career awareness essay

Essay on Career for Students and Children

500+ words essay on career.

Career is a very important thing in one’s life. Whatever career path you choose to follow, it will impact your life greatly. Your career will define your status in a society in addition to your lifestyle. In other words, your career will determine your social circle and relationships.

Therefore, it is extremely important to choose the correct career path . From a very young age, we aspire to be something or the other. While someone aims to be a doctor, some wish to become a painter. Our career choices depend on a lot of things. Thus, it is important to consider all factors before choosing a career path.

How to Choose your Career?

You must consider a number of factors before deciding on your career. Each factor plays a significant role in your choice. Firstly, always assess yourself thoroughly. You must understand your area of interest to choose a career. For instance, someone who dances well can surely become a doctor, but his interest will always be in dance. Thus, ensure that you have the caliber to perform well in the field you choose. This will come from your area of interest itself.

After that, you look for the opportunities available as per your area of interest. Now that you are aware of what you like and dislike, you can easily look for occupations matching your passion. Make a list of the occupations you can get into following your interests. Furthermore, shorten the list you have prepared. You must do so as per what suits you best. Consult with your seniors and parents to make informed decisions.

Most importantly, acquire the skills for the career option you are interested in. Ensure you earn the qualifications and degrees for it. Try taking training programs to enhance your skills. This will give you an upper hand in knowing whether you are correct in choosing the specific career plan. Furthermore, create an impressive resume which can help you get the right opportunities.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How to Achieve your Career Goal?

There are steps you need to take before achieving your career goal. As they say, success doesn’t come overnight. You must work along the way to accomplish your goals. There is always hope if you have the will. Firstly, create profiles on different job portals to attract the employer’s attention. When you maintain your profile well, you will be able to get good career opportunities.

Moreover, always maintain your network. Build a solid network and create sources in the field. This way you can update yourself with the latest happenings in the industry. In addition, try to attend the related seminars and workshops that happen related to your career choice. You will meet influential people of the same field who can broaden your thinking.

In short, always remember to stay determined. You can easily achieve your career goal if you set your mind to it. In other words, people usually distract themselves easily. You must not do so and focus on your career path to achieve your goals efficiently.

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Career Development Month Series: How to Create Career Awareness and Encourage Students to Explore Their Options

November is national career development month this is the second of four articles in our career development month blog series..

Welcome back to our blog series in support of National Career Development Month. Last week, we discussed igniting college and career readiness through self-discovery. If you missed that one, check it out: Career Development Month: Ignite College and Career Readiness By Encouraging Self-Discovery . This week, we’re going to explore the importance of creating career awareness and encouraging career exploration. If students spend time in self-discovery—developing self-awareness around their interests and skills, the school subjects they enjoy, and the skills they’d like to continue using in their future—you’re in a good position to introduce them to career awareness and exploration.

What Is Career Awareness and Exploration?

Career awareness is the ongoing learning process that involves researching career pathways. Engaging students in this process introduces them to all the possibilities of modern, in-demand work opportunities and emerging industries! According to CareerExploration.com , career exploration for students involves:

• Taking assessments to learn about their interests, personality, and aptitudes
• Discovering and learning more about occupations that they’re drawn to
• Researching careers, jobs, post-secondary school majors, and graduate programs
• Identifying their values, so they know what is important to them about the work they want
• Determining the skills and education they’ll need to begin their career
• Trying out possible careers through volunteering, internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and other opportunities in the community
• Building self-confidence by making a plan, figuring out where to start, and taking action

The Importance of Career Awareness and Exploration/ Expand Students’ Horizons Through Career Exploration

According to a report from the OECD international economics think tank, children are already facing limits on their future career aspirations by age seven. The report warns of problems with social mobility due to ingrained stereotyping about social background, gender, and race. When young students think of their own future, their imaginations don’t necessarily serve them as well as we could hope. Instead, they’re often referencing what they know of the ‘grown up world’ from what’s around them at home, in their communities, or what they see in the media. OECD’s director of education and skills, Andreas Schleicher argues “You can’t be what you can’t see. We’re not saying seven-year-olds have to choose their careers now but we must fight to keep their horizons open.” For many students, career awareness is not just showing them jobs that are related to ones they’ve thought about. It’s about expanding their realm of possibility for their entire future. We all know career awareness isn’t a new concept. You can probably recall countless movie and TV scenes that showcase parent career days. While this is still a great practice, students may only be learning about careers within their specific community. This is why career fairs, focused career weeks, in-school mentorship, as well as accessible tools like Xello are great for allowing students to broaden their scope of knowledge of the various career pathways out there.

To help create that awareness, the team at Xello participated in a Xello Career Day Tour , telling the story of how they found their successful future in Tech. Watch it and share it with your students to ignite that curiosity in STEM fields.

How Xello Supports Career Awareness and Exploration from K-12

If you’re new to Xello, welcome! As an educator or counselor interested in learning what we do here, I recommend you watch the short video on our homepage . If you’re ready to introduce students to the exciting journey of becoming future-ready with Xello, we created this video for your students: Explore Your Future with Xello . If you’re an educator or counselor, we encourage you to show this video to your class to kick-off Career Development Month or before introducing students to Xello as a tool for exploring their interest and possible career pathways.

Take Action with These Classroom Activities

Whether in a career-dedicated course or just this month during National Career Awareness Month, there are activities to help you get your students thinking about the career pathways. Here are some activities you can run in your classroom during Career Development Month to promote career awareness and exploration.

Career Exploration Activities for Elementary Students

You would think that elementary school is too young to start students thinking about future careers, but it’s not! Maybe the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” is outdated but elementary years are a great time to start asking kids about their interests. Bringing their awareness to possible career paths is a great way to start the wheels turning at this age, which is why Xello has future-readiness programs specifically for Elementary school years ! Activity Ideas:

• Draw a map of businesses in your town and have students brainstorm jobs in each business
• Bag of Careers: fill a bag with tools or clothing worn or used “on the job” and have students guess the career area.
• Bring parents and community members to share what it’s like to do their jobs. Take special care to ensure diversity and an equitable gender spread so every student can see themselves in at least one career.
• Ask students to reflect on what they enjoy and what they’re good at and then connect that to a career. Many educators assign a ‘poster project’ in which students create colorful posters to depict the career.
• Have students take note of the careers while on field trips to places like the museum, zoo, art gallery, or theater presentation. Ask hosts to share a little about their job as part of their presentations.

Take Action with Career Exploration Activities for Middle School Students

Middle school is a great time for developing into career awareness and exploration. Middle school students are at an age when they are receptive to “cool” jobs and understand the connection between careers, salaries, and the kind of lifestyle they want. This is also a time when they will need to choose their high school courses, some of which are specialized pathways to a particular area of post-secondary study. As part of Career Development Month or even as a homework task in a careers course, students can interview a family member or someone from their community to learn about their job. Students should ask detailed questions such as:

• What a typical day is like
• Salary range
• Education requirements
• How/why they chose that career

Learning About Alternatives to College As Kate McKenzie points out in The Value of Considering All Career Pathways When Future Planning there is a socio historical context around why pursuing a 4-year college degree is the most valued/celebrated post-secondary educational pathway.

