As schools begin to strengthen their career-connected learning strategies in accordance with many new state guidelines, the program of work matters as much as the intent. Including an advisory period or mandating that every student has a career plan doesn’t translate to better postsecondary outcomes unless schools and districts are intentional and strategic. One reaction might be to begin career exploration with the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” But, that question assumes that the majority of students know enough about the world of work to give a meaningful answer. Unfortunately, not only are students unaware of all of their future work opportunities, it’s also not possible for teachers and counselors to know them either. 

That’s why career exploration deserves a continuum of supports and services for students. Highly sophisticated career exploration includes far more than brainstorming and general goal setting. When schools move from asking generic questions to providing students with real information about future possibilities, they see greater engagement in academics and skill development because students begin to connect the dots between their coursework and future desired life experiences. The following three strategies are meant to be a guide for counselors and school leaders who want to take the next step toward a better career exploration experience for students. 

Start with Self-Awareness 

Having students take and retake multiple assessments over time is a key strategy for bringing awareness about who they are and what they might want to explore as a career in the future. Assessments aren’t necessarily meant to tell students exactly what career is best for them but rather provide data about their interests, values, skills, strengths, personality, and aptitude to guide them to do more research about career fields and career clusters that align with their goals. When we couple these kinds of assessments with life-style calculations, students can also begin to uncover jobs that match their desired future living conditions. This type of data is also useful for counselors and school leaders who can use the trends they find to schedule a guest speaker, look for experiences outside of school, and plan for related courses that might need to be added to the middle or high school catalog. It’s important to note that many assessments can be taken as early as the 6th grade, and starting early gives students a fuller picture of themselves and how they’ve changed over time. 

Expand What’s Possible 

There’s an old axiom that “we’re preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet,” but it’s also true that students can’t aspire to careers that they don’t know exist currently. That’s why schools need deliberate and strategic career exposure programming so that students can begin to shape their futures long before graduation is looming, and they’re potentially unaware of the best next step for themselves. Students can do research by looking into specific careers that they know about and then find related careers that they might not have been aware about prior to a career-exploration initiative. This can lead to a greater understanding about things like labor markets and high-demand jobs as well provide insight into possible workplace visits, guest speakers, and industry projects. The goal is to expand what students know about the workforce, which is typically limited by their natural network, and for some students, that limitation restricts their societal contribution, life-time earnings, and even happiness. 

Move from Exploring to Planning 

Career-connected learning and exploration should be embedded within the curriculum at every level, but at some point students should also get a chance to develop plans. They should know about as many careers and career clusters as possible and begin to narrow their interests into lists that can be used to actually develop a plan, considering the level of education they’ll need and even the specific skills they’ll need to acquire. Planning for a career choice is a learning experience. We’re not asking teenagers to declare a career, but the planning process can help to illuminate steps that they might need to take for a particular postsecondary goal. For example, students can start to see the difference between career interests that require a four-year degree, a masters’ degree, or a doctorate. They may find jobs that necessitate a credential rather than college. This knowledge makes a huge difference in the decisions that students are making for themselves after graduation, and without a chance to explore and plan in their K-12 experience, they’re often left to do it on their own after they graduate without guidance, support, and resources. 

Conclusion 

Gone are the days when we can ask students what they want to be when they grow up and expect a sophisticated answer without providing them with time, tools, and space to explore and reflect. Postsecondary planning is one of the most important aspects of a quality education system, and yet it can be quickly overlooked without a vision and a program of work to make it a reality. When done well, though, we get to see the fruits of our labor as educators, rather than just hoping that students will succeed after they leave us. 

If you want to see a web-based platform that can support counselors with student assessments, data management, career exploration and planning, finding internships, logging experiences, and more, schedule your demo of MaiaLearning today.