that one source may not b reliable, or may not be completely inline with the problem; thus
altering your chances of making the best decision.
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Having Too Many Sources
Having a variety of sources is usually not a bad thing; but not in every situation. Collecting as much
information as possible can be very helpful at arriving to a decision, but an overload of information can
leave you confused and misguided, and prevents you from following your intuition. Remember,
trusting your gut instincts is a major key to making good decisions.
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Overestimating the Outcome
When making a decision and putting your plan into action you should have taken care to weigh all your
valid options. Making a decision based upon an outcome that may not be plausible will not help you
solve the problem.
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