If you find yourself searching the internet for How To Find Your Dream Career more often than you’d like to admit then this article could be the very answer you’ve been longing for and assist you in finally figuring out what you want to do with your life.
Read more on How To Find Your Dream Career in The Year 2006…
As teachers and counselors, you help students explore careers.
You aid your students as they search for meaning, purpose, and direction.
You see their talents.
You know their interests, abilities, and skills.
You help students plan for the future.
You understand students. You know that students -
Are curious
Love colorful, multimedia presentations
Use their senses and imaginations in career exploration
You have searched for tools that will help you unlock their potentials.
Tips for Finding the Right Career Tool
Career tools help your students explore who they really are. Career tools include career tests, assessments, games, web sites, and books. Career tests answer the question “Who am I?” Career assessments point out your students’ likes, dislikes, or interests. Kid career tools should be fun, educational, and not boring.
Search for the resource that meets your students’ needs. Look at the benefits. Find tests, assessments, games, web sites, and books that are -
Eye appealing
Easy to use
Full of resources
With the right resource, students are ready and willing to -
Explore
Investigate
Learn
Ask questions
Enjoy discovering who they are
Gain knowledge, wisdom, and understanding
An effective career tool motivates your students to explore careers. Creative career tools build a foundation for more detailed career exploration.
Step One: Select a Career Test
How do you choose the right career test? Look at 3 major areas -
Format, e.g. Printed, CD-ROM, or on-line
Cost -$10, $12, $15, $20 or more
Resources – Information on interests, skills, and careers
When you look at a career test, ask yourself the following questions -
What do your students prefer? Printed or on-line career test?
What is your budget for the tests?
What resources do you have? Do you have a computer lab?
Find career tests that your students are interested in and that provide valuable information about careers and your student’s interests. Look at career tests that use well-known career models. Match students’ interest clusters to career or job codes. Use newer color-coded career tests that simply career models. The use of colors improves attention span, concentration, memory skills, and understanding. As students grow older, continue to use career models expand their knowledge of careers and college majors. There are a variety of career tests for youth, college students, and adults.
Step Two: Explore Career Web Sites and Books
Career tests prepare students to explore careers. Gather information about fun, informative, and attractive career exploration web sites and books. Look for web sites and books that provide career information about -
Tasks
Wages
Career outlook
Interests
Education
Knowledge
Skills
Similar careers
Examples of kid career explorationweb sites and books are -
Career Ship
What Do You Like
Eek! Get a Job
GetTech.org
LifeWorks
Young Person’s Occupational Outlook Handbook
Career Ideas for Kids Book Series
I Want To Be Book Series
Career exploration is a process. As teachers and counselors, use resources that make your journey enjoyable, educational, and effective. Plan successful kid career exploration expeditions.
Read more on Teachers and Counselors, Help Your Students Become Career Explorers…
As a psychologist and career counselor, I have worked with thousands of people over the years who are choosing or changing careers, and who are wondering whether they would really like to be in a particular career. Based on this experience, I believe that most people who want to go into a career they think they’d like do not really explore the questions they need to in order to be sure that it’s the right career for them.
Read more on Will the New Job or New Career Choice I Like be the Right Career for Me?…
Career coach program is a special program designed to help you explore the career opportunities in your field of interest, teach you to set your career goal, and how to plan your career path to achieve your career goal. A student who are looking for a career related college degree, a fresh graduate who just going to enter the job market or a working adult who are looking for career advancement or career switch may benefit from a career coach program. Let’s find out how a career coach program will benefit you in helping you to find your dream career and achieve your career goal in the shortest period of time.
