Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the link between career exploration and career persuasion
and Impacts of Career Exploration on successful career persuasion. Hopefully this study will
reduce some of our career decision dilemma. We are using quantitative and qualitative
information to construct the study. What are the variables that need to consider when individuals
choose career for himself or herself? What are the problems the individuals might face during
career exploration and persuasion? How can we solve this problem using real life case
presentation through interview? We have introduced five cases all of them is based Bangladesh
point of view. Three out of the five cases is more concern general point of view and rest of the
two of more customized. We also develop research question and survey among 10 people about
their perception regarding career exploration. It is very difficult to set a fixed career in this
dynamic environment. Technological advancement continuously pushes people to learn new
skills and acquire knowledge. We find out that it is not necessary to become a successful student
to have a successful career. The most important thing is that we have to find our strengths and
weakness we have to understand our values, interests, talents then decide what you are best at
and what you love to do. When any individuals thought about having career he or she also need
to thought about other variables such as working environment, work life balance etc. In
Bangladesh people always wants to have best career they never justify themselves whether they
are creative and competitive enough to handle the best jobs. It leads to dissatisfaction and reduce
the performance on the job. We are hoping that this research will provide valuable information
regarding the ‘Impacts of Career Exploration on successful Career Persuasion’

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Introduction

Career exploration is the second stage of the career planning process. During the first stage, a
self-assessment, you learn about your personality, interests, aptitudes, and values. After using
various tools to gather this information, you are left with a list of careers that are a good fit for
someone with traits similar to yours.

Although the careers on your list appear to be suitable, it does not mean you can just go ahead
and randomly choose any one of them. There are other things to consider. Each occupation has
characteristics that will make it a better idea to choose some over others. Without an
understanding of career goals and career paths, planning is unlikely. The absence of career
planning means that career development is likely to be haphazard at best. (Dr. Parveen Ahmed
2017). The factors that influence individual career exploring and persuasion are related to
inherent intelligence accrued from parents, familial environment, natural instinct physical and
mental health, adaptability to stress, coping with emergency, personality, inter personal skill,
cognitive ability and use of available resources etc. In the case of career planning by the
organization, personnel department leads to find out the avenues, ways and opportunities to
develop employees so that employees can be developed towards achievement of the goal of the
organization (Ivancevich 2004).

After individual narrow down your list of career choices, research should become more involved.
Anyone will want to learn what working in the field is really like before someone actually works
in it. The best way to do this is to talk to people who do.

1. Figure out who, in your professional network, knows people who work in the field or
fields in which you are interested, or ask around to see if any of them have contacts that
do.
2. Set up informational interviews with anyone who has experience working in the careers
you are considering. Those whose experience is more recent make better subjects.
3. See if any of those people are willing to let you shadow him or her on the job for a day or
two.
4. Consider doing an internship to learn about a work field and get experience.

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Literature Review

In absence of a serious academic review such an important issue remained in abeyance. To do

this study, we have reviewed national and international literatures on career exploration,
development and successful persuasion of career. Placing someone in a career is challenging like
setting together a psychological jigsaw puzzle (Levinson ed 1989).We are trying to understand
the impacts of Career Exploration on successful career persuasion. Because of the competitive
market it is now major concern. Before that it was not that much important to individuals as a
result very few researches have been done about this topic. In reviewing the literature, the
researchers found varieties of definition of career exploration in terms of society, community and
group of people discussed by the academics and researchers. But they fail to create a linkage
between career exploration and successfully career persuasion. According to us career
exploration is the “Process in which individual chooses an educational path or training or a job
which fits their interests, skills and abilities”. (D.T. Hall, 1976). In addition it includes
schoolwork, homemaking, or volunteer work. Furthermore, career success is defined not only
objectively, in terms of promotion, but also subjectively, in terms of satisfaction.

Objective of the Study

To find out the factors that hinders the career exploration and persuasion and to solve those in
the context of Bangladesh perspective. So, that one’s career planning became effective. The
study will provide about different career path based on the personas career exploration.

Methodology of the Study

The research was conducted by collecting data from both primary and secondary sources.

Primary data collection

Primary data was collected from survey conducted using a closed questionnaire where a sample
of 10 individuals in total participated to cover the population of Dhaka University. The survey
was done in the premises of Dhaka University using random sampling method, where each

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member of the population has an equal chance of being selected as subject. The survey had 11
closed-end questions to address the matter, ranging from straight forward questions like Yes or
No to ‘Likert Scale’. Both male and female respondents participated of ages ranging from 20
years to 40 years. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis was done from the survey findings.
Some of respondent helped us to conduct brief interviews to share their thoughts about this topic
which aided us in completion of the research.