However, the data shows that this route isn’t for everyone:

• Only 41% of enrolled students will earn a degree in four years
• The average graduate leaves school with over $30,000 in loans
• Only 27% of graduates work in their studied field

In some families, the only option that is ever discussed is attending a four-year college. In other families, college is not an option financially. Either way, all students need to know about their options in pursuing the education that will get them the skills they’ll need to be successful in their career.

Suggested Career Exploration Lesson: Discover Learning Pathways The recommended grade level of this activity is grade 7. The aim of the activity is for students to answer the question: Which learning pathway may lead me to my future success? By the end of the activity, students will:

• Understand their secondary school requirements
• Investigate their postsecondary pathway options (university, college, apprenticeship, straight to work, military, and community living)
• Explore the postsecondary pathways to various careers
• Evaluate the pathways they could take to a career that interests them

Prompting Discussion Questions for Your Students

• What are some ways that people can learn the career and life skills they need after high school?
• What do you think is the most difficult part about deciding what kind of training to get after high school?
• Can you choose more than one learning pathway?
• Why might you want to take one learning pathway right after high school and one later in life?
• What are some reasons people go to college or university?
• What are some reasons people don’t go to college or university?
• Does learning stop right after you’re done with school or training?
• Why might someone want to keep learning as an adult who is working in a job?

Activity – Secondary School Pathways (15 Minutes) Provide your students with a list of High School options or their secondary school diploma options and have students answer the following questions:

• What are my options after middle school?
• Will a specialized high school diploma better support me in my future pursuits? Explain why or why not.

Activity – Xello Lesson: Discover Learning Pathways (35 Minutes) In this activity, students will investigate postsecondary pathway options and explore the postsecondary pathways to various careers by leveraging Xello’s ready-made Lesson “Discover Learning Pathways”. Before starting this activity, students will need to make sure they have saved three careers in Xello. It’s also recommended that students complete the Matchmaker assessment.

Activity – Preferred Pathway (25 Minutes) In this activity, students will identify what they like and dislike about the learning pathways to three saved careers and evaluate their likelihood of pursuing the required training. Students should complete the following for three saved careers in Xello:

• Review the Sample Career Path section of the career profile. What requirements or responsibilities do you like or dislike?
• At the top of the profile, choose an emoji to indicate how you feel about this career.
• Within Likes and Dislikes add at least one like and one dislike in regards to the career path requirements and responsibilities.
• Under the section titled Education, within Important Factors, on a scale of 1-5, evaluate the likelihood you’d want to complete the required education or training, 5 being very likely.

Take Action with Career Exploration Activities for High School Students

By the time they’re in high school, students should have a good idea of their interests and hopefully have investigated career paths related to their interests and personal strengths. If there are students entering high school who haven’t spent any time on career awareness and exploration, not to worry — between 9th and 12th grade there are many opportunities to close the gap. Ideally, we don’t want seniors entering their final year of high school with absolutely no future plan.

• What is a career path?
• Do you picture a “path” as more of a ladder with one way to the top, or as a trellis with lots of ways to progress?
• What are some reasons a person might change careers?
• What career field(s) do your interests relate or connect to?
• What kinds of problems do your interests get you to solve?

Activity – Re-evaluate My Interests (15 Minutes) Knowing their unique combination of interests can help students determine careers that will most likely suit them. Even if they don’t think the interest is worth pursuing beyond high school, investigating related opportunities may uncover opportunities they hadn’t considered before. In this activity, students will update their Interests, investigate careers they relate to, and identify problems they’d get to solve in the careers related to their interests. Before starting this lesson students must add at least 5 interests in About Me and save at least 3 careers. Student Instructions:

• Access your Interests card on your About Me profile in Xello. Add to and update your list to reflect your relevant interests. Consider both current and upcoming experiences. You may also want to explore the Interests Categories for suggestions. Make sure you have added at least 5 interests.
• For each of your top 3 interests, find and save one career it relates to. Hint: enter your interests in the search field or use the Career Clusters filter to help you explore options related to your interests. If you find a post-secondary program that connects to your interest, look at the list of Related Careers and investigate those you’d like to know more about. You may also want to save the program for future reference.
• For each career you save (total 3), review the career profile and then select an emoji to identify how you feel about the career.
• Within the Likes and Dislikes card for each career, identify one problem you’d get to solve that’s part of this interest-related career. For example, if you had an interest in writing and saved the career “Advertising Copywriter,” a problem you might like solving in this career is finding the best way to deliver a client’s message.

Ready to Help Your Students Explore Their Options?

Help your students explore all their future options in Xello by showing them our “ Start Your Career Adventure ” video. Get yourself up to speed with this section of Xello by completing this module , where you’ll learn how students can explore careers, discover school majors, and post-secondary options to help them reach their goals as they build an achievable plan.

Next up in our Career Development Month blog series: How to Build Future Readiness Skills and Create Future Plans !

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Examples of Scholarship Essays for the “Career Goals” Question

Emily Wong is a writer at Scholarships360. She’s worked as a social media manager and a content writer at several different startups, where she covered various topics including business, tech, job recruitment, and education. Emily grew up and went to school in the Chicago suburbs, where she studied economics and journalism at Northwestern University.

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Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Writing an essay is often the trickiest part of the scholarship application, not to mention the most time-consuming. However, the essay section also allows room for creativity and individuality. If you can communicate effectively, you can use the essay portion to stand out from the crowd. Let’s go over some tips for writing, as well as a couple of scholarship essay examples about career goals.

How to write a scholarship essay 

At this point, you’ve probably gained plenty of experience writing papers for school. However, it may still take a couple of tries to nail the scholarship essay. Since scholarship teams often have to get through a lot of applications, it’s important to stand out while staying concise. Here are some simple guidelines for writing scholarship essays.

See also: How to write a winning scholarship essay (with examples!)

Take five minutes to brainstorm

Before you even start your essay, take some time to gather your thoughts. Think about what you’ll want the paper to focus on. Why did you choose to pursue your career path in the first place? Where do you want to be in five years? How would this scholarship help you further your studies and work toward your goals?

Once you’ve jotted down a few ideas, choose one or two to center your essay on. Identifying the focus of your paper, it’ll make it easier to keep your thoughts organized. In turn, it’ll make it easier for the reader to follow.

Related : How to start a scholarship essay (with examples!)

Stay within the word limit

Unlike the four-page essays that you may have written in English class, scholarship essays are often only a paragraph or two. In order to respect the selection committee’s time, be wary of going too far about the specified word count. A general rule of thumb is to stay within 20 words above or below the limit. That may entail a few rounds of edits to get the wording just right.

Stay positive!

