When I began my career as a counselor, a phone and good communication skills were two of the biggest assets I had. Later, it boggled my mind how any school counselor with a computer (which means just about every one of them!) could be ineffective in helping students with career planning. When you search "student career inventories", you get over 200 thousand results! The trick is picking out a good one and here's where the counselor should come in. I'll review three possibilities of good places to start to help assess a middle/high school student's career interests. Remember to check with your/your child's counselor to see what they suggest and if the school district offers this service to their students.
Strong Career Tests/Interest Inventories are available at http://www.discoveryourpersonality.com/.
The site gives a complete list of career tests they offer and a video gives advice as to which test might be right for you/your child. The Strong Interest Inventory Profile with High School Profile is very comprehensive and includes suggestions as to which high school courses correspond to the individual's areas of interest. A sample of a profile may be viewed online. This option is pretty pricey at $110 for each inventory but the reports are very detailed and easy to understand. The price includes an optional phone consultation to answer any questions you may have.
A much more affordable option is available for $18 plus tax at http://psychcorp.pearsonassessments.com/. The Campbell Interest and Skill Survey focuses on careers that require some post secondary education. It is geared to students 15 and older with a 6th grade reading level. It includes interest and self-rated skill items. It takes between 25-40 minutes and doesn't need to be completed in one computer session. Having people self-rate their skills may skew the results, but I like the fact that the ability component is at least taken into account. The students can access a twenty page printable report with results of their interests and abilities in various occupations/occupational areas. An eighteen page Career Planner is also part of the package.
An even more affordable option (You can't beat FREE!!!) is to use http://www.college.gov/, a website run by the Federal Department of Education. While I don't like the implied emphasis on college, as not everyone should or need go, a student can use this site as a portal to CareerOneStop. This site is run by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The student is taken to a page that asks them if they are interested in: Math; Reading: Science; Social Studies; Music and Arts; Building and Fixing Things; Helping People; Computers; Law; Managing Money; Sports or Nature. This site can be used in conjunction with the results of an interest invenory or alone. It taps into what a student might already find interesting or things she feels she does well. It's so easily navigable and readable that students might explore pages and careers that they formerly hadn't thought of.
In honor of Labor Day, I'm taking next Wednesday off - how oxymoronic! (If you think teaching is easy, notice how many parents are smiling more broadly as September 1 approaches!) On September 8, I'll discuss this Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) site in more depth and how to use the information it provides.
No comments:
Post a Comment