Secondary data collection

Secondary data on the topic was collected from an array of web articles, magazine publications
and textbooks. Sources included in this report are from well known publishers and university
research papers. Authenticity and quality of information was prioritized when selecting said
sources to provide accurate and valid facts.

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5 Real Life Cases

Case #1 Sadia Nahreen

"I told her to win the Google, she wins", said Fouzia Rahman, whose daughter Sadia Nahreen
got appointed at the tech giant Google Incorporated. Sadia is the first female who got appointed
at the Google directly from Bachelor level of our country. Previously, Farhana Ashraf from
Bangladesh joined Google after completing PhD in USA. She was born in Cox's Bazaar, but
grew up in Dhaka.

Education

Sadia was admitted in BUET in 2009 after passing SSC and HSC from Holycross Girls High
School and College. There is the opportunity to work for the people of worlds, where Google
Search, YouTube, Gmail belongs to. From this adventure, Sadia thinks about to work in Google.
There is a huge working area in Google. I can fully use my talents there, said Sadia.

Work life

Sadia informed about the procedures of Google's recruiting. Google has taken four online tests
this year for the first time. One has to participate in one of the tests. The tests are like
Programming Problem Solving Competition "Code Jam". The tests contains algorithm based
problem to find the possible solutions. If you passed the test, they call you for interview. Sadia

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said, those who got the chance in Google this year, all of them are participating in programming
contests. We are used with this environment. We are habituated to find the best answer in a
certain time.

Sadia started programming after admission in BUET despite she participating song, dance
competition in school and college level. Recently she registered her name as the third
Bangladeshi Red Coder (Grandmaster) in the programming competition based website-
Codeforces.Com. Technical Product Manager of Google, Md. Shishir Khan was in the delegation
team from Google that taken Sadia's interview. He worked at Google for more than 10 years. He
said, Sadia can think out of the box. Google wants more female's participation in technological
sectors. Google wants to encourage women's.

Case #2 Atiur Rahman

Atiur Rahman is the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country. A
development economist of Bangladesh, he is noted for writing on popular economic issues, and
has written a good number of books both in Bengali and English.

Early life

From a very humble background Atiur Rahman rose to the top echelon of the society. He was
born in a remote village in Jamalpur district in 1951. His father who was a landless farmer had
received no schooling in his life. Atiur went to the school but had to quit after grade-III because
of poverty. However his strong determination and will power made him conquer all the barriers.

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He had to sit for the class IV final examinations without attending any class. But when the result
came out, his name topped the list.

Education

Atiur's mother came off a better background and was literate. It was she who was Atiur's first
teacher. Atiur went to the village school till grade VI. After grade-VI he wanted to go to a Cadet
College for better education. Eventually he got admitted to the prestigious Mirzapur Cadet
College of the-then Mymensingh in grade-VII. A school teacher of the village Foyez Moulavi
collected charity to facilitate his admission. Considering his financial inability, the college
authority granted him free tuition. Thus he could continue at the college from where he passed
the SSC and HSC examinations with outstanding results securing positions in the merit list both
times. He went to the Dhaka University for studying economics. After obtaining BSS and MSS
in Economics, he applied for Commonwealth scholarship and was successful. He went to SOAS,
London, from where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1977. His Ph.D. thesis later came out as a book
under the title "Peasants and Classes" published by the Oxford University Press, which is much
admired by the economists worldwide and is being used as a reference book in many universities
throughout the world.

Work

On 29 April 2009, he was appointed as the governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the
country, for tenure of four years. He assumed charge on 3 May 2009. He is the 10th governor of
the Bangladesh Bank, succeeding Dr. Salehhddin Ahmed. Till then he was a professor in the
department of Development Studies at the Dhaka University. Before that he had worked at the
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies in different capacities for nearly 28 years and
retired as Senior Research Fellow on 4.4.2006. He also served as director of the state-owned
Sonali Bank, the largest in Bangladesh. In 2001, government appointed him as the Chairman of
the Board of Directors of the Janata Bank, the second-largest in the country. In 1994, he
established a development NGO under the title Unnayan Samannay which grew into an excellent
centre for research, development and cultural learning in Bangladesh. He was the Chairman of
the Board of Trustees of Shamunnay till taking up the job of the governor of Bangladesh. In
2006 he joined the Dhaka University in the department of Development Studies as a professor.
Also, he has played a major role in the much publicized microcredit revolution in Bangladesh,

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erving in Mohammed Yunus' National Task Force on Poverty Eradication. He worked as Project
Director or Team Leader of as many as twenty international and fifty national development
projects of the country. He was also involved in the management of a number of socio-cultural
organizations including Credit Development Forum, Monajatuddin Smriti Sangsad, Bangladesh
Economic Association and Asiatic Society and BangIa Academy.