Read more on How a Career Coach Program Can Help you Find your Dream Career?…
Career assessments and tests help you explore who you. Career books and web sites give you a glimpse of the world of work. Free career information is available on web sites. Some writers have written facts for children and teens. We would like to share some information with you. These web sites use graphics, multimedia presentation, activities, and other techniques to expand our knowledge of careers. We have written information on seventeen (17) web sites. Here are the four different types of exploring careers web sites:
Curriculum
General Career Information
Science Career Clusters
Specific Science Careers
Curriculum Web Sites
Curriculum web sites provide activities, tests, guidelines, as well as career information.
Resource One: Career Cruiser
Source: Florida Department of Education
The Career Cruiser is a career exploration guidebook for middle school students. The Career Cruiser has self assessment activities to match personal interests to careers. The Career Cruiser has information on Holland Codes. Careers are grouped into 16 career clusters. The Career Cruiser has information on occupational descriptions, average earnings, and minimum educational level required for the job.
Teacher’s Guide is also available.
Resource Two: Elementary Core Career Connection
Source: Utah State Office of Education
The Core Career Connections is a collection of instructional activities, K to 6, and 7 to 8, designed by teachers, counselors, and parents. Each grade level has instructional activities that align directly with the Utah State Core. This instructional resource provides a framework for teachers, counselors, and parents to integrate career awareness with the elementary and middle level grade students.
Career Information Web Sites
Some web sites provide excellent career information. Some web sites list facts about job tasks, wages, career outlook, interests, education, and more.
Resource Three: Career Voyages
Source: U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education
The Career Voyages web site is a Career Exploration web site for Elementary School students. The Career Voyages web site has information about the following industries:
Advanced Manufacturing
Automotive
Construction
Energy
Financial Services
Health Care
Hospitality
Information Technology
Retail
Transportation
Aerospace and the “BioGeoNano” Technologies
Resource Four: Career Ship
Source: New York State Department of Labor
Career Ship is a free online career exploration tool for middle and high school students.
Career Ship uses Holland Codes and the O*NET Career Exploration Tools. For each career, Career Ship provides the following information:
Tasks
Wages
Career outlook
Interests
Education
Knowledge
Skills
Similar careers
Career Ship is a product of Mapping Your Future, a public service web site providing career, college, financial aid, and financial literacy information and services.
RESOURCE FIVE: Career Zone
Source: New York State Department of Labor
Career Zone is a career exploration and planning system. Career Zone has an assessment activity that identifies Holland Codes. Career Zone provides information on 900 careers from the new O*NET Database, the latest labor market information from the NYS Department of Labor and interactive career portfolios for middle and high school students that connect to the NYS Education Department Career Plan initiative. Career Zone has links to college exploration and planning resources, 300 career videos, resume builder, reference list maker, and cover letter application.
Resource Six: Destination 2020
Source: Canada Career Consortium
Destination 2020 helps youth discover how everyday tasks can help them build skills they will need to face the many challenges of the workforce.
Skills are linked to:
School Subjects
Other School Activities
Play Activities At Home
Work at Home
Through quizzes, activities and articles, they might actually find some answers or, at least, a direction about their future. There are more than 200 profiles of real people who are describing what a day at work is like for them.
Resource Seven: What Do You Like
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
What Do You Like is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Career web site for kids. The web site provides career information for students in Grades 4 to 8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most of the material on the site has been adapted from the Bureau’s Occupational Outlook Handbook,a career guidance publication for adults and upper level high school students that describes the job duties, working conditions, training requirements, earnings levels, and employment prospects of hundreds of occupations. Careers are matched to interests and hobbies. In the Teacher’s Guide, there are twelve categories and their corresponding occupations.
Science Career Clusters
Some organizations have created web sites that feature science careers.
Resource Eight: EEK! Get a Job Environmental Education for Kids
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Eek! Get a Job Environmental Education for Kids is an electronic magazine for kids in grades 4 to 8. Eek! Get a Job provides information about:
Forestry
Hydrogeologist
Engineering
Herpetologist
Park Ranger
Wildlife Biologist
Park Naturalist
There is a job description for each career, a list of job activities, suggested activities to begin exploring careers, and needed job skills.
