Careers Spotlight

Term 1 is well under way and students have engaged in the Careers Program through regular careers interviews, pattern of study discussions, connecting with tertiary partners and the Year 10 careers profiling process.

Year 12 key dates

Recently, Year 12 had a cohort meeting providing them with an overview of the year ahead with key dates and considerations mapped out for each term as shown in the table below. This is a helpful way to plan for the year ahead and keep a record of important dates and months for university applications. Some dates are yet to be confirmed for this year and as that information becomes available, it will be shared with Year 12. Students in Year 12 were encouraged to use Term 1 and 2 to explore a variety of career options and get involved in a range of co-curricular, service and social justice activities to bolster their applications for next year.

Year 10 careers profiling

As part of our program to support our senior students across the final three years of schooling, our students learn about themselves as learners, consider senior study options and plan for career options. One of the first steps in this process is the careers profiling testing and interviews that are presently happening with Year 10.

We engage the company Career Avenues to develop profiles for our students. The Career Avenues Profile aims to help students understand their personality, strengths, skills and interests, to help identify potentially compatible career ideas to research.

The Careers Avenue profile has five elements:

  • Personality Profile
  • Reasoning Strengths
  • Transferable Skills
  • Career Interest Profile
  • Career Ideas

The reasoning strengths test reasoning skills in different areas, gives reassurance for different careers and promotes students to focus on their strengths. The components of the reasoning test are:

ABSTRACT REASONING

  • Speed of learning
  • Agility in problem solving
  • Conceptual vs applied tasks
  • Adaptability
  • Flexibility

Important to careers involving ongoing problem solving e.g. pilot, diagnostic physician, systems analyst.

VERBAL REASONING

  • understand complex English
  • think and reason using words
  • follow verbal arguments & logic

Useful for law, journalism, psychology and other areas.

NUMERICAL REASONING

  • reason using numbers
  • ability to solve problems using numbers
  • to perform arithmetic tasks

Important for careers such as computer science, engineering, statistics, trades and others.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

  • routine task comparing pairs of words and pairs of numbers
  • speed and accuracy of processing

Important for office, administration, air traffic control, trades, building and accounting type roles.

PHYSICAL REASONING

  • assesses interest and understanding of the world we live in
  • understanding the principles of physical and mechanical forces
  • operation of mechanical devices

Important for a variety of careers such as environmental science, engineering, some design areas, health sciences, building and other skill-based careers.

SPATIAL REASONING

  • ability to visualise and manipulate objects in three dimensions
  • to imagine a 3D object from a 2D plan

Important in design careers, engineering, architecture, fashion design, trades and visual careers

Congratulations to Year 10 for completing the first stage of the careers profiling process this week. In May, they will engage in a 30-minute 1:1 interview to unpack their profile and discuss career options with a qualified careers consultant from Career Avenues. This will assist them as they move into the course and subject selection process for their senior study later this year.

Connecting students with tertiary and industry partners

One of the many joys of my job is connecting students with relevant tertiary and industry partners to give them greater exposure to their desired career and explore different pathways to reaching their career goals. Below is a reflection from Year 12 student Olivia Churchland who recently attended a Nurturing Aviation Day hosted by Sydney Flight College. Below is her reflection on the experience:

On 25 February I attended the Nurturing Aviation Day held at Sydney Flight College. This was an enriching experience with speakers such as Matt Hall – reigning world champion Red Bull air racer and former Royal Australian Air Force top gun fighter pilot, and representatives from the Australian Women’s Pilots Association including president Barbara Trappett who discussed the continuing ‘Matt Hall Racing Part Scholarship’ and their new ‘Women in Aviation Part Scholarship’ respectively.

I felt so inspired through this experience particularly as a female entering a male-dominated industry and was moved by the encouraging words of the speakers. Sydney Flight College also announced their new goal is to have 25% of each cohort female students by 2025. This goal allows more women to work towards their aviation dreams.

The College also offered an optional 15-minute trial flight for a fee which I participated in. I had the opportunity to fly an Archer TX aircraft, and with no flight experience took off and flew for 15 minutes with very close supervision and support. Participating in this Aviation Day, I learnt a lot about flying and the plane used for the trial flight and in training students at the College as well as the double diploma program offered at the College. I would highly encourage any young aspiring pilots to participate in a trial flight as it is the best experience for someone who is considering this career option. I am so excited to embark on this journey in 2024 and could not recommend this open day more highly to young women looking to pursue this career path. Thank you to Ms Guirguis for providing me with an alternative pathway to becoming a pilot that I otherwise would not have considered as an option. As a result of this day, I am more certain of my career path for 2024 and look forward to submitting an application with the College this year.

Olivia Churchland
Year 12

Upcoming careers events

Please have a look at the following link for information on upcoming careers events and opportunities.

I encourage students to get in touch if they would like any further information on these events or any specific careers guidance around their interests and aspirations.

Eva Guirguis
Head of Future Pathways & Partnerships