Pathways & Careers

South Oakleigh College is highly committed to providing students with access to relevant, timely and reliable careers information and counselling. The focus is to provide, wherever possible, a tailored program to suit individual needs. The College aims to be both flexible and willing to investigate any opportunities that benefit our students.

Our Careers and Pathway Advisor is responsible for careers and course counselling, maintaining a library of relevant material for student use and assisting in the placement of VCE students in relevant courses. The process is aimed at providing students with all the relevant information and allowing them to make informed choices about their lives. The Careers and Pathway Advisor is also responsible for liaising with the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre and in-servicing students on procedures for applying for tertiary courses and how the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) is used in this process.

Students and parents/guardians are able to access a modern, convenient and well-resourced Careers Room. They are encouraged to come and browse through written and audiovisual material, use career-related computer programs and discuss issues with the Careers and Pathway Advisor. Students also receive assistance with the completion of specific application forms if they so desire.

Resources include: University/TAFE handbooks and individual course pamphlets, positions vacant as sent by local employment networks, career descriptions, Defence Force information, brochures on Government schemes that affect youth, videos and other written information on job seeking skills: resumes, letters of application and coping with interviews. In addition, students are able to apply for tax file numbers through the Pathway Leader. Careers Information is also distributed to students via the College Newsletter.

For students wishing to undertake a VCAL pathway,  our careers advisor supports students to pursue this area of study outside the College, by counselling students to find an institution to support their needs.

Computer programs available to students include:

• OZJAC: A program that allows students to investigate different careers and pathways.
• COURSE SCAN: This program is designed to assist student selection for tertiary courses and provide details of pre-requisite subjects. This is ideal for Year 10-12 students as students are able to program in their subject selections and get a print out of what courses they are eligible for.
• CAREER BUILDER: A careers exploration program with a companion designs your own resume, and job application. Access to the Internet is also available from the Careers Room. Internet is increasingly used by tertiary institutions, employers and business groups in the promotion of courses and careers. Students are issued with a list of relevant websites each year via a variety of publications.

Career Action Plans

In response to a Government initiative, the College has put in place a number of support mechanisms for post-compulsory students, which assists them in planning career pathways. All students throughout the College complete a pathways plan annually, which focuses on future planning and goal setting. The College has also implemented Destination Tracking procedures that better enable the Careers Department to assist ex-students when required.

Resumes & Cover Letters

Your resume is your most important tool when applying for a job. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are, or how much experience you have – if your resume is poorly presented or badly written, you’re going to have trouble getting the job you want – or even an interview. For more tips and advice click here. 

A good cover letter needs to show that you know what the job involves and what the organisation requires. To do this you need to be as specific as you can about your skills and qualities and how they match the job or organisation’s needs. For more information and advice click here.

Useful Links

There is a massive list of links to pages below to help you with your all sorts of things, like career planning, work preparation, study skills, industry and job information and more.

• Careers
• Employment
• Trades
• Industries
• Subjects
• Senior School Backpack