Poverty alleviation

Atiur Rahman has distinguished himself as an expert on poverty alleviation. It is his pet area and
he has been engaged in first hand research to find the causes of poverty and means of remedy.
One of the most important researches is his work on char (shoal) dwellers and poverty
alleviation.

Case #3 Hussain M Elius

The ride-sharing platform Pathao is one of the fastest growing e-commerce service providers in
Bangladesh. The IT firm’s most popular service to date is a motorbike sharing service based on a
smart phone app. The consumer-friendly ride sharing service has overtaken taxi and CNG auto
rickshaw rental services by offering its customers a better way to avoid traffic jam in the mega
city.

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Not some big businessmen, but three university graduates came up with a solution to commute
quicker around the city.

Education

Not some big businessmen, but three university graduates came up with a solution to commute
quicker around the city. Hussain M Elius, a North South University alumnus, Shifat Adnan, a
graduate from Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET), and Fahim Saleh
from Bentley University in the US co-founded the company together in 2015. Both Shifat and
Fahim have graduated in computer science and engineering from their respected universities.
Fahim, who lives in New York, envisioned a venture in Bangladesh with the intention to help,
rather than focus on profit maximization. Elius and Shifat had been working together to create
tech solutions.

Work life

Co-founder and CEO Hussain Elius said: “Pathao is now one of the fastest growing start-up e-
commerce service providers in Bangladesh, which has developed tangible solutions to battle the
traffic congestion in Dhaka. Their initial idea was to deliver goods and products to their clients
across the city fast. Therefore Pathao initially worked as a logistics service provider for traders.

They relied on using a motorbike to deliver products, since it is comparatively quicker than a car
or any other vehicle to commute in traffic-filled Dhaka. Pathao was formulated with the sole
intention of cutting commuting time.

Hussain Elius started coding in Class 6 and got into freelancing while in high school. In
university, I started a small UI/UX firm and started doing UI outsourcing and consultancy.

While doing MBA at NSU, hemet Fahim Saleh of Hack House. they bonded well within a very
short time and become a Managing Partner at HackHouse, a business incubator which started six
different businesses.

One of those businesses was Pathao. Since they were doing too many things at once it became
quite difficult to manage and focus. Pathao was doing well and they decided to invest more time
in it. Hussain Elius became a full-timer at Pathao in October 2015 and grew it to 200 employees
by December 2016.HussainElius is currently looking to expand its team with industry leading

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professionals. Backed up by international venture capital, we are one of the most rapidly growing
teams in Dhaka and want to stay true to our start up roots. Thus, culture is very important to us.
We are looking for high achievers who will go above and beyond their job descriptions to fulfill
our long term vision. If you are entrepreneurial, open to using the latest technology and want to
super-charge your career out of the regular 9 to 5, then Pathao is the place for you.

Case #4 Jayanta Shuvo

Jayanta Shuvo is now currently working as a business development analyst at Daraz.com. He

explores his career through changing jobs and gathering information and experience. Then he
narrow down his career option based on the information and experience he received.

Education life

Jayanta Shuvo passed SSC from Ideal School and college and finished his BBA from Heriot watt
University Distance learning program He had to gone for it due to his ambition to pursue higher
study in abroad. But he couldn’t make it. As he finished his university he felt that he had miss
the class room atmosphere which reduce his communication skill bit lack and soft skill more
over he always think that vocational training and soft skills are equally important as academic
one. So he decided to do diploma in Hotel Management from Nhtti by Parjatan Corporation the

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only government training institute in Bangladesh regarding this field. Now he is doing EMBA
from Dhaka University.

Work life

He started his career in hotel management Goldsands Hotel and Resort Ltd. Goldsands Hotels
and Resorts Ltd is one of the premier hotel development and investment companies in
Bangladesh maintaining a laser focus on quality and process in every facet of development.
Driven by a relentless desire to streamline and advance, the lead their partners and investors
toward a future of profit and growth. Their ambition is to build and develop world class hotels
and suites at Cox’s Bazaar which is the longest beach in the world also other tourism sector. His
job responsibilities was Representing International Hotel brand Chain and selling Hotel
ownership at Tourism sector of Bangladesh. To plan and carry out all sales activities and must be
smart and good looking with positive attitude. Soon he became frustrated because of long hour of
job, lots of traveling and lack of communication skills. He has not enough information about
these occupational fields and decided to leave the job. During that particular time he become
more concern about the types of job industry he analyze his strengths and weakness. After
assessing his talent strengths and weakness he realizes that he is better at IT sector where he can
use his talent. Now he is at Daraz.com as a business de business development analyst.

