PLAnning YOuR CAREER
THE fIRsT sTEP toward success is making smart
decisions about your education and career options.
Plan for
Success
W
hen I was in high school,” Follow up on this informal exercise by taking
says Sheryl Kovach, a some formal assessments to determine your
senior human resources interests and abilities. Common assessments
generalist with IKON Office include the Kuder (www.kuder.com), Bridges (www.
Solutions in Houston, “the only bridges.com), Career Cruising (www.careercruising.
job that I even knew about was com), COIN (www.coinedu.com), and Myers-Briggs
receptionist work. I didn’t aspire (www.myersbriggs.org) tests. Terry Brock, director
to be a manager or entrepreneur of the Texas Counselors’ Network, a group that
because I really didn’t know helps counselors statewide advise their students on
about those disciplines. I was just career planning, says, “These tools give most of our
looking forward to graduating. students some career exploration awareness by the
That was it. I really didn’t know time they enter eighth or ninth grade.”
what it was I wanted to do.” Ask your principal or counselor about the career
Sound familiar? You, too, may not have a clue assessments available at your school.
about what to do with your life.
Don’t worry, though. Help is right here in Research Your Career Options
your hands. This issue of AchieveTexas in Action Once you’ve learned about yourself, learn more
is your guide to education and career choices about your career options. There are thousands
that can shape your future. It’s one of 16 career of occupations out there of which you may never
cluster guides published by AchieveTexas, Texas’s have heard, and others that do not yet exist
college and career initiative because the technologies have not been developed.
(www.AchieveTexas.org). Fortunately, there are plenty of resources (see inside
unIversITY of Texas
This edition is all about back cover) for you, and they are as close as the
scHool of arcHITecTure sTudenTs
Architecture & Construction. nearest computer.
Let’s start with some basic One of the most helpful is the Occupation and
TYpIcallY ranked In THe Top quarTer steps you should take to Skill Computer-Assisted Researcher (or OSCAR,
of THeIr HIgH scHool class and Had a
get organized, plan for the for short) from the Texas Workforce Commission.
HIgH scHool gpa of 3.0 or above.
future, and start on the road It is a vast database of information about hundreds
to success. of professions. You can find OSCAR at www.ioscar.
org/tx. Another good place to start is O*NET
Assess Your Talents and Abilities (online.onetcenter.org).
First, you need to figure out some things about Gather information about what you can earn in
yourself. This step can be as simple as writing down the careers in which you are interested. Find out
a list of your interests (like video games or rock whether the careers you are considering have a
climbing), your hopes and dreams (like helping promising future—are they adding or losing jobs?
others), your talents (like writing or math ability), Check out the education you’ll need to enter
and your weaknesses (if you’re squeamish at the those careers.
sight of blood, for example, you might not want The chart on pages 10–11 presents data on 25
to be a doctor). possible professions. Remember, though, that
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