4 Career Pathway Tools to Share with Your Students

If you’ve ever been asked what you want to be when you grow up and felt completely unsure, you can probably relate with most high school students—and, frankly, with most adults too! This is why it’s important to expose students to a variety of careers to help provide a glimpse into the possibilities that are out there for them before they embark on their journey toward college or careers. Check out our list of four career pathway tools to better help your students determine which careers align to their own unique goals, strengths, and interests:

O*NET

The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is a database of occupational characteristics and worker requirements across the country, maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. To help figure out potential career paths, students can take the O*NET Interest Profiler, which is a short assessment that scores interests and provides a list of potential careers workers might want to look into based on their responses. 

ACT® WorkKeys®

The ACT® WorkKeys® is a system of assessments/curricula that builds and measures essential workplace skills. While the WorkKeys assessment does come at a cost, the ACT website provides a helpful occupational profiling database where students can search for job profiles by title, Career Cluster®, or job description. These job profile searches provide a list of potential job titles from which students can select to view O*NET codes, a table of ACT WorkKeys skills, and most importantly, a list of tasks associated with the particular job title, giving students a glimpse into what to expect in that role.

PathSource

Moving into the realm of apps, PathSource is a free career exploration app that helps students in their search of careers and colleges. Users get a list of career possibilities based on personalized career assessments, and the app provides tools to quickly create meaningful resumes as well. Users will also find an extensive library of video interviews from professionals across a wide range of careers, allowing students to get an insider day-to-day view into various fields.

Internships

Internships are probably the best career pathway tools for students who have a strong inkling as to which career interests them and who now want to get practical hands-on experience and exposure. Sometimes lasting as short as a couple of weeks to as long as several months, internships are a great way for students to experience what a potential career will look like and get the opportunity to actively network with professionals in the field. Read more about the importance of work experience for students, and find practical ways to landing a great internship opportunity.

Looking to offer your students more career and technical education (CTE) course options to help them get a better idea of which career fields are a best fit for them? Take a look at our Courseware’s CTE course library, offering semester-long CTE courses across all 16 nationally recognized Career Clusters®, and explore how Edmentum can help address career paths and certification course needs.