Connecting Skills and Interests to Career Options
No matter what your student’s immediate post-graduation goals are — college or otherwise — careful planning for a successful career starts in high school.
Why It Matters
- Coursework selection is critical.
Depending on whether your student has been placed in a specific track for certain subjects, such as math or science, classes taken in early grades can affect whether your student will be able to take corresponding advanced classes in future years. - The plan provides a roadmap for success.
Even if your student is wavering about attending college, it doesn’t hurt to create a tentative plan now and meet the admission standards of one or two colleges under consideration. Good grades alone don’t necessarily guarantee college acceptance. Most colleges consider how many core subject-area courses were completed in high school, in addition to the cumulative high school GPA, an ACT or SAT composite score and possibly where your student ranks in the class.
What Your Student Can Do Now
- Keep a future career in mind.
With several careers in mind, your student can compare requirements and electives to maintain a well-balanced course load each term in high school while also exploring career options. This exploration will prove beneficial as your student determines the educational path needed for the selected career. Does the career require completion of an apprenticeship or a certificate program? If an associate or bachelor degree is needed, which major and college will provide the best return on the investment? - Explore more career options using a different tool.
The U.S. Department of Labor created an online interest profile called My Next Move where, after 60 short questions are answered, a score is calculated in six different areas based upon interests — realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. Once your student defines how much education they want to pursue, the tool provides a list of suggested jobs that fit into those six areas. After a job is selected, the user receives a printable copy defining the knowledge, skills, abilities and personality that are useful for the job.
What Your Student Can Do Later
- Iowans can schedule a free ICAN personal advising session.
An ICAN success advisor can help with career exploration and assessment in a personalized setting, which can supplement the meetings your student has with a school counselor, as well as any online tools your student is using. - Gain some hands-on experience.
A part-time job in a plant nursery or the garden department of a large store can provide the necessary exposure that a future floral designer or agricultural scientist needs to discover if that career choice is something that can be done 40 or more hours each week. Similar opportunities are available for many other possible careers. The key is finding a career that suits your student’s interests. It makes sense that when employees enjoy doing their jobs, there is a lower rate of absenteeism and employee turnover. - Consider alternatives.
If your student is interested in earning college credit in high school, exploring a skilled trade or pursuing something else but class options are limited, alternatives may be available. Community colleges — there are 20 of them in Iowa — often offer dual-enrollment classes for high school students that satisfy high school graduation requirements while also providing college credit and project-based learning opportunities. A sharing agreement with another district may allow your student to take classes at a different high school. The school counseling office is the primary resource for these paths. Your student may also wish to check into the Future Ready Iowa for opportunities to engage in work-based learning opportunities during summer months. If you don’t live in Iowa, check with your school counselor about similar programs in your community or state.
What You Can Do
- Help evaluate career options that align with your student’s skills and interests.
Review the assessment tools your student has completed and offer your objective input. Your positive affirmation may be the incentive your student needs to explore a career that wasn’t previously considered. - Find a connection.
Your knowledge of your community and its members and resources could potentially kick-start your student’s budding interest in a future career. Make the connection to one or more contacts on behalf of your student, or offer to make the introduction so your student can learn self-advocacy skills. Help your student determine the right talking points for the “sales pitch” to be successful in approaching professionals about job-shadowing, work opportunities or informational interviews.
Registration is still open through March 29 for a scholarship for Iowa high school students, not just seniors. The scholarship awards $1,000 College Savings Iowa deposits, which can be used when your student is ready to pay educational expenses. Register at www.IowaStudentLoan.org/ScholarshipSignUp.
Next Steps
Be sure to complete the survey questions at the end of this article to be entered into the 529 deposit giveaway!
Additional references, handouts and talking points are available in the right sidebar to use at your leisure. They may prove beneficial to reference now or after receiving future emails — we’ll leave it completely up to you. Use our emails like a recipe for a successful outcome — assemble the recommended ingredients and then follow accompanying directions to add flavor and depth.