Career Planning

It's never too early to start thinking about what you want to do after high school. Try to find a career that matches your interests, abilities, and values - if you are able to find a career you truly enjoy, you are likely to be much happier in other areas of your life! Below are links for several interest inventory websites which you may find helpful:

JobCorps:
Do you want to prepare for a career after high school? JobCorps is a FREE education and training program for young people who are U.S. Citizens, between 16 and 24 years old, and qualify as low income.

AmeriCorps: The Corporation for National & Community Service: Students who are undecided about their future path, but searching for a fulfilling experience, should consider the AmeriCorps service organization, which is a 10 month service commitment.  AmeriCorps members receive a modest stipend as well as an Education Award to pay for a portion of college training after program completion. 

West Central Illinois Building & Construction Trades Council:
Want to find a job after graduation that will pay for your training? This link will take you to the Apprenticeship section of this organization's website. The PDF located at the top is very useful and describes each apprenticeship in detail. The last few pages of this document give wage information and application and interview dates.

Occupational Outlook Handbook: This annually updated website is published by the U.S. Dept. of Labor and contains pertinent information such as education needed, working conditions, earnings, expected job prospects, and typical job duties, for hundreds of careers.

BigFuture from the College Board: The BigFuture College & Career Readiness suite contains information on the college search and selection process, exploring careers and majors, financial aid, scholarships, & much more!

ACT Profile: ACT Profile Beta is a new, evolving, and free college and career planning social networking site. This site offers: an interest inventory, a values inventory, an abilities inventory, military career exploration, and detailed career exploration (an outline of high school coursework, post-high school training levels and coursework, salary and detailed career roles and services). This site also offers the ability to search for colleges based on degree-level offered and state location.

What Can I Do With This Major?: Not sure where a certain major will take you? This website lists a variety of different job opportunities for most college majors.

Career One Stop: This is a pathway to career success, providing tools to help job seekers, students, businesses and career professionals. This site is sponsored by the United States Department of Labor.

Illinois WorkNet:
This website is brought to you by the Governor's Illinois Workforce Investment Board and is a resource that contains interest and skills inventories, information on job trends in Illinois, guidelines for resumes and cover letters, assistance for seeking apprenticeships, job search tools, and much more.