Before I was a Career Counsellor and Coach I worked as a Teacher Librarian for many years. There were many things I loved about this work, the best part being the kids. I never tired of their fresh outlook on the world, the way they could take an idea and expand it to make it their own.

1. Job Interview From A Child’s
Perspective

2. Before I was a Career Counsellor and Coach I worked
as a Teacher Librarian for many years. There were
many things I loved about this work, the best part
being the kids. I never tired of their fresh outlook on
the world, the way they could take an idea and expand
it to make it their own.
When I decided to study to change my career I was
working full time at a primary school, running a busy
school resource centre, then going home to a husband
and three teenagers. It was a very busy but fulfilling
time of my life.

3. My work life at school was particularly busy because
new curriculum was being introduced and working
with the teachers to implement this was an important
part of my role. I felt like I was constantly being pulled
in different directions, not just between home and
school, but also in my mind. I'd be focused on my work
in a school resource centre, then drive home and be
Mum, then go to my office and focus on career
development reading and assignments.
Then one day it all slotted together! I recognised that
the new curriculum documents were aimed towards
producing exactly the same outcome as the career
development documents……..resilient individuals with
the personal, social and intellectual skills to be the
best they could be in life.

4. I started naming the career development that was already
integrated into the curriculum, and we developed a school
culture of foundational career development, awakening
within the children an awareness of the purpose of
schooling – to prepare you for the rest of your life. When the
children realised this (particularly through an annual career
day that we instigated) their interest in school rose, their
realisation that each core subject was essential learning for
life grew, and ambitions emerged.
This was not about choosing a career; that would happen
much later in their schooling. This was about realising that
they were at school for a purpose and that "real life"
success demanded that they be the best person they could
be.

5. Our career education program became highly
regarded and won national awards. But far more
important to me was that these students were given
the opportunity, throughout their formative primary
school years, to develop the skills, knowledge and
attitudes which could strengthen their working
lives, and hopefully help them achieve purposeful
fulfilling careers.
This video amused me because it reminded me of
some of the really fun experiences we had during
that time, experiences that I know many of the
students still recall and learnt from.
http://youtu.be/MXmi74-7oeg

6. If you happen to be interested in the school program we
developed it is outlined in this slideshare Career
Aspirations. Slide 42 shows two boys entertaining the
crowd with their 'rock band'. The guitarist in that
photograph has continued to entertain school crowds
throughout high school and recently applied to study a
Bachelor of Contemporary Music commencing in
2015. Whilst most people don't have a clue what they want
to be for much of their lives, some people have the passion
and the deep understanding of their path in life from a very
young age.