Case #5 Tahmina Tisha

Tahmina Tisha is doing job at Bikroy.com as a HR executive. Her job is to Designing

compensation and benefits packages. Implementing performance review procedures (e.g.

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quarterly/annual and 360° evaluations).Developing fair HR policies and ensuring employees
understand and comply with them.

Education

Tahmina Tisha passed SSC from Bangla Bazaar Govt Girls High School and HSC from City
College. Then she got herself admitted into East West University complete her BBA from there.
During her student life she was involved in various kinds of club and lead son many social group
and project. She likes to challenge herself and every day. She set her goals high but at the same
time it is realistic too. Right now she is doing EMBA from Dhaka University in Tourism and
Hospitality Management.

Work life

After finishing her BBA she joined Bikroy.com as a HR executive. Because of her well
communication skills she was doing ok but as days progress she find her job boring. Everything
is structured following the same rules and duties over and over again. She wanted to do more
challenging job where growth is more rapid and performance oriented. One day she attends a
seminar on Tourism and Hospitality. She finds it more suitable because she likes to travel like to
meet new people and less structured jobs. But before she joins any jobs she has decided to
complete her graduation and gather more information about this sector.

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Survey Questionnaire Results

No. Questions Responses

1. Gender Male Female
(70%) (30%)
2. Age Group 20- 25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41+
(20%) (50%) (20%) (10%) (0%)
3. Do you think career Yes No Confused
exploration is important? (50%) (40%) (10%)
4. Have you ever conducted at Yes No
least one job shadowing or (30%) (70%)
informational interview
experience with a
professional in a field that
you are considering for your
future?
5. Have you ever obtained Never Somewhat Moderate Substantial A Great
information on specific jobs (0%) (20%) Amount Amount Deal
or companies? (50% (30%) (0%)
6. Can you identify at least one Yes No
person on campus (e.g. (70%) (30%)
faculty member, advisor,
career coach, resident
director, mentor, etc.) with
whom you had an ongoing
conversation about your
career path?
7. Have you participated in or Yes No
scheduled a career coaching (20%) (80%)
appointment through the
Career Center to lay out a

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 career development plan?
8. How satisfied are you with Very Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very
your current work life Dissatisfied (20%) (30%) Satisfied
balance? (40%) (0%)
(10%)
9. Do you think your first job is Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly
a part of career exploration? Agree (60%) (20%) Disagree
(10%) (0%)

10. Do you ever consider doing Yes No

an internship to learn about a (60%) (40%)
work field and get
experience?
11. What is the most important Practical Knowledge Theoretical
factor during career (80%) Knowledge
exploration? (20%)

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Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Survey Findings

Question 3: Do you think career exploration is important?

60%

50%
50%

40%
40%

30%

20%

10%
10%

0%
Yes No Confused

3. Do you think career Yes No Confused

exploration is important? (50%) (40%) (10%)

Quantitative Analysis
After conducting survey, about 50% of the respondent said that career exploration is important
while 40% people are against it. 10% are unsure and confused of the term ‘career exploration’.
Majority of the people thinks career exploration is important.

Qualitative Analysis
We know that career exploration involves exploring career options which include gathering and
evaluating data or information about oneself, in order to determine fit between different available
opportunities. Most of the respondent believes that career exploration option is crucial to career
success but often it may not be put into practice as not everyone think about their career
beforehand.

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Question 4: Have you ever conducted at least one job shadowing or informational interview
experience with a professional in a field that you are considering for your future?

80%

70%
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%
30%

20%

10%

0%
Yes No

4. Have you ever conducted at Yes No

least one job shadowing or (30%) (70%)
informational interview
experience with a
professional in a field that
you are considering for your
future?

Quantitative Analysis
About 30% of the respondent said that they conducted at least one job shadowing or
informational interview experience with a professional while 70% didn’t. Majority of the people
did not do any type of job shadowing or information interview experience in their life.

Qualitative Analysis
We know that job shadowing is a type of on-the-job employee job training in which a new

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employee or an employee desiring to become familiar with a different job, follows and observes
a trained and experienced employee. Since majority of respondent did not take part in job
shadowing, this indicates that the respondent was too busy with his/her own job to give an effort
to gain additional comprehensive knowledge about other employee’s job.

Question 6: Can you identify at least one person on campus (e.g., faculty member, advisor,
career coach, resident director, mentor, etc.) with whom you had an ongoing conversation
about your career path?

