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Career Choosing Book Suggestion


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I'm looking at Amazon for a career planning-choosing book. Perhaps that might have a test with results that say you would be good at ____ or _____. We just need some jumping off points and ideas.

 

Can any one suggest a good one?

 

Thanks!

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Long answer:

 

There are 4 types of career assessment tests you will run across:

 

1. Aptitude Assessment (Work Skills) = determines specific abilities/skills

(i.e., can you type, do you have specific certifications, etc.)

California Career Zone: free online skills profiler

Career One Stop: free online skills profiler

 

2. Personality Inventory= helps see how you fit in with others in a work place

(examples: Meyers-Briggs Indicator; Keirsey Temperament Sorter)

Fun Education: free online test

Team Technology: free online test

Personality Lab: free online test

 

3. Work Values Survey = what brings meaning/is important to you in working

Work Values Inventory: free online test

Saint Anselm College, free test

Career Center: printable test

 

4. Interest Inventory = ways you like to work

(examples: Campbell Interest & Skill Survey; Strong Interest Inventory)

California Career Zone: free online test

 

 

I suggest starting with an interest inventory test that helps you understand the ways you like to work, which then helps you narrow down what kinds of jobs match up with the ways you like to work. Most of these tests are a variation of the Holland Code, which is organized with six interest areas and then the career fields and specific jobs that use those interests. (This Wikipedia article explains it well and lists lots of job ideas under each of the six interest areas).

 

The CA Career Zone website has a nice, free test you can take online, and then lets you explore various careers. The self-scoring Kuder Career Search test, which is only $5 + shipping, is also a nice resource to start with figuring out your interests, though it is organized a bit differently than the Holland Code-based tests, which makes it a little more difficult (but not impossible) to integrate the test results with all the resources available on the web (which are largely Holland Code-based). I just used the Kuder Career Search test in the spring with homeschooling high school students in a career exploration session, and it seemed like it was a pretty good indicator for most of the students.

 

Then once you know your specific interests and have an idea about some possible job areas, you can explore the US Bureau of Labor's free online Occupational Outlook Handbook for info on specific careers, plus different ways to do a search to come up with a list of careers to look at (by salary; by amount of education required; by how much growth that field expects in the next 10 years; etc.).

 

 

Another way to approach career exploration is with Career Clusters. It is a national educational organizing tool that divides career areas into 16 "clusters", and then into 70 more specific "pathways" of the essential knowledge/skill required for the "cluster". The pathways then branch into over 1800 "crosswalks", which are the specific jobs, which can be researched in the Bureau of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), or by "crosswalk" at the Dept. of Labor's O-Net website. O-Net (for Occupations), allows you to read info on the various "crosswalks", search by career cluster, industry, STEM jobs, and more. The best starting point at this website is the "My Next Move" section, which has two different search engines (by industry or by key words), and an interest profiler. The OOH is similar in organization to the career clusters, in that it loosely organizes the hundreds of jobs under 25 "occupational groups" (see the list going down on the lefthand side of the OOH home page).

 

Glencoe website: Career Education: Career Clusters information

Career Technical Education website: Career Clusters information

List of 16 Clusters, 70 "Pathways"

Career Cluster Interest Survey (the test)

 

 

Short answer: What Color is Your Parachute for Teens

Part 1 discusses what the 4 different types of tests help you know about yourself for matching up with jobs.

Part 2 covers what kind of education/training you'll need for specific jobs.

Part 3 is about the job search process.

 

 

You really do "get what you pay for", and if you want to get very detailed helpful info, then it is best to pay a professional career counselor and service, as they will give you several tests covering a range of topics (personality inventory, actual skills, and then interests in "ways of working"), which is what best helps in matching you up with a job you will enjoy and be well-suited for through very specific, individualized and informed counseling after the tests. One thought: is the student taking any classes (dual enrollment or other) at the local community college or university? Sometimes the student services include taking a free career test. Otherwise, look for a local counseling service which has a counselor who specializes in career counseling. If you can't find someone local, then I believe Crown Ministries offers an online package, and they send you detailed results.

 

 

Hope something there will be of help! And enjoy your career explorations! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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You are so sweet! Glad the info was of help and not overkill. ;)

 

Guess I don't need to write a book, though... I seem to be "publishing" it chapter by chapter in response to posts! :tongue_smilie:

 

Exactly! All you'd have to do is copy your replies, organize them into chapters, make a TOC and then you can self-publish it on lulu.com or somewhere so people like me can order a print copy that I can write notes in :) I still have 2 more kiddos (and more, G-d willing) to homeschool and I look up your posts all the time!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Adding one more great website for career exploration: New York State Career Zone. The "Assess Yourself" feature is especially helpful, once you know which of the 3 of the 6 Holland Interest Areas are your strong areas.

 

NY Career Zone includes:

- "Assess Yourself" -- once you know your top three out of six interest areas, you use those to match with occupations

- "Search" -- a search engine to find information about specific occupations

- "STEM for Teens" -- a section with information on STEM occupations (the "who" section)

- "Resources" -- links to resources for students, teachers, parents, etc.

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