Career Interest Inventory: A MS Career Lesson

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Kelly Galbraith, Fred LaPointe

Title of Lesson: Career Interest Inventory

Course Name: Career Awareness

Grade Level: 7- 8

Author’s Name: Fred LaPointe

School District: Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg

PA Academic Standards for English Language Arts
CC.1.2. Reading Informational Text CC1.2.8.J - Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. CC.1.2.8.K - Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade-level reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies and tools. CC.1.2.8.L - Read and comprehend literary nonfiction and informational text on grade level, reading independently and proficiently.
PA Academic Standards for Career Education and Work
13.1. Career Awareness and Preparation 13.1.8.A - Relate careers to individual interests, abilities and aptitudes 13.1.8.B - Relate careers to personal interests, abilities and aptitudes
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to: Identify and research careers that best match their personal results from the career interest survey. Reflect upon their own interests and abilities and whether the careers they researched are a good fit. Students will research and compare 4-5 of these careers using the following criteria (see Career Interest Inventory handout): Job Description Wages & Salary Projected Openings Possible College Majors Students will write a reflection on their results and discuss how good a fit the suggested career options were. Their reflection will address the following questions: Were the career options ones that you expected to see? Why or why not? Which of these career options would you most likely be interested in pursuing? Has this activity changed your mind about what you plan to do for a career?
Conceptual Background
Students will need use of a notepad or desktop computer to access the PACareerZone.org website. It’s recommended that teachers practice using this resource in advance, especially the Interest Profiler section so they are comfortable guiding students through the online survey process. I have provided a link to my slide tutorial on using this resource - Career Interest Profiler TutorialTeachers will need to explain to students how the Interest Profiler works. Its purpose is to help students identify careers that meet their interests. The survey will ask a number of questions (60) about what they would like to do and would not like to do. Then it matches the student’s answers to careers where people answered these questions much the same way. The top results that appear do not predict what careers the student would be most interested in but are a jumping off point for the student to do further research. The idea here is that if a student chooses a career that matches his or her main interests, the student is more likely to succeed and enjoy his or her job. In addition students are going to see job titles and descriptions with which they are unfamiliar. Some of the job titles may turn some students off. Tell students to keep keep an open mind and do the needed research to learn about the various occupations. They might be pleasantly surprised!
Instructional Procedure
5 Minutes	Activator: How many students have had a part-time job? (Discuss student responses) Was that something you liked doing? Why or why not? (Discuss responses ) Explain that the goal for class today is to explore careers that are related to the student’s personal interests - things they’d like to do!
2- 5 Minutes	Distribute handout (see Career Interest Profiler handout) and review the vocabulary on the last page associated with this online survey.
10 - 15 Minutes	Direct students to open their web browser to www.PaCareerZone.org. Students take the online Career Interests survey, the 60-question version.
20 - 30 Minutes	Students record the results on the handout and complete the reflection part on the last page.of the handout.
Formative Assessment
Observe that students are properly making their selections on the online interests survey. Inquire what career results came up at the top of the list and what their ranking score was. Check that students are filling out the jobs section of the handout properly. Review the completed Career Interest Profiler handout including the reflection for accuracy and completeness.
Materials Needed
Career Interest Profiler Tutorial www.pacareerzone.org Career Interest Profiler handout PA List of High Priority Occupations