Resource Nine: GetTech.org
Source: National Association of Manufacturers, Center for Workforce Success, U.S. Department of Commerce, and U.S Department of Labor
GetTech.org is a educational web site that provides CAREER EXPLORATION information. GetTech.org has information about the following industries:
New Manufacturing
Information Technology
Engineering and Industrial Technology
Biotechnology and Chemistry
Health and Medicine
Arts & Design
Within each area, there are examples of careers.
Each career profile gives:
General description
Salary
Number of people employed to job
Number of jobs available in the future
Place of work
Level of education required
Location of training programs: University Pharmacy Programs.
Courses needed
There is a GetTech.org Teacher’s Guide.
Resource Ten: LifeWorks
Source: National Institutes of Health, Office of Science Education
LifeWorks is a career exploration web site for middle and high school students. LifeWorks has information on more than 100 medical science and health careers. For each career, LifeWorks has the following information:
Title
Education required
Interest area
Median salary
True stories of people who do the different jobs
LifeWorks has a Career Finder that allows you to search by Name of Job, Interest Area, Education Required, or Salary.
Resource Eleven: San Diego Zoo Job Profiles for Kids
Source: San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo Job Profiles discussed jobs for people who:
Work with animals
Work with plants
Work with science and conservation
Work with people
Work that helps run the Zoo and Park
There are activities listed under each area, for example:
What we do
What is cool about this job
Job challenges
How this job helps animals
How to get a job like this
Practice Being a …
How to Become a …
Resource Twelve: Scientists in Action!
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior
Scientists in Action features summaries of the lives of people involved in careers in the natural sciences:
Mapping the planets
Sampling the ocean floor
Protecting wildlife
Forecasting volcanic eruptions
Resource Twelve: Want To Be a Scientist?
Source: Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of the Agriculture
Want To Be a Scientist is a career exploration web site for kids about 8 to 13 years old. Want To Be a Scientist has a series of job descriptions, stories, and other resources about what scientists do here at the ARS.
These stories include information about:
Plant Pathologist
Chemist
Soil Scientist
Entomologist
Animal Scientist
Microscopist
Plant Physiologist
Specific Science Careers
The last group of web sites is dedicated to providing information on specific science careers, for example veterinarians,
Resource Thirteen: About Veterinarians
Source: American Veterinary Medical Association
About Veterinarians has facts about:
What is a Veterinarian?
Becoming a Veterinarian
Making a Career Decision
What Personal Abilities Does a Veterinarian Need?
What Are the Pluses and Minuses of a Veterinary Career?
Veterinary Education
General Information
After Graduation From Veterinary School
General Information
School Statistics
Preparation Advice
Preveterinary Coursework
Where Most Schools Are Located
About School Accreditation
The Phases of Professional Study
The Clinical Curriculum
The Academic Experience
Roles of Veterinarians
Private Practice
Teaching and Research
Regulatory Medicine
Public Health
Uniformed Services
Private Industry
Employment Outlook
Employment Forecast
The Advantage of Specializing
Statistics
Greatest Potential Growth Areas
Other Professional Directions
AVMA Veterinary Career Center
Becoming a Veterinary Technician
Your Career in Veterinary Technology
Duties and Responsibilities
Career Opportunities
Education Required
Distance Learning
Salary
Professional Regulations
Organizations
Further Information
Resource Fourteen: Aquarium Careers
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Aquarium Careers features careers information. For each Staff Profiles, there is Educational Background and Skills Needed. The Staff Profiles include:
Aquarist
Education Specialist
Exhibits Coordinator
Exhibit Designer
Research Biologist
Science Writer
The Aquarium Careers web site answers the following questions:
What should I do now to prepare for a career in marine biology?
Where can I find a good college for marine biology?
What should be my college major?
How do I pick a graduate school?
I’m not sure of my area of interest. What should I do?
