Career & College Ready
Career Exploration
If you aren’t quite sure where to start, we can help. It’s never too early to begin to explore careers.
Helping to develop the whole student to be career and college ready is a process that will support a student on the road to success after high school. After all, many students are college bound but all students are career bound.
The goal of career exploration and planning is to link academic knowledge and real-world experience to determine the path of the student’s future professional life.
Being career ready means being able to effectively navigate pathways that connect education and employment to achieve a fulfilling, financially secure, and successful career.
Career readiness does not have a defined endpoint in today’s workplace. Instead to be career ready in our ever-changing global economy requires that one continues to manage their career throughout their working life. It requires flexibility, adaptability, and a commitment to lifelong learning, along with a mastery of key knowledge and skills that vary from one career to another and change over time as a person progresses through their professional life.
Explore, Discover, Start: A Career Exploration Booklet
Career exploration is grounded in the belief that opportunities should be made available to all students from kindergarten throughout adulthood. Our mission is to build awareness as well as exploration and planning opportunities. We are working toward this mission through:
- Providing STUDENTS with a reason to learn by seeing school subjects as practical and realistic approaches to working and living
- Helping TEACHERS tie their curricula to the broader world of work
- Giving SCHOOL COUNSELORS support as a key to developing activities and programs that increase self-awareness and improve decision making skills
- Giving ADMINISTRATORS a central motivating factor to improve the quality of education
- Inviting the COMMUNITY to take part in the school and to be seen as a vital classroom resource
- Supporting BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY by providing them with employees who not only have skills but also the attitudes necessary for success
- Assisting PARENTS in teaching their children the dignity and value of work and introducing them to many career possibilities
We promote the use of the Career Connections Framework from the Ohio Department of Education and OhioMeansJobs in our affiliated schools for all grades.
Great Oaks Career Exploration provides support to our 36 school district partners. The goal of the program is to help students, parents, and educators in these districts learn about career pathways, career clusters, and educational and career options.
For more information, see Board Policy 2413: Career Advising at the Great Oaks Board of Directors site.
Career Exploration Resources
Learn more about career options and paths to the future! Whether you're a parent looking for information to share with your child, a teacher looking for classroom resources, or a student trying to figure out what you want to do in life, these links have helpful info.
These are 2-5 minute videos to learn more about the career exploration process.
These are 2-5 minute videos to learn more about the career exploration process.
Online Career Interest and Personality Assessments/Quizzes
Career and College Exploration Resources that can be used for Searching Careers and Educational Options
Career exploration resources for specific career clusters/paths
- Construction
- Manufacturing & Engineering
- Health Sciences
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Business, Marketing & Management
- Agriculture Food & Natural Resources
- Communication & Information Systems
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
- Military
Construction
Manufacturing & Engineering
Health Sciences
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Business, Marketing & Management
Agriculture Food & Natural Resources
Communication & Information Systems
Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
Military
YOUTUBE VIDEO CHANNELS WITH CAREER VIDEO
Career Videos
a variety of career awareness videos suitable for elementary
TEACHER AND PARENT RESOURCES
Career Success
Career success is a matter of understanding your options, having the right skills, finding the right job openings, and having a resume and the confidence to give a good interview. We want to make sure you have the resources you need to find success in your career.
Exploring potential careers
What kind of job should I look for?
Job Listings
Tips for Landing that Job
Need additional skills?
- Career training options at Great Oaks for adult students
- Career training options at Great Oaks for high school students
- Other job training resources
Other Resources
- Great Oaks Career Advising policy--services offered to students