Career Coaching for Teens and Progression with the Travellers

The Back on Track Teens personal development programme career coaching for teens and young people, Ignition, uses four main personality profiles, referred to as ‘Fuels’, and eight ‘Traveller’ profiles. The Fuels and Traveller profiles help people to uncover the ideal careers, industries and roles that suit their natural talents, gifts and passions.

You can read more about Fuels in my last blog and take the Spark Test to reveal what Fuel or Fuels keeps you in flow and loving life. They really are quite enlightening.

What is a Traveller?

A Traveller profile develops the Fuel or mix of Fuels that keep you in flow to a much deeper level. They highlight the career types that will most likely suit you and can be a great starting point to explore different options that take your fancy. You can choose any job you wish to, but there will be certain roles that will not align with your three Ps – passion, purpose and personality – or natural gifts and talents. Consequently, these types of jobs will cause you stress over time and doing the work involved may feel like a struggle. It won’t be because you can’t do the job it’s just that its requirements will not be aligned to you being in flow. You will feel out of alignment or disjointed, even if you can’t work out why. Make sense?

Let me introduce you to the Travellers so that you can decide which aligns best with you.

“Find out what you like doing best, and get someone to pay you for doing it.”
Katharine Whitehorn

The Astronaut – Nova

If you’re an Astronaut, you’ll be bubbling with the energy of the Nova Fuel personality. You’ll be dashing around, going 100 miles per hour with your head in the clouds, dreaming big picture visions.

You’ll enjoy anything new because you’re a creator, an innovator and have a wonderful imagination.

An ideal career for an Astronauts will involve creation. Coming up with new ideas, things, leading from the front and inspiring by being an influencer or visionary. Product or service design and new business ideas development will be right up your street and suitable roles might include:

• Creative director
• Creative artist
• Graphic designer
• Interior designer
• Fashion, jewellery designer
• Choreographer
• Music writer
• Author
• Director or inventor
• Merchandise developer
• Window or product display dresser

An Astronaut wouldn’t feel as comfortable working in a customer service environment or taking care of people in a care home, clinical setting or in education because they will be exhausting for you. Roles requiring research, scientific data or financial analysis could be too detailed for your big picture thinking, so steer clear of anything that involves too much repetition and routine. Human resources, administration, finance and local government work would be dull for an Astronaut.

The Pilot – Nova and Exuberant

A Pilot is a mix of Nova and Exuberant Fuel and if this is you, you’ll love to lead the way. You enjoy being the centre of attention – being seen, heard and noticed.

You love launching tasks and projects and would relish taking others along for the journey with you. Like an Astronaut you will be creative, but you will more likely be the spokesperson or team leader who shines the spotlight on what has been created (rather than being the creator) in a marketing, sales or promotional role. Ideal careers for you would be a:

• Promotor
• Seller
• Presenter
• Networker
• Speaker
• Actor
• DJ

As a Pilot you wouldn’t enjoy roles entrenched in data and detail or the analysis of things, facts, and figures. Jobs in finance, health and safety, and law (unless you see yourself as a highflying lawyer strutting your stuff in the courtroom!) will not make a Pilot happy.

The Captain – Exuberant Fuel

Captains love to oversee the voyage, bringing the right team together. If you’re a Captain, you will be a team player, adaptable in different places, with different things, people and timings. You will be more accessible and approachable than a Pilot because you’ll be mingling with everyone and leading, organising and motivating people around you; keeping them on course. Ideal careers for Captains involve people, speaking to the masses in a one-to-many scenario and could include:

• Managers and supervisors in hospitality, leisure, retail or large organisations
• Organisational, relationship and change management
• Heads of marketing, sales, offices and departments full of people
• Social worker, networker or mentor

If you’re a Captain, managing finances, creating detailed plans, processes, new ideas and setting lots of goals will not excite you. Staying clear of a solitary role or something that requires sitting in front of a computer all day is advisable for a Captain.

The Ambassador – Exuberant and Sensational Fuel

An Ambassador is a connector of people who loves to lead the way, build relationships and find out everything they can about the people they meet.

