Our Career Centre

Our purpose-designed Career Centre is located on the top floor of the Centennial Centre and fully equipped with computers, work tables, discussion spaces and easy access to a wide range of career assessments and resources.

The team there offers a comprehensive careers development and guidance service, a careers education programme, and a wide range of career and study information, both hard copy and easily accessed online in SchoolBox.

Our aim is to support and encourage all students to successfully transition through the College and beyond. We want them to have the tools to make well-informed career and tertiary study plans and progress to build and manage successful, fulfilling careers.

Our students' time at King's is short; it's important that they are equipped for what comes next.

“A good start for young people – early choices that match our talents and interests – lead to motivation, achievement and satisfaction. Young people who choose well are likely to be five years ahead in their learning and career progress by the age of thirty because they have been in environments where they have been motivated to learn, perform and work to potential. They have built their competence and confidence. That’s five years ahead on productivity, income and all the satisfaction of getting somewhere you want to go.” – Dr Heather Carpenter

 

For more information, visit the careers centre facebook page or to go Schoolbox.

Seminars and events

There are many events and seminars taking place at the Career Centre throughout the year; we encourage students to check these out and attend any of interest.

  • Evening presentations:
    - Parents as Career Coaches
    - Tertiary Study Options Evening
    - Successful Transition to Tertiary Studies Evening
  • Lunch-time seminars and guest speakers which offer a wide range of topics ranging from tips and advice for university, to studying at Australian, US, and UK universities, and Gap Year opportunities.
  • CV & personal statement drafting, selection interview coaching, individual tertiary application support.
  • University scholarship applications both in New Zealand and overseas.
  • Subject choice help:
    - An excellent resources section on SchoolBox.
    -One-on-one appointments with our Careers Centre team, and drop-in Q&A sessions at lunch time and after school.
  • A Year 10 Career Development module for Junior students; subject choice support and guidance is offered at the drop-in sessions.
  • Access to NZ universities advice through all-day seminars at the College, targeted at university enrolment help and course planning.
  • Career guidance and counselling

 

Resources

Students can seek an array of resources at the Careers Centre or in SchoolBox to help them in their own career and course decisions.

The ‘Advice from the Careers Centre’ section of our Courses of Study Guide contains helpful resources for parents and students, offering practical advice on how to explore each student’s career interests, skills, abilities and talents.

We recommend that students complete the ChoicesMatch Compass tool and the Career Identity exercise on SchoolBox, which help to identify possible career options that match their interests and strengths. With career pathways identified, students can look at relevant university courses and then ask themselves “What subjects do I need to study?”

For information on entry requirements for different universities, students are strongly encouraged to use the Careers section of Schoolbox and click the 'Subject Choice' tile. This provides access a table of recommended and prerequisite subjects, as well as web links to detailed advice from all NZ universities.

Dr Heather Carpenter comments: “Career decisions remain the most important investment decision of our lives – in terms of self-development as well as financial progress... Poor choices lead to poor investment of time, energy, money and often bring a lack of confidence to make further choices.”

The Careers Centre team are passionate and knowledgeable about careers and are committed to assisting students to confidently and successfully transition through their secondary education.

Senior students from Year 11-13 can complete MyChoicesMatch, developed by Dr Heather Carpenter - it’s a new NZ self-assessed programme which enables students to identify the following:

• What kind of person am I - What is my Career Orientation?

• What skills do I want to use now and develop for the future?

• What kind of industries and work environments am I attracted to?

The ChoiceMatch tool then leads to a guided review and expert support and counselling in exploring career and study options, for more directed decision-making: Self + Skills= Possibilities.

The Career Dynamic Card Sorts resource is another excellent assessment tool for Year 13 – it offers comprehensive in-depth exploration of career identity, summarised in a detailed career profile sheet, supported by guidance from the Careers team.