Marine Science Career Resources include information on:
Marine Advanced Technology Education
Marine Mammal Center, California
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
Scripps Library
Sea Grant
Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Resource Fifteen: Engineering The Stealth Profession
Source: Discoverengineering.org
Engineering The Stealth Profession has a lot of information about engineers:
Types of Engineers
Aerospace Engineering
Ceramic/Materials Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Electrical/Computer Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Manufacturing Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Other Engineers
True Stories
Salaries
Education Required
Work Schedules
Equipment Used
Resource Sixteen: Sea Grant Marine Careers
Source: Marinecareers.net
Sea Grant Marine Careers gives you facts about marine career fields and to people working in those fields. Sea Grant Marine Careers outlines information on:
Marine Biology
Oceanography
Ocean Engineering
Related Fields
In each area, there is a detailed description of the type of the work that the scientists do. There are feature stories for different scientists in the career field.
The career profiles include information on:
What is your current job and what does it entail?
What was the key factor in your career decision?
What do you like most about your career?
What do you like least about your career?
What do you do to relax?
Who are your heroes/heroines?
What advice would you give a high school student who expressed an interest in pursuing a career in your field?
Are career opportunities in your field increasing or decreasing and why?
What will you be doing 10 years from today?
What is the salary range?
Resource Seventeen: Do You Want to Become a Volcanologist?
Source: Marinecareers.net
Do You Want to Become a Volcanologist? provides the following descriptions:
The Word Volcanologist
Daily work
Traits for success
Education
Salaries
Career web sites help you build awareness of the different aspects of careers: the tasks, wages, career outlook, interests, education, knowledge, and skills. We know that you will be fun exploring careers.
Since 1960s, career cluster resources have been used as career exploration and planning tools in schools, learning communities, and organizations across the nation. Career Clusters is a system that matches educational and career planning.
Read more on Career Clusters, a Bridge Between Education and Career Planning…
A wealth of information exists that explains the relationships between school subjects and careers. Across the nation, children, teens, teachers, and counselors use Career Interests Areas or Clusters to explore careers and to make school study plans. There are sixteen (16) Interests Areas or Clusters:
1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources
2. Architecture & Construction
3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication
4. Business, Management & Administration
5. Education & Training
6. Finance
7. Government & Public Administration
8. Health Science
9. Hospitality & Tourism
10. Human Services
11. Information Technology
12. Law, Public Safety & Security
13. Manufacturing
14. Marketing, Sales & Service
15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
States and federal agencies across the nation have created career cluster web sites and resources. We have reviewed three (3) of the best state or federal agency web sites.
Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA)
One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. Using the Lisa, you can do the following tasks:
Assessment: Explore career options using the Work Importance Locator.
I Enjoy: Find careers based upon the things that you enjoy.
Cluster: Find careers from Career Cluster Groups.
Search: Search for jobs based on knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Best Match: Use your current job to find knowledge, skills, and abilities to identify a new career.
Compare: Compare current job to potential new job.
Profile: Use this feature to create a profile from a selected career.
There are 3 steps in the LISA program. In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will read the description of the cluster. When you select a career cluster in Step 2, you can select a career group. In each career group, you will see a lot of different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see additional occupational information, such as:
Job descriptions
Educational and training requirements
Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
Abilities
Knowledge
Skills
Tasks
Work Values
Labor Market Information
There is detailed information in each job profile:
Description
Crosswalk
Abilities
Knowledge
Skills
Tasks
Work Values
Occupational Characteristics Narrative
The Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA) is an excellent tool for students to do career cluster exploration.
NCE Career Clusters and State Career Clusters Initiative Resources
The NCE Career Clusters has adapted information from the State Career Clusters Initiative to create a career education toolkit for teachers and counselors. In your NCE Career Clusters toolkit, you can find a Career Cluster Model, poster, resource booklets, At-a-Glance PDF Slices, and Plans of Study. Each resource is designed to facilitate the exploration of Career Clusters.
