“What do you want to be when you grow up?” We’ve all been asked this question and at 17-18 years old, we may not really know what we want to do. And that’s OK! Research on jobs and careers tells us that your generation will probably have 20 different jobs by the time you’re 30 years old and as many as 5 different careers over a working life of 40-50 years!! The one constant throughout all this is YOU! Finding out what interests and challenges you is a valuable first step to finding the job you love later in life. And that’s what this webquest is about.

Start

Step 1

Go to the My Next Move.org website.  Using the mouse, click “Start” under the words on the right side of the website that say, “I’m not really sure,” and “Tell us what you like to do”.  Read the welcome page from the ONET Interest Profiler and use the mouse to click, “Next”. Read the directions page and click, “Next”.  You will see a page like this:    

Respond to each question by choosing:

Strongly Dislike

Dislike

Unsure

Like

Strongly Like

Answer the questions in order.  When you have answered all 60 questions, the survey will place your answers into six personality types.  The personality type with the highest score indicates the traits you would use to feel satisfied and successful in a career.

Step 2

The ONET Interest Profiler will ask you how much education you are planning to attain. Click “Next” through the pages until you see your job zone choices high lighted in blue.  The Job Zone level indicates how much education you need to be successful in the career that fits your interests:

Job Zone 1 – No education requirements

Job Zone 2 – High school diploma

Job Zone 3 – 2 year degree or certificate

Job Zone 4 – 4 year degree

Job Zone 5 – graduate degree

Click, “Next”, choose a job zone that describes your plan for school, and click “Next” to see careers that match your interests with your educational plans.

Step 3

Select a career that matches your interests and your educational plans. In a Microsoft Word document (copy and paste) display the following data:

• What skills are necessary to perform this job?
• What tasks would you perform on this job?
• What technology might you use to perform this job?
• What are the employment projections (Job Outlook)?
• What is the Average wage (half the people earn more than this and half earn less) per year?

Do you think this is a good wage that would allow you to have a comfortable lifestyle? If not, what could you do instead?

Find two more careers that match your interest and your educational plans and answer the above questions as well (copying and pasting into your Microsoft Word document).

Do you see this icon?  This is a job in high demand and short supply!

Step 3

Visit the Tennessee Career Information Delivery System website.   Click on the first letter of the career you explored from My Next Move.org.

Find your career and watch the video about that career.

Compare information from Tennessee Career Information Delivery System to the information you displayed on your Microsoft word document.  Look at the skills, tasks, education, and salary.

The median (average) salary should be close to the salary discussed on My Next Move.org.

Now look at the 10% Salary.  This is close to the amount you would receive as a beginning salary.

Step 4

 Evaluate the information you retrieved from these websites.  Which of the careers you explored most appealed to you?  Do you think you need to change your educational plans to get the job you want or make the amount of money you hoped for?

Step 5

Visit with your group.  Discuss the career you have chosen, and state facts that support your choice of this career.

Extras

You may revisit the sites  My Next Move.org and Tennessee Career Information Delivery System to explore additional careers.

Also visit Drive of Your Life.org to explore other career options.

Play the This Could Be Your Life Game to explore how career and life choices effect you.

Take a look at the top ten career fields projected for 2012.