When you are planning your future there are so many options to think about. Consider the wide range of educational opportunities such as 4-year universities and colleges, 2-year community colleges, career schools, and trade schools. Or maybe you feel the cost of higher education is not appropriate even then you could look at apprenticeship, Job Corp, military, entrepreneurship (starting a business) or any job you can find. The options are overwhelming. So how can one decide? That is where career exploration can help.

Career exploration is all about researching jobs and thinking about how they fit you. You might ask "why should I look at job statistics?" Starting out with a well researched goal will help you spend less time and money changing directions or college majors. Generally speaking you will probably spend 40 hours a week as an adult working and having a job that you enjoy would be a good thing. Certainly as you proceed, information and experience may help you sharpen your focus to achieve your goal as your life plans change. However, without a goal and an idea of which steps are needed to achieve that goal, you may find yourself working in jobs that offer little more than a paycheck.

Before you start looking at different jobs spend some time considering the following questions:

• What are my future goals?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What do I like to do most?
• What kind of work do I enjoy most?
• How much money do I want to earn?
• Where do I want to live?

If you have no idea of what future goals to set, try talking to people you know who are a few years older than you about their experiences and the plans they had. Talk about your plans with parents, teachers, older brothers/sisters, and counselors and think about the advice they offer. Another option is to take the Occupation Interest Profile in the Assessments section. This is a great way to determine what careers might fit with your interests and philosophies of life. It is important to find a career that won't make you unhappy but that will give you a sense of accomplishment.

There are economic realities to consider when you are researching occupations. Certainly wages are an important factor when looking for careers, but so are education requirements and demand for the occupation. Does the high wage paying job fit with your interests from the interest profiles assessment? Does one of the "Hot Jobs" fit with your work values? Does the job you are interested in have employment opportunities in your local community or would you need to move? Even jobs that don't require more than a high school education may still need a license or certification. All of these considerations will impact your choices.

Use the Plan Worksheet on this site to help you start your career exploration. Start by writing down the answers to the questions above. On the Assessment page take the Interest profiler and record your scores. Using the interest category with your highest score, review the list of related occupations and their detailed information. Choose three jobs that you like and record their basic job statistics. Often times there are no right or wrong answer to why you like one job or the other. Once you have some direction on the types of careers you are interested in, then you can determine the steps to take to achieve your goal.