If you’re an Ambassador, you will love people and will thrive in a networking or relationship management role, being approachable, entertaining and (sometimes) mischievous. You will prefer a one-to-one rather than one-to-many environment because, even though you love to communicate, you also like to avoid being in the spotlight. An Ambassador is great at facilitating, mediating, negotiating and organising things for people, so an ideal role could be a:

• Relationship manager in sports, music and acting
• Talent agent
• Sales, account or supplier management
• Recruitment
• Receptionist
• Negotiation
• Peacekeeping
• Diplomat, advocate or customer services
• Market researcher or administration (people orientated)

Avoiding roles that require too much creativity or data, detail, numbers and analysis is wise for an Ambassador.

The Expedition Leader – Sensational Fuel

An Expedition Leader loves nurturing people and making sure that things and events are planned well and fair. If this is you, you’ll want to take care of people and provide a great service for clients, customers and colleagues. Ideal roles will include looking after and serving people in a career involved with:

• Human resources
• Customer care and customer service in hospitality, leisure, tourism, retail
• Emergency services – doctor, nurse, police officer, fire fighter
• Animal welfare, veterinary, zoology
• Therapies and treatments
• Market research focused on people
• Selling or buying property
• Crisis management

Expedition Leaders should avoid a career in creative service and product development, sales and marketing, telesales, public speaking, and anything financial or analytical.

The Navigator – Sensational and Wise Fuel

Navigators are the most cautious of all personality profiles and sit on the introvert (people who are more reserved) side of the compass. If this feels more aligned to you, then you’ll love looking at the details and connecting systems, processes and procedures. You’ll want to be sure that everything is taken care of by the right people, at the right place and in the right time.

Navigators are well suited for research, management and implementation roles, such as:

• Forensics, pathology or scientific research
• Market research
• Project, operations or event management
• Product or service implementation programmes
• Risk management
• Business administration
• Financial, legal and human resources roles matching people with systems

Highly creative and leadership roles with large teams will not be best suited to a Navigator.

The Air Traffic Controller – Wise Fuel

Air traffic controllers have a phenomenal skillset, using data, analytics and systems to make sure that the finest of details are taken care of. If this is you, you’ll have meticulous attention to detail and quite often work alone, which you are more than comfortable doing in a role such as:

• Financial management, accountancy, auditing and taxation
• Management consulting
• Data analysis in any industry, including digital reporting
• A lawyer, judge or solicitor
• Editing or proofreading
• Factual research, scientific analysis or forensics
• IT – app development, coding, programming, systems creation
• Logistics and operations

An Air Traffic Controller will not feel comfortable as a team leader, manager, negotiator, public speaker, creative designer or any role that requires looking after people or being creative.

The Engineer – Wise and Nova Fuels

The Engineer is an interesting profile because they are creative and detail-focused, which are kind of opposites!

Engineers are great at fixing things, especially if there’s a system involved and they’re even better at improving things. If you’re an Engineer you will love working with systems, automations and integrations, whether it’s of a mechanical or technology nature. An excellent career choice would include:

• Mechanical engineering
• Construction engineering
• Biological engineering
• Genetic engineering
• Ecological, biological or geological systems
• Architecture
• Information management or operations
• Digital technology, sales and marketing

The car, aerospace, medical or pharmaceutical industry will appeal to an Engineer but human resources, people management, customer service, selling, negotiating, project management and creative marketing would be a no-no.

Career coaching for teens with Back on Track Teens

After reading about the eight Traveller profiles you should have a good understanding of where to place yourself on the compass. I encourage you to read through this article again and take notes (if you haven’t already) and see what thoughts and feelings pop up around each profile. You will find that some career pathways are a complete turnoff whereas others ignite your curiosity. The important factor is to be aware of how you feel and not to take the advice of other people because they perceive a job or career industry to be ‘good’.

Embrace that curiosity and see where it leads.

“If you don’t feel it, flee from it. Go where you are celebrated, not merely tolerated.”
Paul F. Davis

Choose the life you want to lead

I’d love to hear what role you’re currently in if you’ve started working, or what you aspire to be. Have you changed your mind since reading about the Fuels and Travellers or have the overviews confirmed your desires?

Please share your thoughts with our social community at the profiles listed below and remember to contact Back on Track Teens for advice and career coaching for teens and take your free Spark Test today.

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

Until next time, go and have a field day of finding your career flow!