Career Research

Objective:
To help students gather additional information on various careers.
To teach students how to obtain information on career opportunities.

Competencies:
Learn about various career opportunities.
Explore occupations that match work/personal values, skills, interest, and passions.
Identify a career path to pursue following graduation.

Materials:
Articles/Pieces on careers
Non-fiction graphic organizer

Procedures:

1. Marking - Thinking: Introduce marking - thinking codes to students as a technique that readers sometimes use when reading to gain information. Distribute the same article to every student. Read it aloud as students mark the article accordingly. When done with the article talk about the interesting points, things that were confusing, and any new information students learned from reading the article.
2. What I Know About ... What I want to Know About ... Put T bar on a board or pass out as handout. Select a specific career and have students brainstorm what they already know about it and what they would like to know more about it. Distribute an article to students to read. Were all questions answered?
3. Think, Pair, Share: Pair students and give each group an article and a Think, Pair, Share record sheet. Students should discuss the article and what they learned from reading. After reading the article together groups should discuss what they learned from reading it and from discussing it with their partner.

Guest Speakers

Objective:
To provide students with information on careers that they are interested in pursuing or learning more about.

Competencies:
Learn about various career opportunities.
Explore occupations that match work/personal values, skills, interests, and passions.
Identify a career path to pursue following graduation.
Determine an immediate job goal/volunteer experience/internship that will provide a strong base in building a career path.

Introduction:
Identify careers that students would like to explore in depth, or careers that students know little about. Invite presenters to all sections of your class or arrange for one meeting time for majority of students to attend or an after school event.

Procedures:

1. As guest speakers present students can take notes on the following page.
2. Guest Speakers can talk about:
   • Nature of their work (task duties)
   • Working conditions
   • Things they like best about their job
   • Skills needed
   • Education/training
   • Salary Range
   • Job outlook
   • Other occupation within the field
   • Tips for entering the field
   • Their career path, experience thus far
3. After presentation use a class period for students to write thank you notes.

Options:
Panel of professionals from one career cluster
Panel of employees from non-traditional jobs.

** Worksheet: Gathering Information About Occupations

** Worksheet: Career Research Project

Fastest Growing Jobs

Objective:
A fun rainy day activity that familiarizes students with occupational outlook and acquaints them with the fastest growing jobs.

Competencies
Learn about various career opportunities

Materials:
Pictionary slips with the 50 fastest growing jobs on them.
(Use Careers with Growth Potential Worksheet)

Introduction:
Talk to the students about occupational outlook and the importance of following career trends.
What are some jobs that did not exist 20 years ago?
What kind of jobs are being phased out?
What new jobs can they see being created in the next 20 years?

Procedures:

1. Split the class in two.
2. Pass out Pictionary slips.
3. Students will have a minute to draw the occupation on their slip and have their team guess. If neither team guesses correctly the student who was drawing reveals the answer. Each team gets one point for each correct answer.
4. After the answer is revealed the student who was drawing should tell the class the percentage growth that the career is expected to realize.

Closing:
Pass out comprehensive list of the fastest growing jobs. Discuss the occupations on the list. Are there any that surprise the students? Are there any careers on the list that they aren't sure of what they are? Is the career that they are interested in on the list?

Massachusetts 50 Fastest Growing Jobs

This list presents 50 of the jobs with the highest projected growth rate, based on the Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training's projections for the period 1998-2008.

Careers with Growth Potential

Click here for the Careers with Growth Potential Worksheet, which contains the list of 50 of the fastest growing careers, with additional details for the exercise above. If you are interested in working with more of this data, you can download the data in the format of your choice (Access, Excel or FileMaker Pro) so you can work with the data, sort it, and create your own lists. Also please visit the Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training website http://www.detma.org/LMIOccupations.htm for publications about these job growth projections.

jobgrowth.mdb (Microsoft Access file)
jobgrowth.xls (Microsoft Excel file)
jobgrowth.fp5 (FileMaker Pro file)

*** Click to View Worksheet (SAMPLE BELOW): Careers with Growth Potential