Career Cluster Resource Booklet
To prepare for a Career Clusters discussion, teachers and counselors use the State Career Clusters Initiative Career Cluster Resource Booklet. The brochures discuss the differences between career clusters and career pathways. The booklet outlines that career clusters are career groups from the same industry that have the same skills and educational requirements. Career pathways are specific careers that are within the each career cluster. The Resource Booklet discusses the following topics:
Historical background information
Cluster Knowledge and Skills
Pathway Knowledge and Skills
O*NET Crosswalk Report
Validation Studies
Assessment Protocol
Certification Protocol
The booklet is a “must-read” resource that provides in depth information on each career cluster. Each booklet has detailed graphs, charts, and tables.
Career Cluster Model
To provide an overview of Career Clusters, teachers and counselors use the Career Cluster Model. The Career Cluster Model simplifies sixteen (16) Career Clusters model. The center of the NCE Career Clusters model focuses on six (6) major groups. The career clusters are color-coded so that you can easily present six (6) major groups in classroom activities. The six (6) major groups are:
1. Environmental and Agricultural Systems
2. Business, Marketing, and Management
3. Communication and Information Systems
4. Industrial, Manufacturing, Engineering Systems
5. Health Sciences
6. Human Services and Resources
Here is summary of the relationship between the sixteen (16) Career Clusters and the 6 Super Clusters.
1. Environmental and Agricultural Systems
Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources (1)
2. Business, Marketing, and Management combines:
Business, Management & Administration (4)
Finance (6)
Hospitality & Tourism (9)
Marketing, Sales & Service (14)
3. Communication and Information Systems involve:
Arts, A/V Technology & Communication (3)
Information Technology (11)
4. Industrial, Manufacturing, Engineering Systems
Transportation, Distribution & Logistics (16)
Architecture & Construction (2)
Manufacturing (13)
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (15)
5. Health Sciences
Health Science (8)
6. Human Services and Resources
Education & Training (5)
Government & Public Administration (7)
Human Services (10)
Law, Public Safety & Security (12)
The sixteen (16) Career Clusters systematically fit within the six (6) major groups.
Career Cluster Brochure
Another excellent career cluster student aid is the Career Cluster Brochure. The brochure is filled with photographs that show people performing the different jobs. With this easy-to-read booklet, students get an overview of the different careers, career clusters, and career pathways. Students read about:
What is a career cluster?
What is a career pathway?
What school subjects are important for a career in the … career cluster?
What is the educational or training requirement for a career in the … career cluster?
What are the necessary credentials for a career in the … career cluster?
What is the employment outlook for a career in the … career cluster?
What are some sample occupations?
Career Cluster Slices
Besides the Career Cluster Model and the Brochure, a third student Career Cluster aid is the NCE Career Cluster Slices. The NCE Career Cluster Slice identifies specific career opportunities found within each Career Pathways. Each Cluster Slice is illustrated and designed to explore areas, such as:
Cluster Description
Pathway Description
Cluster Knowledge & Skills
Career Field
Preparation for a Career in …
Examples of Education and Training Postsecondary Programs of Study
Students discover that each pathways leads to post-secondary options including:
Apprenticeships
Certificates
Licenses
Associate’s Degree Programs
Bachelor’s Degree Programs
Master’s Degree Programs
Doctoral Degree Programs
Professional Degree Programs
Career Clusters Plan of Study
At the beginning of the students’ middle school years, the students use assessments identify career cluster interest areas. With the Career Clusters model, brochure, Slices, and LISA resources, the students have explored the different careers and post-secondary training options. Students, teachers, counselors, and parents then use the Career Clusters Plan of Study to strategically plan the students’ high school course work. The Career Clusters Plan of Study provides examples of English, Math, Science, Social Studies, electives, and extra-curricular activities for the following grade levels:
7th – 8th grade
9th – 10th grade
11th – 12th grade
Examples of advanced coursework for postsecondary credit
The NCE Career Clusters web page is the gateway to the student career cluster resources.
