[April's News] New Start Project: Finding yourself by getting the right job

Sungdong Youth Center’s “New Start Project” started with 80 teenagers. A job consulting program for those between 15 to 29 years old having trouble finding employment, it offers one-on-one employment counseling so that one can determine his/her vocation and eventually get a job in that field.

Meet Keon-ah Kim, a 24 year old young man at his fourth counseling session. The results of the assessment are in: “According to result of the MBTI* assessment, Kim is an ENTP (extrovertive, intuitive, thinker, and perceiver). This implies that he would excel as an artist or an inventor. He can truly excel in either of these fields when he lands the right job through this program.” reported his counselor. Like most in the program, Keon-ah is surprised at the results as he discovers new things about himself.

Now that we know Keon-ah’s aptitude, both he and his counselor can begin the search for the right job. Dozens of cards with job descriptions are placed in front of him, and he meticulously picks fourteen of them. It may seem that fourteen is too many, but Keon-ah took great care and effort to select each of the cards by reading the jobs described on them. The time invested is well spent for it is his future. He then investigates each of the fourteen and narrows his search down to five jobs: an interior designer a landscape architect, an appraiser, a floriculturist, and a hairstylist

He is familiar with some, but with others he is clueless. His fourth session is over, and in closing, the counselor tells him to research what certificates are needed and how to prepare for each job.

According to Min-jeong Bang, the program coordinator of the Sungdong Youth Center (SYC),
"Kim sets a good example to other participants of this program, but it is not easy for at risk teenagers to let them take part in this New Start Project and to find the most suitable job. Nevertheless, I feel great when they return to school and discover their vocation. Hopefully many teenagers (through this program) can find themselves and the field they truly want to work in leading to an exciting new beginning with the New Start Program."


* The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.