Employment

Going straight into full-time employment after high school is the right choice for some students.

• Maybe you need to help support yourself or your family.

• Maybe you don't yet know what they want to do as a career and need time to figure it out.

• Maybe you don't enjoy formal education and want to learn job skills by doing the actual work.

Use your high school courses to gain knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help you be successful in the workplace. 

• Learn more about yourself. What are you good at? What do you like? What do you value?

• Better understand your unique situation. What do you need? What are your challenges?

• Gain greater knowledge & explore your choices. Your classes are preparing you for the future!

You always have choices. Use these tools to prepare yourself to make them.

While in high school, you should take time to learn about yourself. Your interests and values will impact your job satisfaction & should factor into your job choice if possible. These tools will help you learn more about yourself & the world of work. As you complete these online tools, note the careers that are good matches for you. Hopefully those jobs are on the lists you will see below. If not, you may want to consider adjusting your plans for education beyond high school.

LEARNING ABOUT YOURSELF

• Naviance Career Interest Profiler (login with Clever: Clever>Naviance>Self-Discovery>Career Interest Profiler)

• NC Careers Interest Profiler (follow link & click on Short Version)

• My Next Move - Interest Profiler

LEARNING ABOUT CAREERS

• Naviance Career Exploration (login with Clever: Clever>Naviance>Careers>Clusters & Pathways)

• Exploring Careers (Videos)

• NC Careers: Explore Occupations 

How does high school prepare you for the world of work?

"What does this class have to do with my future?" You have probably asked yourself this question more than once. We all want the time we invest in learning to matter, otherwise it can feel like spinning our wheels. Your classes in high school help you gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes you need for success in the work place. 

Knowledge

• Learning basic reading, writing, math, science and history: 

  1. teaches you how to learn

  2. teaches you foundational concepts for future learning & citizenship. 

• CTE & other elective classes give you the opportunity to learn specific information & skills that connect to particular work tasks, jobs or professions.

• In order to be successful in any workplace, you must know how to learn what your boss (or trainer) is teaching you. 

• Participating in your learning experiences in high school in all subjects allows you to be smarter & better prepared for work & to know yourself better -- what you like & don't like -- so you can make good choices about future jobs.

Example: Your boss gives you a manual to read so you can operate a new piece of equipment that will improve efficiency and ease your workload; the manual requires you to do calculations to determine a setting on the machine. Would you be able to read the manual? Is the vocabulary level in the manual too hard for you? Could you do the calculations?

Skills

• Problem-solving, communication & interpersonal skills are some of the most important qualities employers are seeking. 

• Reading and writing are essential, but so are talking respectfully to people, listening carefully to others, finding solutions to unexpected problems, and getting along with bosses, co-workers and customers who may be very different from you. 

Example: A customer becomes abusive with a co-worker and she turns to you for help because the boss has stepped out of the store to make a bank drop. Your boss asked you to hold things down while she was gone, so you have to figure out how to de-escalate the situation before it gets out of hand and ends up on the news and then fill out the mandatory report the district manager will require once she hears about it.  

Attitudes

• Reliability, resiliency, and work ethic are attitudes we develop over a lifetime.

• We learn them from the examples our families set for and expect from us.

• We practice demonstrating them (or learn them if we need to) in high school before we go into the work force. 

• Your employer, like your teacher -- needs to be able to count on you to show up on time every day, prepared and ready to work (or learn). Attendance matters and demonstrates your reliability. 

• Your co-workers, like your classmates -- need to be know they can depend on you to pull your weight during each shift (or group project, lesson, etc). Performance matters and demonstrates your work ethic. 

• Your district manager, like your Principal -- needs to know that you will respect the rules of the work place & handle it appropriately when violations occur. Making good choices every day & handling adversity demonstrate your resiliency. 

Examples: Consider a work crew that can't get along with each other because one member of the team is easily offended and can't control her temper when she feels slighted (resiliency). Put yourself in the shoes of a co-worker who is constantly having to do extra because another person on the shift refuses to clean the self-service drink area even though it is his assigned task (work ethic).

What jobs don't require education beyond high school? 

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) identifies 103 occupations that do not typically need any formal education. The OOH also identifies 322 occupations that require a high school diploma or equivalent. Follow the links below then click on the names of a job to learn more about it. 

• No Credential Required - Most Openings - 10 occupations projected to have the most openings!

• No Credential Required - 103 Jobs - Which of these 103 jobs is the best match for you?

• HS Diploma Required - Most Openings - 10 occupations projected to have the most openings!

• HS Diploma Required - 322 Jobs - Which of these 322 jobs is the best match for you?

Will I be able to find a job that will pay me enough to support myself? 

The answer to that question has a lot to do with the lifestyle you expect to live after you graduate from high school. It's important for you to develop realistic and informed expectations.  Use these tools linked below to learn more about how much money you will need to support yourself & compare that to the income you will earn in the jobs you are qualified to do. 

• Living Wage Calculation in North Carolina - The hourly wage you need to earn to support yourself.

• Quick Calculation - Your Budget Needs - Follow the link & choose your info in the blue bar.

• CFNC Financial Literacy - Follow the link & click on register without the code.