All young people are considered Very Important People (VIPs) by those who are close to and care for them, but when selecting a career path, there are other forms of VIPs that high ability youth might undertake. All students who attend the Queensland Academies have been through a rigorous selection process, so their cognitive abilities are already known.
Many high ability students are mistakenly told that they can do anything – which isn't helpful – as they need to identify at least a point at which to start their career even if they change direction later. When I undertook a career selection course whilst on a Churchill Fellowship, some years ago, there was emphasis upon identifying gifted students' Values, Interests and Personality (another form of VIP) in addition to knowing that they were cognitively capable.
Values change at different stages of a lifespan. What are important values to a young child might be different to what a teenager or young adult values; to what a parent or grandparent values … but it is important that any career selection is based upon the individual's currently held values. An individual might primarily value health or beauty, peace, or the environment. There is no right or wrong about what someone values or the priority given to the order of values, but identifying values that are consistent with one's career choice is critical if there is to be alignment or any form of enduring career satisfaction.
One's interests might initially be shown through the academic subjects selected but some significant interests may occur as extra-curricular activities, be related to out-of-school activities or even be associated with abiding, long-term interests which have nothing to do with pursuing formal activities. It is, nevertheless, important to identify what these various interests are as it might be possible to align different interests, even if this means creating a new career which will be satisfying for the individual.
Identifying personality traits is important when deciding upon a career as there is no point in selecting a career that requires a lot of interaction with others if one is primarily an extreme introvert who tires when required to interact with others. Likewise, extraverts can find it very difficult if they are required to work in a field that consistently does not provide sufficient interaction with others. It can be useful in life to understand one's personality traits as these can determine a lot of life's decisions.
Most people are not extreme introverts nor extreme extraverts; however there do appear to be more introverts within the population of gifted students. Susan Cain has written about introverts in the books, “Quiet" and “Quiet Power". Introversion and extraversion are only two of the personality traits that can be identified. Carl Jung is an early researcher who identified twelve personality archetypes. These Jungian archetypes were later identified as sixteen personality types by Katherine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers who developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to help identify the personality type of people who complete the questionnaire.
© Michele Juratowitch
michele@clearingskies.com.au