Career Center
for High School Students

Self-Assessment

Commit yourself to finding a career that's appropriate to your interests, personality, and values. The first step in career planning is self-assessment, which helps you examine who you are and what you know about yourself.

Career Matching

The Career Key is a helpful survey to determine your interests and to match them to the six personality types called Holland Codes. The Student-Career Matching Assistant will use your Holland Codes to link careers to your interests and personality. In the List of Careers, explore the occupations that match your Holland code(s) and see if any of them catch your interest. You can investigate the occupation descriptions, worker characteristics, entry-level education and training requirements, work environment, physical demands, and related occupations.

Deciding on a Major

Some majors are directly related to specific careers. For example, if you hope to be an engineer, the obvious major to choose is engineering. But there are many careers that don't require specific majors. If you don't have a specific career goal in mind, it might be best to choose a major that interests you.

Changing Your Mind

Keep in mind that if you decide later that you want to work in a profession completely unrelated to your major, you still can. You might have to go back to school for additional training, but it is never too late to pursue your dream and you are worth it!

Which School?

Realistic factors can help you determine which school is a good choice for you. Pay attention to what the school offers, where you want to live, and what you can afford. Those factors should help you narrow your choices. For example you may want to go to Georgia Tech and you may want to be a nurse. Since Georgia Tech does not offer nursing, you will have to find another Georgia school that does.

You can take virtual tours of campuses by visiting their main websites or visiting another website that provides them, such as GAcollege411's Campus Tours.

If you or your parents are figuring out how to pay for college, there is help available to you. To begin, there is a host of information available in the Paying for College tab of this website.

There are also less traditional financing sources available that require more research on your part. Your high school guidance counselor's office is a good place to start searching for financing solutions. Ask your parents if their employer offers scholarships to the children of employees. There are also books, a free scholarship search on this site, and online resources to help you reach your financial aid goals.

What Else Can You Do?

Ask people whose jobs look or sound interesting to explain what they really do and how they got to where they are now. Start with these questions:

• Did you go to college?
• What type of degree, if any, did you need for your job?
• What was your major?
• What kind of jobs, internships, volunteer work, or apprenticeships, if any, did you take on to prepare you for your career?
• How did you get your first job in your career?
• How long have you worked in this job?
• What are your major responsibilities?
• What do you like most about your job?
• What frustrates you the most about your job?
• If you could go back and redo your training for this job, how would you better prepare?
  
  

• Job Shadowing
  It's hard to know what people in a particular occupation actually do during their typical workday. To get a feel for an occupation, ask someone who works in a career in which you are seriously interested if you can shadow him or her for a day. If they agree, you get to see what the job really is, both the boring and the beautiful. You also get to make a contact, thereby starting to build your professional network.

• "Ask an Expert"
  You may be able to ask students that are currently studying in the area that you are interested in to explain their experiences as a student in that major. They can help you on what you may expect as a student when you begin school, and let you know what types of resources and opportunities there are for students in that major.

• Internships
  Internships are generally pursued later, either once you're in college or have some work experience. They're designed to provide a more focused experience of an organization or career. Internships are also a great way to network for future positions, because you gain experience and make personal contacts. Some internships are paid (usually not a large amount) and others are unpaid.

  Some organizations, companies, and government offices have formal internship programs that you must apply to and even compete for despite the free labor you are offering. Another way to find an internship is to contact a place at which you'd like to work and offer to work as an intern.

  You can find links to organizations with more information regarding internships by, clicking here.

• Volunteer Work