Embedded Files
My Next Move
In this lesson, students will be exposed to a broad overview of the world of work through self/career awareness, especially in the area of your choice, enabling the students to understand that career development is a life-long process. Topics will include self and career assessments, career exploration, personal qualities needed in a work environment, and electronic information sources.
Major Instructional Activities: Students will complete classroom career awareness activities as a means of developing thinking skills, utilizing information-gathering techniques, and exploring self-management tools.
Major Evaluative Techniques: Students will be evaluated on their understanding of the pathways to careers, and on a variety of classroom activities; such as, use of investigative skills via electronic information systems, written and oral reports, and in class presentations.
Essential Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to
Acquire knowledge to explain the basics of various career fields
Employ strategies to locate, analyze, and apply career information
Evaluate the importance of career decision making
Self assess one’s interests, aptitudes, values, and abilities
Demonstrate effective work habits in a real world setting.
The What’s My Next Move? guide is:
The What’s My Next Move? guide is:
designed to help high-school students manage their career and employment path.
a simple, seven-step guide to print or use online.
a great combination of easy access to online resources and straightforward action items for teens to complete on their own or in with an adult.
produced by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
View the What’s My Next Move? guide.
View the What’s My Next Move? guide.
Read more about why What’s My Next Move? can help students:
Students: “What are you going to do after graduation?" If you haven’t been asked that question yet, you soon will be. “What’s My Next Move” includes seven easy steps to help you answer that question by showing you jobs that match your interests, and how you can continue to develop your education and skills to advance in your career. The guide shows you how to use free online tools that can help you as you start along your career path. The world is full of unique and exciting careers that are waiting for you. It’s up to you to be prepared for your journey.
Assignments:
Step 1
What are my Career Interest?
Take the O*NET Interest Profiler online:
http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
Write down your interest scores:
Realistic _____
Investigative _____
Artistic _____
Social _____
Enterprising _____
Conventional _____
Action Item(s): Before moving on to Step 2, do the following: (3) Complete?
1. Go to page 10 and save the Career Planning Document as a PDF. Then open it up and save it as a Word document.
2. Write down your interest scores above and place them in your Career Planning Document.
3. Read and take notes about Job Zones, placing the notes on the T: Drive.
4. Save the jobs within the jobs zone as a PDF on the T: Drive. (You will need it in step two).
Step 2
What career do I want to explore?
Some careers take longer to prepare for than others. On MyNextMove website, each O*NET career is
in one of five Job Zones.
Careers in Job Zones 1 and 2 typically require a high school education. You may also want to consider
careers in Job Zone 3 and above that require training after high school.
Have you thought about how much education or training you want to take to prepare for your career?
Consider all of the options:
• Registered apprenticeship
• Community college
• Four-year college
• Technical training, Job Corps.
You can print out a list that explains the five Job Zones here:
http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/jobzones.
Remember: The more education and training you have (for example: industry certifications, associate’s degree) the more money you are likely to earn over your lifetime.
Here’s an example based on Interest Profiler results in Step 1 for Job Zone 3 (medium preparation
[e.g. associate’s degree])
Of the occupations matching your interests, which ones do you want to learn more about? Here are some examples:
Action Item(s): Before moving on to Step 3, do the following:
1. Go to Skills Profiler to identify your skills and match them with jobs. Go to the Start with your Skills section to complete your Skill Profile. Once you have completed it, you will be provided with a list of jobs. Copy and paste them into a word document, saving it to your T: Drive. Once you have saved it, review the jobs and select at least three jobs that are based on your skill set. After selecting said jobs, go to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, find the jobs you selected and copy and paste the information tabs into a word document for each job, saving said word documents to your T:Drive.
2. Write down the occupations that match your interests and skills in the Career Planning Document under step 2. You
3. Then use the 'Occupational Outlook Handbook' to document your career exploriation by copying and pasting all the information tabs into a word document for each job you have selected. Save said word documents into your T:Drive.
4. For each of the career choices that you want to explore further, also review the one-page occupation profile from MyNextMove.
Step 3
What are my career goals?
To learn more about a specific career, view the occupational report in MyNextMove and look it up
in the Occupational Outlook Handbook: www.bls.gov/ooh to read about the nature of the work and
additional information on training, advancement, earnings, and prospects for the future.
You will see information that looks like this:
Excerpt from occupational report (MyNextMove) for Occupational Therapy Assistants:
Action Item(s): Before moving on to Step 4, do the following:
1. Write down occupation research in the Career Planning Document (see example above)
2. In the Outlook Section of the MyNextMove occupation profile, click on “Find Jobs” to
see if there are any jobs posted right now.
3. For outlook info in your state, go to the bottom of the page of the MyNextMove
occupational profile – click on the link for O*Net Online.
4. On the O*Net online screen – click on the link at the top labeled “Wages and
Employment”, or just scroll down to the bottom of the page to the “Wages and
Employment” section.
5. Under the heading “State and National” – you can select your state and then click
“Go” to find if that occupation is growing and how many job openings are estimated
each year. Use this information to fill in the last column “Projected Openings” (see
example above).
6. Also use the information from your career exploration that you conducted earlier (e.g., Occupational Outlook Handbook).
Step 4
Who is doing what I want to do?
