Career interventions to promote higher Self-Efficacy for low income High

School Students in a group setting

Intervention #1
Objective: Students will identify possible three future career goals, current role models, and
develop plans for how to attain those goals.
Goal: For students to explore different career options rather than being foreclosed to one choice.
Intervention: This group will serve as the first of two related interventions. To begin this
intervention, students will think of and write down three potential career options that they can
see for themselves. Under each option, students will write down what they know in relation to
that career field including a role model or person already working in the field, educational
requirements for the position, and job descriptions. Students will then rank their choices from 1-
3 in terms of desirability. Then they will process what information they know, and reasoning
behind their ranking within the group. Issues of stereotypes, sex and gender roles, prestige will
be identified by the facilitator. Homework should be assigned as a prerequisite for the following
group. The homework will be for students to identify and briefly describe one person as a
potential role model already working in each of your career choices, list education requirements,
and actual job descriptions. The term role model will be described as someone that you can
potentially learn from who is already working in a career field of interest.
Intervention #2
Objective: Students will compare previous beliefs regarding career fields to information they
found in further study of three career goals. Additionally, students will gain better insight into
how they choose role models to follow.
Goal: Students will readily identify a person within each career field of interest, and gain better
understanding of the requirements for their career goals.
Intervention: Following the group on initially held beliefs about careers, students will present
information from their homework assignment. Students will compare their previously held
beliefs to actual information found while researching career choices. Similarities and differences
will be processed within the group. The facilitator will inquire about the process for each student
in choosing their role models. As each student describes the criteria they used in selecting role
models, the facilitator will take note and compile the list of traits. These traits will be examined
and decided upon by the whole group as ways in which to decide upon a role model.
Intervention #3
Objective: Students will learn to identify and utilize supports within their environment to help
them achieve career goals.
Goal: To help students become more comfortable with using their local support system in
achieving their goals.
Intervention: The facilitator will present the topic of support systems to the group. The
facilitator will initiate discussion of how one defines a support system, and who could potentially
be included in that system. Students will identify members of their own support system inclusive
of parents, teachers, and other adults that could potentially help them in their career goals.
Students will break off into groups of three to role play speaking to each member of their support
system. As one student is speaking to another, the third student will provide feedback on how to
ask for help. Each student will rotate roles and speak to at least two chosen members of their
support system.
Intervention #4
Objective: Students will relate their own skills and interests to skills and personalities of
characters within a movie. Students will identify what things help or hinder good team work,
and what role team work has in achieving goals.
Goal: For students to view themselves in the role of achievers through reframing and
identification with movie characters. Additionally, to promote better understanding of the
necessity and valuing of different roles each student may potentially play in the future.
Intervention: Students will watch the movie The Avengers while answering questions about
characters and their roles in the movie. These questions are:
Which superhero do you identify with the most, and why?
Identify one of the goals of the team of superheroes in the movie, how did the character you
identify with contribute to this goal?
What things helped promote team work within the group of superheroes, and which things
hindered their ability to work together?
What skills does the superhero you identify with have that helped them accomplish their goal?
Which skills do you have that can help you accomplish your career goals?
What effect did the Avengers accomplishing their goal have on society? What effect will
accomplishing your goals have on society? Who can you identify to team up with that will help
you accomplish your goals?
Intervention #5
Objective: In groups of three, students will describe a moment when they achieved a goal.
They will receive feedback from other members of their group about what skills they used to
achieve the goal.
Goal: To help students identify career related skills that they already utilize. Also, to utilize
positive feedback from peers to boost self-efficacy in students.
Intervention: Students will get into groups of three to begin the activity. Each student will be
asked to think about an accomplishment that they are proud of. It should be something in which
the student enjoyed the experience and is proud of the results. Students will write out a story
about the accomplishment, including a description of the goal, what obstacles they had to
overcome, and what the result of the accomplishment was. The story will be shared within the
groups of three. While a student is sharing, other members of the group are to write down the
skills being used within the story. At the end of the story, the other two members will share their
observations of skills used by the story teller. Each group member will take turns sharing their
story and providing feedback to their other two group members. To wrap up the activity,
students will share how it felt to have other group members identify skills they used towards
achieving their accomplishments.
Intervention #6
Objectives: Students will describe desirable work related skills that will help them get and
maintain a job. Students will then role-play skills in a manner as if within potential job
settings.
Goal: To identify practical skills that are career related and practice interpersonal skills.
Intervention: The facilitator of group will introduce the topic of job related skills. As a
group, students will be asked to identify skills that will help them get and maintain a job. Each
skill will be written out by the facilitator to be used during the activity. The facilitator will
confidentially give two skills to each student to act out before the group. As each student is
acting out the skill, other group members will attempt to identify the skill being used.
Intervention #7
Objective: Students will gain better understanding of how to go into selected career paths in
step by step fashion starting from their current situations.
Goal: To give students an opportunity to narrate a successful career path using their own
personal backgrounds. For students to develop confidence in their ability create a career path.
Intervention: For this activity, the facilitator will need to have a least one picture of a person
engaging in a career activity per student in the group. The pictures will be lying face down on a
table for students to pick up then examine. Each student will identify the job title for the person
in the picture and a brief description of the job. Then students will develop a story for the person
in the picture while using the students own personal history as a starting point. So the beginning
of each story will correspond with the actual background of each student, then the students will
describe how the person in the picture attained their career after having the students life
experiences. Struggles and barriers in the road to attaining the persons career goals will be
discussed as well as how the person overcame them.
Intervention #8
Objective: Students will learn to identify common barriers to career achievement and develop
effective coping strategies to maneuver around them.
Goal: For students to experience encouragement and success of getting through common
barriers with the support of fellow group members.
Intervention: To begin the activity, each student will select a previously identified career
goal. Students will then identify 7 potential barriers or obstacles that could prevent them from
achieving their goal. Students will write each barrier on a separate sheet of paper and color the
paper red to signify a landmine. Individually, students will begin on one side of the room and
have their landmines laid out in a pattern in front of them. The goal will be to step over each
landmine by using skills and coping strategies learned from previous group sessions. Fellow
group members can help in suggesting strategies to overcome landmines. But, in order to take
another step each student will have to provide a personal example of how they will utilize a skill
or strategy to avoid each landmine.