Career
How much time does the average person spend at work in their lifetime?
If the average working week is 40 hours, then that equates to approximately 1,960 hours per year. The average person begins their working life at age 21 and retires at 65. That’s a career that spans 44 years. If we use the same 40-hour working week, we arrive at a figure of 91,250 hours! That means about one quarter of a person's life will be spent working. What's the point? It is important to pursue the things that we have a passion for and enjoy doing.
All students are encouraged to explore their career options by identifying their strengths, interests and skills, which will help them focus on those college majors and careers for which they are best suited. Several resources to assist this exploration process have been compiled below.
Career Resources
College Board's career research and exploration tool. Students can get started by taking a self-inventory and answer key questions about themselves. Lots of quality articles, slide shows and videos that can help students to get their career search started.
Data from the Department of Labor about the economy, including projections and regional information. Helpful for high school students planning majors and careers.
CAREER CRUISING (XELLO)
Students can discover the pathway that’s right for them, whether it involves a trade, college, university, entrepreneurship, or other training. As students gain self-knowledge through assessments (i.e. Matchmaker) and reflection, they save careers, schools, programs, and experiences to form a vibrant, visual roadmap that’s easy to update and share.
Ever wonder what to ask when speaking with a professional in a particular career pathway? Part of the journey in discovering future careers is to gather information to determine what may be the "best fit." Can I see myself doing "this" particular job in the future? The above link provides questions to consider that will help gather information along your career exploration journey.
Find out about the general job market, wages and trends, skills and abilities required for specific occupations and career information unique to your state.
THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY
The Illinois Department of Employment Security includes information about occupations and the state's labor market. The Career Resources section (CIS) gives information about wages, educational requirements and job duties for nearly 500 occupations.
The career planning and assessment tools in Naviance allow students to realize their strengths, goals, knowledge, values, and interests in future careers.
Strengths Explorer – This assessment gauges students’ talents and skills. Students will learn their top three “themes” and how to maximize their successes. In addition they will learn suggested next steps. Please note, this assessment can only be taken once.
Career Cluster Finder – This online questionnaire helps students discover career clusters that are most interesting to them.
Career Interest Profiler – This profiler uses Holland’s Code (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) to match careers to students’ interests. Students can view matching occupations, explore possible majors and colleges.
Roadtrip Nation – 7,800+ videos chronicling the diverse personal stories of leaders who have turned their interests into their life’s work. These videos are further organized into 48 themes and 29 areas of career interest.
Resource produced by the Department of Defense with data from the Departments of Commerce, Labor & Education.
The OOH is an excellent starting place to search for employment information on specific occupations based on data supplied by the federal government.
Use this site to find specific occupational information and search for occupations that use your skills.