Feel free to use part of your essay to talk about your life’s challenges. After all, the selection committee often wants to give the award to a candidate who needs it. However, make sure your anecdote doesn’t devolve into a sob story. If you’re going to bring up hardships you’ve endured, try to balance it by talking about how you’ve overcome them. By demonstrating resilience, you can show readers how you would use the scholarship to succeed in your current situation.

Leave time to proofread

Especially for a short scholarship essay, proofreading can take as little as 5-10 minutes. Still, it can be tempting to just hit “submit” after your first draft. However, being too impulsive can leave your essay riddled with typos and grammatical errors.

Try to avoid unnecessary mistakes by finishing your draft at least 24 hours before the scholarship deadline. That way, you can proofread it with fresh eyes before you submit it.

If you’re struggling to close out your essay, read how to end a scholarship essay in five steps .

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How to write a 100-word “career goals” essay.

When writing a 100-word essay, you’ll have to choose your content carefully. Since space is limited, you’ll want to identify the most important details to include beforehand.

First and foremost, make sure to clearly communicate your current pursuits. Talk about your academic and extracurricular activities related to your career goals. Additionally, it’s important to be specific about what you plan to do in the future. Then, if you have extra room, you can talk about how the scholarship will help you reach your goals.

My name is Alison MacBride, and I’m a sophomore at the University of Illinois. I’m currently pursuing a major in Journalism with a minor in Natural Resource Conservation. After completing my program, I plan to combine my areas of interest to become an environmental journalist.

During high school, I volunteered at an eco-conscious farm, where I learned about how our actions affect the earth. Since then, I’ve been set on raising awareness for the environment. This scholarship would go a long way in helping me finish my degree with the skills I need to investigate and report about critical issues.

Word count: 100

How to write a 250-word “career goals” essay

For the 250-word essay, you can go into more detail. Give the readers some context by talking about how you first got interested in your chosen career. Storytelling can be especially effective in engaging your audience. Try to capture their attention by choosing one or two concrete examples and relaying them vividly.

Additionally, you can spend more time talking about the scholarship and how it’ll make a difference in your studies. Go into more detail about how and why you need the award, but remember to keep it positive! For more help, check out how to write a 250 word essay . 

I first decided that I wanted to pursue a career in environmentalism in early high school. The summer after my freshman year, I joined a volunteer program at an eco-conscious farm in my community. In addition to helping out with the operations, I learned about current environmental issues related to farming and other consumer industries.

After learning about the agricultural industry’s impact on the planet, I was inspired to make a difference. The next year, I started a monthly earth magazine at my high school in which we broke down environmental issues and offered tips on how to be more eco-friendly. When I started college, I founded an on-campus publication with the same mission.

In recent years, I’ve been troubled to see how some media outlets downplay the gravity of issues like climate change and deforestation. I’ve admired reporters who publish trustworthy and comprehensible information about environmental issues, and I aim to follow in their footsteps.

When I entered college, I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t have enough money to finish my degree. Fortunately, I’ve been able to cover most of my tuition using merit scholarships and paychecks from my part-time job on campus. Receiving this scholarship would allow me more time to focus on acing my classes and pursuing environmental advocacy work on campus.

Word count: 261

Final thoughts

Planning is essential in making your “career goals” essay clear and concise. Hopefully, these scholarship essay examples about career goals can be your guide to writing a scholarship-winning essay. Good luck!

Additional resources

Maybe you need to write a longer scholarship essay? We can help with our writing a 500 word essay guide ! Be prepared and learn how to write essays about yourself and how to craft an impressive personal statement . Learn the differences between a personal statement and a statement of purpose as the terms might come up on college websites. If you haven’t decided on a college already, check out our guide on how to choose a college . No matter where you are in your educational journey, make sure that you apply for all the scholarships you qualify for!

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Essay on Career

Students are often asked to write an essay on Career in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Career

What is a career.

A career is the work a person does in their life. It often means the jobs they have over many years. Some people choose one job and stay there, while others switch jobs to learn new things or earn more money.

Choosing a Career

Picking a career can be exciting. It’s important to think about what you like doing. Some people enjoy helping others, so they might become teachers or doctors. Others might like building things and become engineers.

Importance of Education

Education helps you get ready for your career. Going to school teaches you about different jobs. You also learn skills that can help you do well in your work.

Working Hard

No matter what job you pick, working hard is key. When you give your best effort, you can do well and maybe even become a boss one day. Always try to learn and grow in your job.

Also check:

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250 Words Essay on Career

A career is the work a person does in their life. Most people choose a job that they like and hope to get better at over time. It is not just about earning money; it is also about learning new things and growing as a person.

Picking a career can be exciting. It is important to think about what you enjoy doing. Some people like to work with computers, while others may love to cook or draw. Knowing what you are good at can help you decide.

Education and Training

To get ready for a career, you need to learn. This could mean going to school or getting special training. For example, teachers go to college to learn how to teach, and chefs might go to cooking school.

Once you start a job, working hard is key. It means doing your best and trying to get better. Even if a task is tough, it is important to keep trying and not give up.

Changing Careers

Sometimes, people change careers. This is okay because our likes and what we are good at can change. It is never too late to start something new if you are not happy with your current job.

In conclusion, a career is a big part of life. It is about finding something you like to do and getting better at it. Remember to learn, work hard, and it is okay to change if you need to.

500 Words Essay on Career

A career is the work a person does in their life. Think of it like a long journey with different jobs and experiences along the way. It’s not just one job, but many roles you might have over time. People choose careers based on what they enjoy, what they are good at, and what kind of work is available to them.

Picking a career can be exciting and a bit scary too. It’s a big decision! Some people know what they want to do from when they are very young. Others take more time to decide. It’s okay to take your time and think about what makes you happy and what you are passionate about. You can talk to family, teachers, or career counselors to get ideas and advice.

To get ready for a career, you usually need some kind of education or training. This could be school, college, university, or even learning on the job. What you need to learn depends on the career you choose. For example, to be a doctor, you have to go to medical school. But to be a chef, you might go to a cooking school or learn in a restaurant.

Different Types of Careers

There are so many types of careers out there! Some people work in offices, some work outside, some work with their hands, and some work with their minds. There are careers in business, health, art, science, education, and many more areas. What they all have in common is that they need people with different talents and interests.

Working Hours and Lifestyle

Careers can also be different in how much you work. Some jobs are nine to five, which means you start in the morning and finish in the afternoon. Others might have you working at night or on weekends. Some careers might have you traveling a lot, while others let you stay in one place. Think about what kind of lifestyle you want when you choose your career.

Change and Growth

Your career can change and grow just like you do. You might start in one job and then move to another that you like better or that pays more money. Learning new things can help you move up in your career. It’s also okay to change your career if you find out you don’t like it or you discover a new interest.

Importance of a Career

Having a career is important because it’s how you can make money to live. But it’s more than that. A career can give you a sense of purpose and help you feel like you are contributing to the world. It can make you feel proud and give you goals to work toward.

