(Assignment) Identifying Career Interests

Identifying career interests is the first step on your way to getting yourself together for the future. Identification can be a difficult thing, especially if you aren't completely sure about what it is you want to do, but if you can identify and understand your job options first, you'll know exactly what it is you're getting into before it's too late to change your mind.

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The Assignment

1. Go online to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Website and click on Occupational Outlook Handbook under the Publications section.
2. Think about and type the name of a career field you would like to do in the Search the Handbook text field on the top right part of the page.
3. Choose a link that matches your career interests from the list of results. (If you don't see your preferred career in this list, modify your search to one or two words, or try to look up the profession in the A to Z listing.)
4. When you have found careers that you are interested in, print out PDF files regarding the careers.
5. Read over the following sections from the careers you chose: (A) Nature of the Work; (B) Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement; (C) Job Outlook; and (D) Earnings.
6. Lastly answer in your blog the questions below for each of the three careers you have chosen.

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Questions

1. Before you did this exercise, did you already know all the information in the Nature of the Work section, or were there some things that surprised you? If there were some things you didn't know, what are some examples?
2. How many years of training did you expect to have to complete for the career before you read the file in the OOH? How many years of training is suggested in the OOH?
3. What is the job outlook for the career you have chosen? Is this promising or forboding?
4. How are the earnings for the career you have chosen? Will this be enough to live on your own? (Consider that a salary of about $35,000 is needed to live comfortably in any of the outside boroughs paying the market rate for rent these days.
   
   When you have finished the above questions for each of your three career options, please answer question 5.
   
5. Of the three career options you have listed above, which seems the most feasible for you personally? Why? Do you think that this career will be rewarding? How old will you be when you have completed the training necessary to qualify for the position you choose? How will you support yourself until then?

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This Week at First Work

Today's prophesy: the IEP--or Individual Employment Plan--that you will start today will be a cornerstone of your work here at First Work.

Background: The IEP is a plan that you will create over the next few weeks to describe your plan for employment and education in the short- and long-term future. It will help you to focus and define what exactly it is that you will call your career. Are you an outdoor- or an office-type? Do you do better as your own boss, or are you a born problem-solver-for-hire?

The IEP is designed where you will express/work out just these points. While some of you have a very clear idea of your career goals, the IEP will be a tool to help you

• focus your ideas about your career options
• explore career options you may not have considered before
• do research on the steps needed to make your career ideas a reality.

Today's tasks:

1. Log onto www.collegetoolkit.com and register with the site. (You only need to fill out the first page of the registration to have an account with collegetoolkit.com, but if you want to search their database of scholarships, it might help to do a more thorough registration.)
2. When you are finished registering and have an account, click on services (or go to http://www.collegetoolkit.com/Services/ServicesSearch.aspx). Then go to the Interest Profiler and begin filling out the questionnaire.
3. When you are finished filling out the questionnaire, you'll see a screen like this:

   

4. This screen tells you the category that your dominant interests fall into. The different types of interests and explanations are listed on this page and are based on the results you gave for your profile. At this point answer the following questions in your notebooks: (a) What are your three dominant interest types? (b) What does this say about what kind of person you are? (c) Do you agree that this is an accurate representation of you? Why or why not?
5. When you are done with these questions, click the "Continue" button at the bottom of the page. When you do so, you are taken to a page that looks like this:
   
   
   
   
6. At this point, you definitely should save your progress so far by scrolling down the page and clicking the "Save Answers" button. This will save your responses for the Interests Profiler so that you can always return to this page by following the "Career Briefcase" link and clicking on the "Career Interests Profiler" link.
7. Once you save your answers, look over the suggested jobs/careers that came up with your search. Check any careers that look particularly interesting and click the "Add to Briefcase" button. (This will save these jobs/careers in your Briefcase so that you can refer to them directly without having to come back to this results page.)

When you have finished saving this information to your account, create a new blog titled "The Beginnings of my IEP" and post the answers to the questions you completed in step 3 above. Then post the answers to the questions below. (Remember, you can always add more to your blog--like pictures, your thoughts, ideas, etc.--than I ask you to do. Adding more will give your blog and your IEP that individual flare that any good web-publication needs.)

• Of the jobs that were recommended by the results of your profiler, which seemed most interesting to you? Why?
• Of those same jobs, which one seemed least appealing to you? Why?
• Were there any jobs/careers recommended that you hadn't considered for yourself before?
• Do you see a connection between what you answered and the jobs you were recommended? For the job/career that was highest on the list of recommendations, which questions/answers do you think made you an ideal candidate for this type of position?

Remember to put the answers to these questions on your blogs! Happy IEP-starting!