80%

70%
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%
30%

20%

10%

0%
Yes No

6. Can you identify at least one Yes No

person on campus (e.g. faculty (70%) (30%)
member, advisor, career coach,
resident director, mentor, etc.)
with whom you had an ongoing
conversation about your career
path?

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Quantitative Analysis
After survey we can see that, about 70% of the respondent said that career exploration is
important while the rest 30% people are against it. High number of people had at least one
person on campus with which they had an ongoing conversation about their career path.

Qualitative Analysis
We are able to conclude that a person’s career path is somehow dependent on other people. The
respondents would seek for career advices among other people in campus to get a broad
knowledge and opportunities in career options.

Question 9: Do you think your first job is a part of career exploration?

70%

60%
60%

50%

40%

30%

20%
20%

10%
10%

0%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

9. Do you think your first job Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

is a part of career Agree (60%) (20%) Disagree
exploration? (10%) (0%)

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Quantitative Analysis
Majority of the respondent gave a positive response. 60% agreed with 10% even strongly agreed
with their thought on their first job being a part of career exploration. While few people as 20%
disagreed with no one strongly disagreed.

Qualitative Analysis
Since majority of the respondent agreed to the fact that first job is a part of career exploration,
because, in Bangladesh perspective, most people has the tendency to switch jobs or career to
what they are comfortable with. Sometimes without proper career exploration a person may find
himself lost and in a wrong career. So, their first job may not always be right for them.

Question 10: Do you ever consider doing an internship to learn about a work field and get
experience?

70%
60%
60%
50%
40%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes No

10. Do you ever consider doing Yes No

an internship to learn about (60%) (40%)
a work field and get
experience?

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Quantitative Analysis
After conducting survey we got about 60% people who consider doing internship as part of
career exploration and 4% said no. More than half people assume that work related experience
provide positive value in career persuasion.

Qualitative Analysis
Sometimes students don’t get opportunity to have work related experience. Which lead
misconception about work and fail to have real information about working atmosphere and
particular organization. People likes to explore their career through intern experience which give
them real information and insight the company. People who are heavily dependent on theoretical
knowledge create a negative point of view about doing intern.

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Limitations of the Study

The sample size of the survey is small of 10 people to represent the entire population of Dhaka
University. Some of the respondents were hesitant as they were giving out information, and some
of them were not eager to fill my questionnaire.

Finding adequate secondary data was difficult too, and, in the end, We could only gather general
information from my secondary research due to the total absence of any previous research work
about this topic in Bangladesh’s context.

Recommendations

When it comes to career establishment, practical knowledge is more useful than theoretical
knowledge as it shows how a person will act in a real-life setting. One can always acquire
endless amounts of education in their life, however, that knowledge doesn’t always translate to
the working life. An internship can be a great way as it provides real life experience and
exposure.

A person may not know what career is best for him right from the start but doing proper career
exploration and self assessment he or she will be able to minimize the dilemma. A person’s
career should be about their own interests, values, and skills and should not be dependent on to
other people’s saying or belief.

The only thing that is consistent in life is change. In an ever changing and unstable environment,
like in Bangladesh, it is always best to keep the option of career open and be flexible. Before
deciding to change one’s career, it is important to take the time to evaluate their present situation,
to explore career options and to choose a career that will be more satisfying for them. A person
may never find their dream career without taking risks.

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Conclusion

Career exploration is indeed an important tool for career development and has a distinct impact
on career persuasion. By identifying and analyzing the degree of exploration helps to analyze the
overall practice and particular reasons behind the situation. Through career exploration, one can
easily sort out own strengths and weaknesses that will help to identify the best workplace
according to the personal characteristics

Career exploration can improve knowledge of career options, encouraging them to develop and
work toward goals during the years with a better understanding of the working world. People are
able to envision how they fit successfully knowing the preparation they will need for specific
careers, participants also become better able to set realistic goals for themselves and pursue
them.

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Bibliography

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Dahl, D., & Sykes, R. (1988). Charting your goals. New York: Perennial Library.

McGuire, K., &Schachter, J. (1979). Career planning. Boston, Mass.: Life/Career Planning
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Power, S. (2010). Career management tactical innovations and successful inter organizational
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Reardon, R. (2000). Career development and planning. Australia: Brooks/Cole.

Rose, P. (2017). The Intern to Employee Career Transition. Journal Of Career

Development, 45(6), 566-579.

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Tisha, T. (2018). Impacts of Career Exploration on successful career persuasion [In person].
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Appendix

 10 Filled Survey Questionnaires for Primary Research (Attached)

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