A career is a big part of your life. It’s how you will spend a lot of your time, so it’s important to choose something you like. Remember, it’s okay to ask for help when you’re deciding, and it’s okay to change your mind later. What’s most important is to find something that makes you happy and suits the life you want to live.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Care Of Pets
• Essay on Carbon Footprint
• Essay on Carbohydrates

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Career Essay

How do you see yourself 5 or 10 years from now? That question kicks start your imagination and make you visualize yourself in your future career. Maybe you are thinking about it now, but you are likely confused about expressing it in words. Unlike other essay writing , writing your career essay is exciting because you are writing about yourself, your plans, passion, and aspiration. Learn how to make your career essay impressive by reading this article.

10+ Career Essay Examples

1. career pursuing essay.

Size: 324 KB

2. Career Interest Essay

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3. Career Goals Essay

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4. Career Research Essay

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5. Career Scholarship Essay

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6. Career Personal Essay

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7. Career Needs Essay

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8. Career Teaching Essay

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9. Formal Career Essay

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10. Career Project Essay

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11. Career Plan Essay

Size: 230 KB

What Is a Career Essay?

A career essay is a text people write to detail their goals or plans for the future. In this essay, people talk about the career they want in the future and the things they have achieved so far. People often ask you to write a career essay when you send an application letter for a scholarship or submit your resume for a job.

How To Write a Rousing Career Essay

You should write your career essay seriously because it might be a deciding factor for your future. That said, in writing your essay, there are a lot of things to consider and a process you need to follow. Your end goal in writing your essay is to convince people that you are determined to walk the talk and make the things you wrote in your descriptive essay to reality.

1. Devise an Engrossing Title

The first thing to think about when writing an essay is coming up with an attention-grabbing title. When people read your essay, they pay the most attention to your title. Also, another benefit of coming up with your title first is that it will serve as a guide for you for the whole essay. 

2. Introduce With a Hook

After devising a title, deliver the next blow with an introduction that piques their curiosity. To do that, begin your essay with a hook. Your hook can be a quote, a question, or you can even provide a statistic. If your introduction is good enough, it will secure the engagement of your readers.

3. Organize Your Ideas

Writing an essay is like taking your readers for a ride. You need to set the vibe and organize the flow of your thoughts. Don’t start too strong it might make the rest of your essay bland. You need to properly build up the development of excitement and make sure the order of your ideas makes sense. 

4. Polish Your Essay

Finalize your essay by proofreading it. When people talk about their passion, they tend to talk too much and include several unnecessary things. Make sure not to do that. Omit all the details that don’t contribute to the overall impact of your reflective essay. Also, don’t forget to review your text for grammatical errors. 

Why is career planning important?

People hustle every day to reach their dream careers. Having a target career gives you a direction and sets your path. Planning your career is essential because being indecisive about it might negatively impact your life. Not having a fixed goal is like not having an end destination. Preparing for it would also make your career action plan achievable.

What is a career genogram?

A career genogram traces back an individual’s family tree and examines the career timeline they pursued. The scope of this genogram reaches the grandparents, extended family, and even the person’s close friends. This graphic representation is helpful when a person has a hard time deciding about his or her career development plan .

What is career assessment?

Career assessment is the process of identifying what career would work best for you. Most assessments are in the form of a questionnaire . It includes questions about your interests, your skills, your hobbies, and your strengths. These are some examples of questions that would help assess your future career. The result of your career assessment might give you ideas on what path to take.

The moment people read your career essay, they often rate how likely you are to succeed. Show them a piece of your mind that would erase all their doubts about your success. They say manifesting works wonders, so manifest the future that you want best by composing a rousing career essay. 

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Career Goals Essay For Scholarships (With Examples)

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Scholarship programs often want you to write a career goals essay to see that you have a clear plan for how you’ll apply your education to a specific career path. This helps show a scholarship committee why you’re seeking funds for the next step on the path toward your success.

Answering “what are your career goals” effectively can help increase your odds of impressing landing a scholarship opportunity. If you’re a prospective student applying for scholarships, this article will provide tips on how to write a career goals essay, along with essays on career goals examples to help you get an idea of what scholarship committees are looking for.

Key Takeaways:

When you’re writing a career goals essay, make sure to write about the goals that are relevant to the scholarship.

Be honest and use your own voice to stand out in your scholarship essay.

Go into detail about how the scholarship will help you achieve your goals.

What is a career goals essay?

Why scholarship essays ask about career goals, example career goals essay prompts, career goals essay examples, tips for writing a scholarship essay about career goals, what to write in a career goals essay if your goals have changed, career goals essay for a scholarship faq.

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A career goals essay is a personal written explanation that discusses your background, why you’re interested in participating in the program, and what career you’d like this degree to lead into. A scholarship essay functions to explain why you want to achieve your professional goals and how you intend to get there.

In almost every application process, a portion asks the candidate to answer an essay question. When applying to an educational program, like an MBA, the essay prompt usually relates to your career goals .

Scholarship essays ask about career goals to assess your enthusiasm for the program, learn more about how the scholarship will help you, and ensure that you’ve considered how the program will help you achieve your goals for the future:

Assess your enthusiasm. Passion is important for scholarship administrators, and if you’re able to articulate your enthusiasm for a specific career path , it will show that you’re determined to meet the requirements to reach that goal. The most specific and well-thought-out your essay is, the easier it will be for a reader to understand your devotion and commitment to the program and the field it will allow you to enter.

Learn how the scholarship will help you. Having a firm grasp of your career goals is great, but it’s equally important that you express exactly how the specific program relates to those goals. This shows that you’ve researched the merits of the program and understand exactly how it fits into your professional goals.

Show you’ve considered your future. This goes along with the first two points — show that you know how to set goals and consider the path toward achieving those goals, and you’ll have an easier time convincing the reader that you’ll know how to set goals while participating in the program. They’ll see that you know how to prioritize education because you have a clear vision for navigating your career path.

While some scholarships might come right out and simply ask, “What are your career goals?” most will rework the question into something different that still accomplishes the same goal.

Below are some examples of career goals essay prompts that a scholarship program could pose to its applicants:

Discuss your career goals. Many scholarships prefer the most direct approach when giving an essay prompt to their applicants. This type of question gives the candidate a lot of wiggle room to discuss their passions, motivations, and career goals.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years ? This question is often used as a prompt for a career goals essay because it gives the applicant a timeline to describe their aspirations. It forces them to be realistic about where their career will be and how they will accomplish this within the next ten years.

How will this scholarship contribute to your professional success? A scholarship committee wants to be sure that the money they’re giving will contribute to a student’s overall professional success. This question asks about the applicant’s game plan in the long-term and evaluates how this program is going to assist in their future.

What is your dream job ? Since a dream job is often categorized as a person’s career goals, this is a common question phrasing in scholarship essays. Asking about a candidate’s dream job answers whether this program aligns with the student’s long-term career goals.

What matters most to you and why? Sometimes, a scholarship essay prompt won’t ask about your career or future at all. Instead, they’ll ask a question like this that assesses your motivations , values, and character.