Find out what it is really like to work in the occupation or field you like. Think about asking friends,
parents, friends of parents, teachers, school counselors, church leaders, librarians and others in your
community.
Contact professional associations related to your field of interest – they are a great place to start networking and asking important questions related to your career of interest. Professional associations and societies often operate websites featuring job openings, resume banks or other employmentrelated services (these can include job agents, banner advertising and discussion forums for networking).
For more information on Professional Associations for your career of interest – visit the following link:
www.careeronestop.org/ProfAssoc
Action Item(s): Before moving on to Step 5, do the following:
1. Write down possible candidates for an informational interview in the Career Planning
Document. If you don’t have information available now, fill it in later.
2. View sample informational interview questions on the following website:
www.careeronestop.org/InfoInterviews
3. If you are looking for informational interview candidates –use Employer Locator –
www.careeronestop.org/EmployerLocator
4. Watch career videos to gain information – www.careeronestop.org/CareerVideos
Step 5
What are my plans to achieve my career goals?
Goal-Oriented Plan – Part 1 – Goals leading to Targeted Career Choice: (Example)
Action Item(s): Before moving on to Step 6, do the following:
1. Based on information gathered in the previous steps, write down some ideas for long term
career goals and objectives (short term goals) in the Career Planning Document (see
example above).
2. Consider adding information about applying for financial aid/scholarships to your
goal-oriented plan:
Use CareerOneStop Scholarship Search: www.careeronestop.org/ScholarshipSearch
And other financial aid resources: www.careeronestop.org/FinancialAid
3. Consider adding work experience to your goal-oriented plan: Internships/Cooperative Education Opportunities (earn college credits while gaining valuable experience and skills)
Summer jobs
Part-time work
Use Get Work Experience Link: www.careeronestop.org/GetWorkExperience
4. Consider adding skills identification/enhancement to your goal-oriented plan – what skills
have you gained through your work experience related to your targeted career goal?
Use MyNextMove website and the links at the bottom of the page to the O*Net Online report for more details to describe skills from your past work or internship experiences and compare them to your targeted career goals.
Goal Oriented Plan – Part 2 – Skills Identification/Enhancement: (Example)
Step 6
How do I start my career?
I. Networking:
Use the Student and Career Advisors link at CareerOneStop.org:
http://www.careeronestop.org/students to discover information about networking, researching
employers, professional associations, and links to more career information.
Action Item(s):
1. Add networking to your goal-oriented plan that you started in Step 5. Use the
following link to generate ideas: www.careeronestop.org/networking
2. Research Employers – visit their websites/contact them to ask questions. Use the
following link to generate ideas: www.careeronestop.org/ResearchEmployers
3. Contact Professional Associations: www.careeronestop.org/ProfAssoc
4. Occupational Outlook Handbook (www.bls.gov/ooh) provides links to professional
associations related to your occupation of interest:
II. Job Searching:
Get help launching your job search – use the Job Search Checklist:
www.careeronestop.org/Checklist
Action Item(s):
1. Add job searching to your goal-oriented plan: use the following link to generate ideas:
www.careeronestop.org/CreatePlan
2. Contact Professional Associations for valuable information to use in your job search:
www.careeronestop.org/ProfAssoc or use the Occupational Outlook Handbook
(www.bls.gov/ooh) which also provides links to professional associations related to
your occupation of interest:
III. Marketing Your Skills:
Create your personal marketing material (Resume, Cover & Thank You Letters, Portfolios):
Action Item(s):
1. Visit the Resumes and Interviews Link: www.careeronestop.org/ResumesApps
2. Use O*NET Online to make sure your resume uses words that describe the kind of tasks you can do and the documents and technology you know how to use: http://www.onetonline.org/
3. Consider improving your marketing materials (Resume, Cover & Thank You Letters). “Market Test” your resume with your informational interviewee, at job fairs or with others that you network with - get feedback on how to improve your resume.
4. Consider adding Portfolio Development to your goal-oriented plan: A portfolio is a personalized collection of items that illustrates your skills and experience. It might include work samples, letters of recommendation, a resume, school transcripts, or awards and honors:
www.careeronestop.org/Portfolios
Step 7
How do I put my career plan into action?
Do you want or need personal assistance in planning and achieving your career goals? Use
America’s Service Locator to find an American Job Center Network member closest to you:
Share the information you’ve gathered using What’s My Next Move? and the Career Planning
Document (page 10) with the counselors you meet with at the American Job Center and ask for their
advice and guidance in achieving the goals that you’ve identified.
You may also consider sharing your Career Planning Document with family members, school
counselors, librarians, community organizations where you may volunteer, people you meet and
network with (for example: your informational interviewee – see Step 4).
the Career Planning Document is a “living” document. As you gain information, skills and
experience, continue to add and change information in this document. Over time, your career goals
and plans will change. You also may want to pursue more education and training to reach your career
goals. The Career Planning Document is great for organizing and capturing new goals and new
information.
Good luck on your path to career success!
Career Planning Document
Interest Scores
Occupations for further exploration
Occupation Research
Informational Interviewing
Goal-Oriented Plan – Part 1 – Goals leading to Targeted Career Choice
Goal Oriented Plan – Part 2 – Skills Identification/Enhancement
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