It's not if you're smart, it's how you're smart

Phil Jarvis, from Canada's National Life/Work Centre presented ‘It’s not if you’re smart, it’s how you’re smart’ at the Transforming Careers, Unleashing Potential International Careers Conference, held in Wellington on 19-21 November 2009.

Phil's presentation discussed how Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (and Thomas Armstrong's popularisation of the concept) can be used as a career exploration tool.

Highlights from the presentation

The Smart Options Plus resource

The Smart Options Plus resource is based on the idea that:

all of us have all the multiple intelligences, but in different proportions.
all intelligences can be learned and developed to higher levels.

Eight intelligences or ‘smarts’

There are eight different types of "smarts":

Word - effective use of spoken language or written language ability.
Number and reasoning - efficient use of numbers and reasoning ability.
Picture - precise sense of visual space.
Body - using the whole body to express thoughts and feelings.
Music - detection, identification, change and the ability to express music.
People - awareness of and ability to differentiate between other people's emotions, intentions, motivation and sensory capabilities.
Self - self-knowledge and the capacity to act accordingly.
Nature - good at observing nature and identifying the capacity of the natural world.

Key benefits of the Smart Options Plus resource

Smart Options Plus can help young people by:

boosting self-esteem through identification of personal strengths
giving them a richer understanding of themselves
teaching them how they can use their "smarts" to carve out more meaningful lives and careers.

Six steps to Smart Options

The Smart Options resource book takes participants through six steps on a "Smart Path":

Your smarts – descriptions of the eight intelligences (smarts) and checklists for understanding your own personal smarts.
Thinking smart – how smarts can be applied to career exploration.
Working your smarts – developing Smarts Profile and using it to identify career possibilities.
Building your smarts – how to build each of their smarts.
Smart resumes – how to create Smart Resumes.
Smart interviews – how to prepare to perform well in Smart Interviews.

The facilitator's guide provides step-by-step directions for leading participants through their Smart Books, and includes background information and a brief bibliography.

The resource also includes a poster summarising the eight types of smarts, and highlights examples of jobs that require particular strength in each of the different smarts.