Use these examples of career goals essays for scholarships to help write your own. Pay special attention to how they’re organized, rather than the content, to inspire your own career goals essay:

Career goals essay example 1 – Discuss your career goals

When I was six years old, I was riding bikes with my older sister around our neighborhood. She had just taught me how to ride, and I was excited to have to freedom to explore with her. When she was rounding a particularly difficult bend to see around, a car happened to be coming along at the same time. It struck her. That bike ride changed our lives forever. Over the next year, I went with my sister every Tuesday and Thursday to her physical therapist ’s appointments to help her regain walking strength. Watching her physical therapist patiently assist my sister back to becoming herself awoken something in me. A passion for helping others in the same way eventually turned into a career goal of becoming a physical therapist myself. I decided to get my bachelor’s degree in exercise science. After graduating in 2019, I knew that the next step for me was to attend a graduate program in physical therapy. I was accepted to Lassell University Master of Science in Rehabilitation Services. This presented me with my latest goal along my career path, and I’m eagerly waiting to start. This scholarship would help me afford the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the Lassell University class of 2023, allowing me to continue working towards my ultimate career goal of becoming a physical therapist and helping others to become themselves again.

Career goals essay example 2 – Where do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years, I will have been successfully running my own construction business for about five years. I’m currently a second-year student at the University of Texas, pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. I decided to get my MBA because I knew it would be a positive asset toward my long-term career goal of owning a construction business. In my high school years, I worked as a construction apprentice for a local business. I loved many aspects of the business, such as building something from nothing. I knew that I wanted to incorporate this work into my long-term career, but I didn’t want to work as an apprentice . This led me to pursue business. In ten years and with the help of this scholarship, I will have graduated with my MBA almost a decade prior . After graduation, I plan to take a business administration internship with a carpentry business to help myself get a footing in the field. After about two years of this, I will have started my own construction business.

Career goals essay example 3 – What matters most to you and why?

The people I surround myself with matter most to me. Whether it be my relatives, friends, or professional acquaintances, I always care the most about the happiness of the people around me. Making the people around me happy matters the most to me because I truly because we find our happiness through others. I believe that this drive to make a positive impression on the people around me is what drove me towards a career as a nurse . I always thought of hospitals as places where people need someone to support them and make their day a little happier. I wanted to be one of those who spend their careers positively impacting people in need. This scholarship will enable me to finally afford nursing school and go after my dream job full force.

Career goals essay example 4 – What are your short- and long-term career goals, and how will earning this degree contribute to achieving those goals? Please provide a minimum of 200 words.

My short-term career goals involve working directly with underprivileged young people to increase the literacy rate in my community. As a student of an underfunded and understaffed school, I’ve seen firsthand how much of an impact early literacy education makes on long-term achievement. It broke my heart to see my peers embarrassed at their struggle with reading at an advanced age, and this shame added another dimension to their lack of opportunity. Being a literacy educator for young people would allow me to serve this community directly to show them not only the necessity of strong written communication skills, but the joy of reading for pleasure. This program focuses specifically on early literacy, and would provide me a direct route to a career in serving the community I hope to serve. As for long-term career goals, I hope to one day create a program where socioeconomically parents can bring their children for literacy education, not only to increase their ability to navigate the world of language, but also to instill confidence and joy in the written word. What drew me to this program was that it also has administrative, legal, and business dimensions that would set me on the path toward achieving this goal.

Here are some tips to keep in mind for writing a career goals scholarship essay:

Write about goals relevant to the scholarship. Although you may have many different kinds of goals for your personal and professional future, a scholarship essay only discusses objectives that are relevant to the program you’re applying for.

Be honest. Applying for a scholarship is stressful because the applicant’s education is usually reliant on receiving these funds in one way or another. Even though it’s tempting to exaggerate your skills or pretend you’re more passionate about something than you are to make yourself a more competitive applicant, it’s a bad move.

Use your own, unique voice. The essay portion of a scholarship application is your chance to stand out by using your voice. Nobody else, regardless of their academic or professional achievements, is you. Make this clear in your career goals scholarship essay by keeping your unique written voice engrained in the words you produce.

Be specific. A big reason that scholarship committees ask applicants to write a career goals essay is to determine how prepared they are in planning their long-term professional goals. They aren’t interested in providing a scholarship to students who aren’t going to follow through with their career plans.

Explain long and short-term goals . Even if the essay prompt asks you to describe where you see yourself in ten years, you still need to tell them the steps leading towards this picture of success.

Include the short-term goals that add up to your larger career objectives in your essay response. Explain how accomplishing the smaller goals gives you an advantage when tackling long-term ones.

Explain how the program and scholarship will help you. Before writing your career goals essay, consider how this program and scholarship will help you in your career. The answer to this question is essential.

Follow the essay formatting guidelines. This may sound obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget this step when your essay is finally flowing and when you’re scrambling to get it submitted on time.

Check, double-check , and triple-check the essay guidelines for content, word count, and formatting requirements. If you miss any of these steps, your essay may be immediately disqualified no matter how good it or the rest of your application is.

Many times career goals essays are written by students who have already completed at least some college or are applying to a post-graduate program and need more money to continue.

There’s a good chance that your career goals have changed since you started or graduated college. For example, say you wanted to be an engineer , so you got your undergraduate degree in engineering but realized you didn’t like it after working in the industry for a few years.

You decided that nursing would be more up your alley, and now you’re applying for a scholarship for a nursing program. While this isn’t unusual, it can make it more difficult to write a career goals essay since your past work doesn’t necessarily match your future goals.

In this case, you’ll simply need to explain why you changed your career path and why this next one is the best choice for you. Share your decision-making process to show that you haven’t taken the switch lightly, and talk about what you’ve already done to try to pursue this path.

How do you write a career goal for a scholarship essay?

You write a career goal for a scholarship essay by sharing your passion, explaining both your long- and short-term goals, and relating your goals to the scholarship.

Explain why you want to pursue the career you’re pursuing, where you hope to be in the future and how you plan to get there, and how the scholarship will help you do this.

How do you describe your career goals in an essay?

You describe your career goals in an essay by explaining what you want to do in your career, why you decided on this career path, and what you’ve done so far to make that a reality.

You can usually work these factors into any prompt you receive, so think through them before you start writing so that you can use them as an outline of sorts.

What are career goals examples?

Examples of career goals include:

Working as a grant writer for a nonprofit organization.

Becoming a department manager and eventually an executive in your field.

Owning your own plumbing company.

Caring for underserved communities as a nurse practitioner .

What are some goals for success?

Some goals for success include growing in your role, building your network, and finding joy in the job. Most careers don’t just happen overnight and require you to set the right milestones that work best for you. Not everyone will have the same goals for success.

How do you start a career goals essay for a scholarship?