State Career Clusters Initiative, NCE, and Lisa materials are just examples of career cluster resources. Career clusters resources have established a connection between school subjects and careers.
Resources:
Explore Career Clusters, Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources (TWC/CDR), US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, and Louisiana Department of Labor
Nebraska Career Education, States’ Career Clusters Initiative, 2005, and NCTEF/NASDCTEc (National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium) States’ Career Clusters Initiative, & National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium
State Career Clusters Initiative Washington, DC: National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, 2002
Read more on Career Clusters Close the Gap Between Schools Subjects and Careers…
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For college students, gaining work experience with a part time job while in school is a smart idea. When you graduate and begin your job search, your work experience will make you stand out from other job applicants.
Read more on Get a Part-Time Job Now for Your Future Career after Graduation – Let me tell you why…
Many young people troop about looking for jobs but very few eventually get hired. Many employers are looking for young smart people to work for them, however, a handful of our young people are interviewed and hired. So why are they not getting jobs? Why are the employers not hiring freely?
Read more on Careers Nigeria for Nigeria Graduate Jobs-Attracting Employers for Interview…
When the going gets tough, the tough get…creative. With over 11 million people in the country now out of work and the unemployment rate up to over 9%, competition in the job market is getting hotter than ever.
Gone are the days when waiting for job advertisements to come up or visiting your local employment agency were enough. Jobseekers these days are having to be proactive in their campaign, and more than ever they are having to make sure that they stand out from the competition – or eliminate it altogether.
So, what is the answer? Does a guy or a gal have to don a clown costume or run amok with a pitchfork to get noticed these days? In short, no. There is an easier, and a more legal way, and it is called branding.
Branding is a marketing term which is all about deliberately and consciously creating an image that ‘customers’ can form an emotional attachment to. It is what gives them that warm, fuzzy feeling when they think about a particular product or service or company, and when it comes to the moment of choice, it is what ‘pre-sells’ one commodity over another. In the same way that BMW conjures up images of sleek style and remarkable performance, branding makes your name synonymous with the job that you want and the skills and qualities that a prospective employer needs.
Make no mistake, you have a brand image already, whether you realize it or not – it just might not be one that you are comfortable with. Put yourself in a prospective employer’s shoes – but do it honestly. What would you think of you? Do you see a guy who always does a good job and does it on time, or someone with a ‘can’t do’ attitude who is lacking in motivation? If it is the latter, then maybe now is the time to re-invent yourself.
Honest self-analysis is one of the keys to successful personal branding, and you can make a start on this by taking a good, hard look at your strengths and weaknesses. List your skills, qualifications and experience. Hone in on your positive personality traits. Consider the areas where there may be weaknesses, things that you can address and improve upon. Keep an image in the back of your mind of the person that you want a prospective employer to see when you walk in through the door, and make yourself that person.
Branding is not about eliminating the fun things, the quirkiness, from your personality. It is about recognizing and capitalizing on your marketable qualities, and about growing those qualities to make you even more desirable within the job market. It is about making a personal promise to a potential employer that will make him feel reassured and confident.
When you have a clearer idea of what it is that you want to project to the outside world, verbalize it. Create your own branding statement – a short, succinct statement that sums up what you are best at and what your unique promise of value to an employer is. This is not merely a job title, but a statement that sums up your skills, your abilities and your uniqueness.
Once you have done this, put your branding statement absolutely everywhere – on your business cards, website, blog, Facebook account and anywhere else you can think of. Make your brand part of every offline and online interaction that you have. Research the market and the industry you want to be in, identify potential employers and network your way into the job you want. With a strong brand that not only promises, but delivers, your reputation will precede you and open the doors to that inner sanctum, the ‘hidden’ market.
Created your brand already? What is your promise of value to a potential employer or your killer branding statement?
