1. Chapter 3.1
Exploring Careers

2. Before you Read – Read to Learn
How to use formal and informal methods to research careers
How to evaluate sources of career information
How to identify work experience that can help you explore careers
Before you Read – Read to Learn

3. Exploring Careers will help you find the employment possibilities that best match your interests, values and personal needs
Main Idea

4. Researching Career Options
Learning from Experience
Key Concepts

5. Key Terms Career Clusters Exploratory Interview Temp Work
Cooperative Program
Job Shadowing
Internship
Service Learning
Key Terms

6. Researching Career Options
The US Department of Education has organized careers into 16 different career clusters
Researching Career Options
Key Term: Career Clusters – groups of related occupations
View career cluster chart in book

7. Researching Career Options
To research career options, you need to know how to find sources of information.
Researching Career Options
Primary Source
Original Information
Secondary Source
Information that other people have gathered

8. You can discover some of what the world has to offer simply by keeping your eyes and ears open
Interview people you know about their career experiences and ask the following questions:
What was your favorite job?
What was your least favorite job?
What was your most unusual job?
How do you like your current job?
Informal Search

9. Finding Career Inspiration
You can find inspiration by observing and interacting with individuals
You can also find inspiration through characters portrayed in visual, print, and digital media
Finding Career Inspiration

10. Formal research is fully developed, formally presented, and gives you enough information to act on your ideas
As you research, keep a log of what you find
When you find a source, write the author or name of the organization that put the information together
As you find information, you will need to determine how credible the sources are
Check the information against other sources you have found
Formal Research

11. Formal Research Sources in Libraries Reference books:
The Occupational Outlook Handbook
The Guide for Occupational Exploration
Magazines
Wired, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, and Business Week
CDs
DVDs
Librarians
Formal Research

12. Formal Research Internet Career Resources
Employment or job skill Web sites
Online bulletin boards
Local, national and international job posting sites
Specific company or organization Web sites
Government sites such as O*Net
Formal Research

13. Most Career Web sites list job opportunities according to industry title, key duties, location, and other criteria. When searching online, choose specific search terms
Since anyone can post information on the Internet, you need to make sure the information you sue is from a credible source
Formal Research

14. Exploratory Interviews
Key Term:
Exploratory Interview: a short, informal talk with someone who works in a career that appeals to you
Exploratory Interviews
Build a list of people who work in careers that you find interesting.
Call someone on the list and set up an exploratory interview
Exploratory Interview Questions:
How did you start your career?
What education and training did it require?
What do you like about your job?
What do you do during a typical workday?

15. Learning from Experience
By working part-time, you will gain experience, make personal contacts, and put some money in your pocket at the same time.
Temp work gives an opportunity to develop job skills, learn about different work environments, and develop contacts.
Learning from Experience
A Cooperative program can give you a chance to learn job skills while you are still in high school
Cooperative Program: An arrangement in which local businesses team up with schools, hiring students to perform jobs that use knowledge and skills taught in their school classes
Job Shadowing can help you learn firsthand what it would be like to work in a particular field
Job shadowing: following a worker on the job for a few days

16. Learning from Experience Continued
Volunteering, Internships, and Community Work
Learning from Experience Continued
Many communities and schools offer service learning programs as a way to explore careers
Service learning is connecting academic work with community service, allowing students to explore issues discussed in the classroom through personal experiences and community work
Volunteer work is work you do without receiving pay
Volunteers gain valuable experience that can help them make career decisions
An Internship can sometimes lead to full- time, paying position.
An Internship is a short-term job or work project that usually requires formal commitment

17. Exit Ticket On Notebook Paper – Answer the following questions:
Describe one informal method of researching careers
Explain how unpaid volunteer work might help you choose a career
What is one question you may ask during an exploratory interview?
Name one formal method of researching careers
Name one of the 16 career clusters you are interested in