You can start a career goals essay for a scholarship by directly answering the prompt. Most scholarship prompts include a word count of between 200 and 500 words, so it’s essential that you immediately respond to the prompt. Attention-grabbing sentences and narratives can be helpful for setting the scene, but an efficient and direct answer will show a clarity of mind that helps enhance the quality of your answer.

BLS – Career planning for high schoolers

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

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Early Career Awareness: A Key to Developing LifeReady Skills

According to economist Paul Krugman, the belief that America suffers from a severe skills gap is “one of those things that everyone important knows must be true” despite his claim that “multiple careful studies have found no support for claims that inadequate worker skills explain high unemployment.” He calls this a “ zombie idea — an idea that should have been killed by evidence, but refuses to die. ” But Kruger’s perspective is that of an economist rather than a business owner, and the issue will not die if schools do not teach students critical skills for life and career. According to the National School Boards Association (NSBA), every student should master six critical “LifeReady Skills” in preparation for the larger goal of success in life, including employment and education after K-12.

What are LifeReady Skills?

Can Early Career Awareness Foster LifeReady Skills?

• During elementary school, children develop an awareness of the world around them and who they are in relation to others. By sharing what they are good at, what they enjoy doing, and  – more often than not  – what they want to be when they grow up , students develop decision making and teamwork skills .
• When school districts transform the elementary classrooms by linking science projects to real life careers , students develop critical thinking skills by looking at the world through problem-solving and innovative lens .
• Take their children to school on time and teach them the importance of punctuality.
• Involve their children in real-world examples of decision-making and talk to them about how their decisions impact other people.

How Can School Leaders Foster LifeReady Skills Through Enhancing Early Career Awareness?

NSBA and its partners encourage school districts to design and develop programs to enhance students’ career awareness. The Report of the Commission to Close the Skills Gap recommends school leaders “institute a campaign to promote middle-class, highly-skilled jobs and change the perception that the only good jobs are those that require a college education” as early as elementary school. How can schools change this perception and introduce all life-path opportunities to students? Early career awareness can start from talking and programming:

• Talk with children, with parents, and with teachers. It is important for children to become aware of how their schooling is connected to a successful future . While in elementary school, parents and schools can help children to connect what they are learning in school to real-world situations and develop work-readiness skills such as w orking and playing with others , making decisions , solving problems and being a leader .
• Program career awareness through technology, educators' professional development, and partnerships with local community. Web-based career planning systems (e.g., Galaxy ) can be a novel, fun, and educational approach for elementary school students to explore their future careers, according to Dr. Julie Cerrito . For educators, professional development enables them to transform the classroom experience and bring real-life, career-related projects to their students.

Collaboration between business, education and community leaders is certainly a best practice in terms of preparing students for life. A good example is Barren County Schools in Kentucky . The school district developed programs through Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and then hosted exhibitions to showcase how PreK-12 students in their district develop in-demand, transportable skills, such as the abilities to think critically , collaborate and communicate . Students from each grade level shared with the community how their projects are solving real-world problems. “I can help someone.” This was the statement that people from the community heard the most from students during the exhibitions. As PLTW President and CEO Vince Bertram said, “When you have this knowledge and these skills, you can use them to solve problems for people, and companies are looking for people to do that.

Jinghong Cai Senior Research Analyst

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February 29, 2024

• Writing Your Career Goals Essay

Check out all the blog posts in this series:

• Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Essay
• Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
• Revise and Polish Your Application Essays

Your career goals essay demands a laser-like focus. A personal statement, by contrast, allows for some flexibility in its content, though you can – and often should – discuss your career goals. But a career goals essay has a particular and packed agenda. In fact, the prompt for a career goals essay could actually include multiple questions, and in such cases, you want to make sure you address each of them.

For example, in 2022, Kellogg asked applicants to its one-year program to respond to the following prompt: “Please discuss your post-MBA career goal, the current experience you will leverage to support the transition, and the Kellogg 1Y opportunities that will help you reach this goal.” 

This prompt has three parts: (1) What do you want to do post-MBA ? (2) Why is the 1Y program appropriate for you? And (3) what experience has so far prepared you to succeed in your target role? 

So, always pay close attention to your target school’s prompt to ensure that you answer all the questions within its “single” question. 

Three elements of a successful career goals essay

In addition to having a distinct theme , your career goals essay should achieve the following:

• Highlight specific career achievements. Choose from your most notable or defining experiences. These could be related to your work, community involvement, or extracurricular activities. The experiences you select should showcase your leadership skills , creative thinking, collaborative abilities, and personal reflections about what you learned or gained.
• Explain why your experiences and influences make your career goal a logical and wise choice.
• Demonstrate why you are suited to a particular field as a result of your education, experience, abilities, and enthusiasm. Ideally, the material you choose to include will also allow you to prove your knowledge about industry trends and suggest how your abilities and strengths can help you contribute to that field.

It’s a very tall order to achieve all this.

Putting these elements together to create your goals essay

Let’s take a look at a sample MBA Goals Essay and see how these three key elements are incorporated.  

You should be able to easily recognize why the writer’s opening is attention-getting for all the right reasons. The writer introduces herself as the supremely busy executive she visualizes becoming in the future. She trades large amounts of stock, rushes off to a Zoom conference, hurries downstairs, flags down a taxi, then hops on a plane. As she describes this whirlwind of activity, we can practically feel her heart pumping.

After establishing her voice and personality in this opening, she offers context for her MBA goal. Notice that in writing about her work as an accountant for a major firm, she provides relevant details, including how many years she has been in the field, her bilingualism, and her specialty area as an auditor. This information is her springboard to explain why she is pursuing an MBA: she’s bursting out of her limited role as an accountant. Her eyes and ambition are set on a larger playing field as an international investment manager.

Write an essay, not a list or CV

Outstanding career goals essays are not lists of an applicant’s roles and achievements. Instead, they have a narrative flow and arc that convey the candidate’s palpable excitement about their career choice. This writer’s enthusiastic, dreamy first paragraph achieves this, and she returns to that image at the end, where she paints her idealized (if frantically busy) future. She also proves her seriousness by noting that she registered for the CFA exam.

Connect your career goals to your reasons for choosing a particular program

Many essay questions, especially those for MBA programs , will ask why you have chosen the school you’re applying to. Be prepared to respond knowledgeably and enthusiastically. And the only way to become knowledgeable – and enthusiastic – is by visiting campus in-person or virtually, attending student recruitment meetings, participating in forums, reading student blogs, watching videos of students speaking about their experiences, communicating directly with students and/or recent alumni, and otherwise doing your homework. As part of your research, make sure you have familiarized yourself with the courses and specializations that are relevant to your goals.

Summary Tips

• Focus on answering each and every question asked in a career goals essay prompt. Often, there is more than one.
• Highlight specific achievements vividly and in a way that shows that your career choice is logical for you.
• Do the research so you can write about why the school is a good fit for you and do so with genuine enthusiasm.

In the next post in this series , we’ll explain how to take all this advice and apply it to create an exemplary first draft.

