Creator: Pennsylvania Department of Education | visit site
Grade Range: 6 - 11
This website offers a fairly comprehensive like/dislike work personality profile. Although created in Pennsylvania, the site is universally helpful. (There are other quizzes and occupation information available at the homepage.) It is a very long survey (180 questions at the time of this review), but it can be saved in process which is a very helpful feature. Students answer simply "like," "dislike," or "not sure." Once the profile is completed, an interest profile is developed and the meanings of the interests can be referenced in the first type of assessment. Jobs that are highly related to the individuals’ interest profile are linked here. The specific occupations are linked to information on the career including descriptions, education requirements, experience and skills needed to perform the job. Also, basic career information is also available to search without doing the interest assessment.
In the Classroom
This site could be applied to any course. It could be invaluable to guidance classes, family and consumer sciences, and business courses. This would be a great introductory lab for any of those classes as well as others. Demonstrate on an interactive whiteboard or projector and then have students work on individual computers to take the survey. Have students access the site and complete the survey and do a simple research into three different possibilities. Then have students reflect on the careers that surprised them as well as the ones with which they thought they would want to do. Have students create "a day in the life" blog entries related to a day on the job of one of the careers suited for them.
At Home
Use this site to help your teen figure out "what’s next" after high school. Make it a conversation starter without pressure. You might even take the quiz yourself and share your own results. Share this resource in advance of a school career day, job shadowing, or Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day so you teen can really gain from career exploration.