Career Planning

As a student at Sioux Central, you will work on your own career planning once a year by using I Have a Plan Iowa (IHAPI). By taking a career interest inventory, you will see which careers may be a good match for you. From there, you will explore more about your career matches and start planning for the future. By having an idea of potential future careers, we will start to build your 4-year plan to ensure the courses you take throughout high school align with your career interests and will prepare you for post-secondary education and training.

The key to a long and happy career is finding one that matches your interests and values. Therefore, career planning is simply getting to know yourself. Determining who you are and what is important to you leads to bigger discoveries such as what careers and colleges are right for you.

Career Planning in Four Easy Steps:

• Career Assessment: Determine what career pathways to explore and what careers are right for you.

• Discover Your Pathway: Based on your career assessment results, determine the education or training needed for your potential career.

• Explore Your Options: Find training programs or colleges that offer the education or training needed - visit and learn about costs.

• Create a Budget: Determine your budget for education and training based on your starting salary.

For more information on career planning, click here.

For additional information on career planning, you can find an informational video provided by the Iowa College Access Network here.

To explore the 16 different Career Clusters, click here. To learn more about a specific occupation, click here.

Choosing a major is a big and often overwhelming decision for students because of the wide variety of options offered and truly, many students just don't know what they want to do in the future. Nearly 80% of students in the United States change their majors at least once, and this indecision often costs both time and money. One way to avoid additional semesters and student loans is to try out a few different interests before college. This can be done by doing any of the following:

• Participate in career days and mentoring programs at your school.

• Volunteer or intern at local organizations and businesses. Look for volunteer information at www.volunteeriowa.org and www.volunteermatch.com.

• Shadow different professionals to learn about their jobs. Find job shadowing resources and information at www.internships.com.

• Work part-time to gain experience and build skills in your chosen career.

• Participate in extracurricular activities, especially those that offer leadership opportunities.

• Talk to professionals in specific careers to learn more.

For more information on job shadowing and internships, click here.

While applying for your first career job may seem forever away, it's good to have the knowledge and skills in place to be successful in finding a job in the workforce - regardless of if you plan to join the workforce right away or go to college first. Some jobs require a cover letter, most jobs require a resume, and all jobs require an interview. For more resources regarding how to create a resume/cover letter and how to master interviewing skills, click here.

Although employers will know you are a recent high school and/or college graduate, they expect more than good grades and a diploma/degree before they hire you. Demonstrate that you have the critical skills during your interview to win respect and quite possibly the job. At Sioux Central, our district strives to help students develop these critical skills in order to be successful after graduation. For more information on what employers are and aren't looking for in a job candidate, click here.