Work one-on-one with an expert who will walk you through the process of creating a slam-dunk application. Check out our full catalog of application services . Our admissions consultants have read thousands of essays and know the exact ingredients of an outstanding essay.

By Judy Gruen, former Accepted admissions consultant. Judy holds a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. She is also the co-author of Accepted’s first full-length book, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools . Want an admissions expert help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related resources:

• The Winning Ingredients of a Dynamic MBA Goals Essay , a free guide
• Grad School Personal Statement Examples
• Focus on Fit , podcast Episode 162

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For Businesses

For students & teachers, what is career readiness and why is it important.

Career readiness is the process of preparing students of any age with the essential skills they need to find, acquire, maintain, and grow within a job, as defined by Applied Educational Skills. 

Career readiness includes such important topics as

• communication
• critical thinking
• emotional intelligence
• financial literacy
• time management
• stress management 

Preparing students for life after school also includes both in-class instruction and apprenticeships, internships, externships, and co-ops, which encourage students to put their newly acquired skills to practice and even pick up new real-world skills they can’t necessarily acquire from inside a classroom. 

Career readiness education is critical in schools because it prepares students for life after college as they begin their careers, equipping them with the skills necessary to navigate the workforce. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation , career readiness skills, or what they refer to as transferable or employability skills, “provide students with a competitive edge during interviews and internships for current and future careers” and “can differentiate a good employee from a great one.” These critical skills, not often made a priority in schools, give students the edge they need to land jobs. 

Current Career Readiness Standards

College- and career-ready standards are becoming more popular both at the national and state level. The U.S. Department of Education says that “students need to be prepared to compete in a world that demands more than just basic skills” – skills that students can use to think critically, solve problems, and be successful in the real world – and that starts with establishing nationwide academic standards and assessments that states can easily follow and implement. According to the Department of Education, many states have begun to develop their own standards in line with national standards in an effort to ensure college and career readiness in their students . 

In 2009, the Common Core State Standards Initiative was established in an effort to outline standards for what students should know at the end of each grade and to ensure students are equipped with the skills necessary to succeed in college, work, and life. The standards were designed with college and career readiness in mind, emphasizing college and career expectations, higher-order thinking skills, and student success in the global economy and society.  

What Is the Skills Gap and How Does Career Readiness Address It?

The skills gap refers to “a fundamental mismatch between the skills that employers rely upon in their employees, and the skills that job seekers possess,” according to the Brookings Institution . This gap makes it difficult for both individuals to find jobs and employers to find skilled employees – employers are simply not interested in spending time and effort to teach employees the skills and knowledge that they should be bringing to the job themselves. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers , there are stark contrasts between how employers perceive students entering the job market and how students perceive themselves entering the workforce. For example, “employers often rate the proficiency of recent college graduates lower than do the students themselves,” suggesting that employers see a major skills gap where college students don’t.

The skills gap widens when schools fail to prioritize teaching students career readiness skills before they graduate. By incorporating career readiness education into their curriculum, schools can help to close this gap because teaching real-world skills to students prepares them for landing jobs after school. 

What Should a Career Readiness Curriculum Cover?

Career readiness curriculum should cover various subjects and skills for the real world, including problem-solving, career exploration, career readiness assessment, and other soft skills. In addition to these higher-order thinking skills, career readiness should include STEM, focusing largely on critical math, science, and career concepts. Today, STEM skills are used in every industry, so all students benefit from learning STEM skills as a part of their career readiness education. That’s why it’s vital to incorporate both real-world and STEM skills into career readiness – that way students are prepared to enter the workforce and can avoid getting stuck in the skills gap. 

Free Career Readiness Resources For Teachers

EVERFI has a variety of turnkey career readiness courses you can easily include in your curriculum. Our no cost resources are designed to equip educators with the tools necessary to help their students prepare for the future. If you have career readiness standards to comply with, we can help guide you toward a solution.

Career Readiness Courses 

Career readiness for high school students , keys to your future.

As students progress through their journey, they identify goals based on their interests and skills, learn what they can do now to achieve their goals, determine whether they will go to college (and how to pay for it) or go into the workforce as well as learn the soft skills needed to be successful regardless of the path chosen. 

Career Readiness for Middle School Students

Futuresmart.

Half personal finance. Half college and careers. Middle school students act as a mayor helping constituents solve such issues as choosing a career, paying for college, and growing a business. Students also get to apply what they learned as they build their own blueprint to obtain their desired career.

STEM Career Exploration for Elementary & Middle School Students

Future goals – hockey scholar.

With both a math and science edition, this course leverages highly interactive gameplay of hockey to expose students to foundational STEM concepts through real-life applications and careers. 

Entrepreneurship  for Middle & High School Students

Students get to feel the excitement and see the complexity of being their own boss as they build a food truck business. With the help of real-world case studies and personalized diagnostic activities, students build a business plan that leads to the successful launch of their company.

STEM Career Exploration for Middle School Students

Endeavor – career exploration.

Teachers will be able to excite even the most unenthusiastic middle schooler as they take fun self-assessments and explore possible STEM careers based on their interests and personality traits. Afterward, students design a custom sneaker, fix a “smart home” that’s gone haywire, build a perfect playlist for their listeners, diagnose and care for patients, and develop video games.

Career Readiness for Elementary Students 

Getting elementary students thinking about income and careers is easy when you have five friends and superheroes to help. In this program, students help friends make short and long term goals, choose careers and identify current money making opportunities. They then get to apply that knowledge to themselves through interactive self-assessments.

Career Readiness FAQs

What 3 major skill areas does career readiness involve.

Career readiness typically encompasses a broad range of skills. However, if we categorize them into three major skill areas, they would be:

• Technical Skills: These are specific skills needed to perform a certain job or occupation. They often require training or experience in a particular field. For example, programming languages are technical skills necessary for many jobs in the tech industry.
• Transferable (or Soft) Skills: These are skills that are applicable in various job roles and industries. Examples include communication skills, problem-solving skills, leadership abilities, teamwork, adaptability, and time management.
• Career Management Skills: These skills are essential for navigating one’s career path effectively. They include abilities like self-assessment, understanding the job market, networking, job search strategies (like resume writing, interviewing), and ongoing professional development.

These skill areas, in combination, help individuals to not only secure employment after their education but also to thrive and advance in their chosen careers. It’s important for students to focus on developing skills in each of these areas to maximize their career readiness.

What skills are needed for career readiness?

Career readiness involves a variety of skills and competencies that enable an individual to successfully navigate the workplace. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), there are eight key career readiness competencies that employers often seek in college graduates. The eight key career readiness competencies are critical thinking and problem solving, oral and written communication, teamwork and collaboration, digital technology, leadership, professionalism and work ethic, career management, and global and intercultural fluency.

These competencies can be acquired and developed through a combination of coursework, co-curricular activities, internships, work experience, and involvement in campus and community activities.

How does career readiness help college students?

Career readiness equips college students with a range of skills that are desirable in the workforce. This not only includes discipline-specific knowledge but also essential soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability.

