As teens begin to think about their futures, career exploration becomes increasingly important. By learning about different career options and discovering their interests and strengths, teens can make more informed choices about future education and career paths.
Why Career Exploration is Important for Students
Understanding why career exploration matters is the first step. In today’s rapidly changing job market, teens need to start thinking about careers early to avoid being unprepared or overwhelmed with choices later on. Career exploration allows teens to:
- Discover their interests, skills, values, and personality preferences to find careers that are a good fit
- Learn about the education and training required for different careers
- Gain exposure to potential career fields through research, informational interviews, job shadowing, and internships
- Develop self-awareness and decision-making skills for planning education and career paths
- Plan what high school courses and extracurricular activities to focus on for different career options
- Make better decisions about college majors or technical training programs
By starting career exploration in high school and continuing it through college, teens set themselves up for future career satisfaction and success.
Career Exploration Worksheet
One effective career exploration tool is a career exploration worksheet to help guide self-reflection and discovery. Here is a sample worksheet teens can use:
Career Exploration for High School Students Worksheet
This worksheet helps high school students start exploring options and identifying their interests. Filling it out involves introspection but is a worthwhile exercise for future planning.
My Interests
List 5-10 activities, classes, hobbies you truly enjoy doing:
My Strengths
List five personality traits or skills you’re naturally good at:
My Values
List five things that are most important to you in a career (helping people, creativity, outdoor work, salary, schedule, etc.):
Careers to Research
List 5 career fields that appear interesting based on your interests, strengths, and values:
Information Interviews
List five friends/family/mentors you can talk to about their careers:
Next Steps
List 1-2 things you will do next to explore your options further (job shadowing, internship search, college major research):
Career Exploration for College Students
For college students, career exploration looks similar but with a focus on post-graduate opportunities. This worksheet helps college students tailor their exploration:
My Majors of Interest
List your top 2-3 potential majors and why you’re interested in each:
Dream Jobs
List three realistic “dream jobs” you’d be excited to have and their typical requirements:
Informational Interviews
List 5-10 professionals in fields related to your majors you can interview for advice:
Skills to Build
List 2-3 skills, experiences, or credentials you need to develop further before graduating:
Industry Research
List 2 industries or professional fields you want to research further and learn how people transitioned into them:
Types of Career Exploration
In addition to self-reflection through worksheets, teens can explore careers hands-on through different activities:
Informational Interviews
Teens interview professionals working in fields that interest them to learn day-to-day realities, skills needed, and career paths.
Job Shadowing
Spending a day with a professional on the job provides firsthand exposure to real work environments and responsibilities.
Internships
Unpaid or paid introductory positions offer career testing and resume-building in a supportive learning environment.
Career Fairs or Conferences
Networking with employers at large events introduces teens to diverse opportunities across many industries and regions.
Informational Meetings
Small gatherings with career counselors or professional groups expand industry knowledge and spark new ideas.
Virtual Exploration
Webinars, company websites, and virtual job shadows increase exposure when in-person exploration isn’t feasible.
Examples of Career Exploration for Students
Bringing career exploration to life, here are examples of how real students took advantage of different exploration opportunities:
1 Informational Interviews
A high school junior interested in engineering job shadowed an engineer and then followed up with informational interviews with 5 local engineers to compare day-to-day work and education required across specialties like civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering.
2 Summer Internship
After learning about environmental science in class, a college sophomore secured a paid summer internship with a nonprofit conducting species monitoring in local nature areas. This solidified her interest, and she is now applying to graduate programs.
3 Career Fair Volunteering
While in community college studying business, a student volunteered at their annual career fair to learn more about prospective employers. Through interacting with company booths, she was later offered an administrative internship that turned into a full-time position.
4 Virtual Conference Sessions
During the pandemic, a high school senior interested in health fields attended several virtual conference sessions hosted by medical associations and universities. One presentation about genetic counseling particularly interested her, and she is now applying to those graduate programs.
5 Mobile Career Exploration Lab
A “career lab on wheels” visited underserved rural high schools, offering hands-on activities in engineering, manufacturing, healthcare simulations, and computer science to expose students to non-traditional options they may not have otherwise known about. One student discovered a passion for coding and is now studying computer science.
Career Exploration for Teens FAQ
Here are answers to some frequently asked career exploration questions:
What are the four phases of career exploration?
The four phases are self-assessment, career exploration, career planning, and career preparation. Self-assessment involves identifying interests, values, and strengths. Exploration is researching careers that match assessments. Planning maps out education goals. Preparation builds experience needed through activities like volunteering or internships.
What should I do in a career exploration?
Some key activities for career exploration include informational interviews, job shadows, career research, career assessments, career fairs or expos, networking, pursuing informational meetings or training, virtual exploration if needed, and reflecting in a journal. The goal is hands-on exposure to potential careers.
What is the most important step in a career exploration?
Self-assessment is generally considered the most important step, as it provides clarity on interests, values, personality, and skills. Without self-understanding, it’s difficult to identify suitable careers to explore further. Exploration then involves matching assessments to career possibilities through research and hands-on experiences.
What are the 6 phases of your career?
The typical career phases are: 1) Growth and exploration, 2) Establishment 3) Advancement, 4) Transition, 5) Redefinition, and 6) Independence. Growth involves education, exploration, and early work experiences. The establishment is settling into a career path. Advancement has promotions and increased responsibility. Transition is changing careers or adapting skills. Redefinition may mean new management roles. Independence involves being an expert, mentoring others, or moving into consulting.
What are some career clusters to explore?
Some common career clusters for exploration include:
- Arts, Audio/Visual Technology & Communications
- Business Management & Administration
- Education & Training
- Finance
- Government & Public Administration
- Health Science
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
How do I create a career plan?
Steps to create an effective career plan include setting goals, researching your interests and options, creating a timeline, identifying skills to gain, deciding on education/training paths, networking, gaining experience, overcoming obstacles, getting feedback, and adjusting the plan as needed based on new information or opportunities that arise. Revisit and update your plan annually.