Career Teller
Career Teller is an interactive career guidance game inspired by my book Sciencegramers. I created it for a career fair in Cambridge, drawing inspiration from the fortune tellers traditionally found at country fairs. Instead of predicting the future, the Career Teller "predicts" professions that may be a good match for a student's interests, talents, and aspirations.
Although originally designed for career fairs, it can also be used in one-to-one career counselling sessions with secondary school and university students. The game begins with a conversation. The Career Teller asks questions such as:
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Are you interested in human health, animals, plants, or the environment?
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Would you prefer basic research, clinical research, drug development, or manufacturing?
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What are your favourite subjects?
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What do you think are your greatest strengths and talents?
Based on the student's answers, the Career Teller selects one or more profession cards that best match the student's profile. Each card features a profession from Sciencegramers, a brief description of the role, and the section of the book where the student can find more information.
The cards are colour-coded to match the five main sections of Sciencegramers, making it easy for students to identify the area to which each profession belongs:
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Blue: Basic Research, Manufacturing, and Education
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Yellow: Clinical Research
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Black: Business, Commercial, and Innovation
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Red: Healthcare Delivery
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Green: Plant, Environmental, and Animal Sciences
This colour-coding helps students quickly recognise the different career fields and encourages them to explore related professions within the same area of interest.
The aim is not to tell students what they should become, but to inspire them to discover the many career opportunities available in the life sciences and healthcare sectors—many of which they may never have heard of before.