By focusing on career readiness, colleges help students prepare for life after graduation, making sure they can apply their learning effectively in the professional world.

Free Career Readiness Resources for K-12 Educators

Thanks to partners, we provide our digital platform, training, and support at no cost.

See why 50K schools use EVERFI.

• High school teachers, try  Keys to Your Future
• Middle school teachers, try  FutureSmart
• Elementary school teachers, try  FutureGoals HockeyScholar

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Career Awareness

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Fresh Perspectives

The fresh air fund’s career fair: an experiential learning approach to career awareness.

“To our students and future leaders, the Career Fair is an opportunity to focus your aspirations and for you to dream what can be – I encourage you to ask questions and stay present. Remember, quoting Nelson Mandela, that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” said Director of Camping & Year Round Programs, Alicia Skovera, during her opening remarks at the Career Fair. The Fresh Air Fund’s Annual Career Fair was held on March 7th, 2020, and generously hosted at the Con Edison Learning Center in Long Island City.  The experiential learning…

“To our students and future leaders, the Career Fair is an opportunity to focus your aspirations and for you to dream what can be – I encourage you to ask questions and stay present. Remember, quoting Nelson Mandela, that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” said Director of Camping & Year Round Programs, Alicia Skovera, during her opening remarks at the Career Fair.

The Fresh Air Fund’s Annual Career Fair was held on March 7th, 2020, and generously hosted at the Con Edison Learning Center in Long Island City.  The experiential learning day of programming provides students in The Fund’s Career Awareness Program (CAP) opportunities to participate in interactive workshops and learn more about possible future career paths.

Bright and early, dressed in professional attire, students walked in excited to see their friends and participate in the interactive workshops. 

A 13-year-old CAP student, Amaya, attending the Career Fair for the first time, shared her expectations, “I’m expecting to have fun, learn a lot and experience it with my friends. I look forward to getting a better understanding of what I want to do and how to get there.” 

During the Career Fair, each group of students rotated between four 40-minute breakout sessions and participated in experiential learning workshops led by volunteers from a variety of professions. The categories of workshops included: A Life of Service; Science: Fiction to Reality; Get Your Hands Dirty and Finding and Following Your Passion. 

Science: Fiction to Reality

When you walk into Anna Thompson’s workshop, you’ll notice CAP students dressed in lab coats and goggles attempting to put M&M’s and Skittles into a small bottle without touching it. One student expressing her frustration as she drops M&M’s on the table looks at Anna and says, “How is this even possible?”

The Science: Fiction to Reality track focuses on all things science – and the volunteers share their passion for science and discuss their education and career path.

As a pharmacist, Anna provided students with hands-on experiences in her workshop – Fun with Medicine. Students learned how to work with customers and fulfill medicine orders. She emphasized the importance of being detail-oriented because working with medication can be tricky – a slight mistake can have a very significant consequence. 

11-year-old Nelson said, “I learned about medicine and how important it is to look at the details. I want to be a doctor someday.” 

Experiential learning is an opportunity about how you can learn from your mistakes. Anna showed the students how to transfer the candy from the funnel to the bottles, and it seemed easy until they tried it for themselves. Students struggled at first, but after a few tries, they learned how to do it faster. 

“One of my favorite parts of the Career Fair was seeing the students fidgeting and trying to figure out how to work with the medication like spilling the candy on the table, and how they tried and got it correct the next time. I think they enjoyed the learning process,” Anna said.

Get Your Hands Dirty 

The Get Your Hands Dirty track highlights professions that go beyond the typical office 9 am to 5 pm jobs – such as careers in the restaurant and fashion industry. 

Oliver Selby, an Assistant Outerwear Designer for Tommy Hilfiger, volunteered as a Counselor for a Day at Camp Tommy last summer and was excited when offered the opportunity to lead a workshop at the Career Fair. 

Oliver started his workshop with a quick introduction about his work and an overview of other careers in the fashion industry.

“My goal was to demonstrate the various positions within the industry. Fashion design is not just fashion designers,” Oliver says. “I wanted to outline and describe how a product develops through various steps and involves a number of people from product and fabric development to tech design, pattern development and the fashion designers who design the product.”

During the workshop, students created their own line of clothes and planned the concept, fabric, design and colors. Some students were sketching out designs, and others were cutting from a magazine to be inspired. 

12-year-old CAP student Leander said, “I really love being creative. I like to draw, and I was able to do that in the fashion workshop. I’m also really interested in sales and numbers, and how the business side works, because I want to sell my art one day!” 

“It was nice to see everyone working together and collaborating on ideas. In any industry, working with a team is very important,” said Oliver remembering one of his favorite moments. 

One student told Oliver that he was interested in both the arts and basketball with a passion for pursuing both. Oliver thought that this was incredible and offered some advice, “I offered the idea of looking at colleges that offered programs in both the arts and sports – my goal was to help the kids explore their interests and hobbies.”

A Life of Service

The A Life of Service track highlights careers dedicated to serving others – from education to social work. 

Jenille G. Cross-Figueroa, is a Senior Procurement Agent at a law firm where she’s worked for over 20 years, focused her workshop on how students can be intentional about their career paths and choose one that incorporates what they enjoy doing.

Jenille’s workshop gives students ownership of their career path.  “It’s important to grow with each opportunity, but also to have a heart for people in anything that you do – I love the people I work with and what I do,” Jenille said.

Finding and Following Your Passion

Take a step into the workshop facilitated by Kristen Stain and Sam Del Pilar’s about Footwear Design and you would see a large oval table with magazines, bright-colored sneakers, knitted hats and patterned clothing.

Kristen shared the idea behind creating the Footwear Design workshop, “We wanted to touch on the idea that you can be inspired by so many different things, by anything really – that’s why Sam and I decided to bring as many items as possible. Sam brought a can, and I brought art books, travel books, we even had toys.” 

Kristen, a color and concept designer at Under Armour, was excited to meet all the students for the first time and see the enthusiasm on their faces as they entered the workshop. Sam, a Career Fair volunteer for the past four years, still gets the same feeling of excitement with each new group of students he works with.

“I always love the reactions we get from the kids after they share their ideas. We see an immediate form of self-confidence and interest in creativity. Every year, I come back – it’s great to hear the kids’ readiness and excitement for the workshops,” Sam said.

 “A lot of young people don’t have access to information about career options. Because that was my experience, I want to let young people know that there are a lot of options and you can use your strengths and talents to get into spaces that really interest you,” Kristen said about why it was important for her to volunteer at The Career Fair.

Looking to the Future

The Career Fair is one way the Career Awareness Program gives students hands-on experiences to see and think about what’s possible. We want our students to realize their dreams and understand what education and experience they will need to achieve their goals.

Career Fair volunteer Jenelle said, “People always say, ‘Think outside the box,’ but unless you show someone what’s outside of the box, they’ll always be limited by the box. You must break that box open and give kids the option to see.”

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