Getting Ready for Careers

Embrace the Journey!

Life after high school is full of endless possibility. Thinking about this can be exciting but can also raise many questions. Should I go to college, enlist in the military, or enter the workforce? What does the military have to offer? What career options would be best for me? How do I find my life purpose?

 

You don't need to have all the answers! Finding the best path for you may take some time. That's okay! Take it step by step with a sense of mission, purpose, discovery and adventure. You'll learn much about yourself and your abilities along the way. In time, you'll find that you have arrived at just the right place for YOU!

 

Resources

Help your teen explore career options with some of the following tools. You may even want to incorporate some of these tools to create a "Career Exploration" course elective! Simply keep track of work, activities and hours in a HOME portfolio to gain full or partial credit!

 

  • ASVAB - Aptitude test and interest assessment results are used to guide career exploration.
  • Career Direct - This assessment examines four critical components of career selection to help students discover what they were made to do.
  • Career Vision - Professional staff help to pinpoint talents and provide personalized career planning.
  • CAREERwise - Information on different types of careers
  • HOME Unit Studies - Every HOME unit study includes career exploration as it pertains to the topic!  
  • HOME Resource Showcase

Hands-on Activities

Help your teen explore and develop interests through hands-on learning and experiences!  

Helpful Webinars

The Early College Landscape in Maine (Rachael Magill & Kari Suderley)

 

Your student may not be planning on going to college. However, Early College options allow your student to take college classes for high school credit! What is Early College, how can your student get more information about offerings, why should you participate? These are just a few of the many questions that arise on a weekly basis within UMA’s Office of Early College. Early College in Maine is no longer one of the best kept secrets, but it can be challenging to know where to start. The presentation will speak about the program in general and how to become informed. This is Part 1 in the conversation, which can be followed up with a longer presentation, How to Leverage Early College for Your Post-secondary Education (which can be found below). 

 

Navigate: How to Figure Out the Big Decisions and Multiple Options of Young Adulthood (Jonathan Brush)

 

Making big life decisions isn't easy. For many young adults, facing new decisions — decisions about college, career, life purpose, and more — is overwhelming. And instead of leading to confidence and excitement about the future, big decisions often lead to stress and stalling out. But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if your student stopped trying to make decisions by grasping for the one "perfect" answer? What if, instead, they learned to make decisions through a process of asking questions, testing multiple answers, and reflecting on possible outcomes?

 

In this session, we'll discuss principles behind the kind of productive question-asking and decision-making that equips young adults to move forward with confidence. 

 

Military Options for Graduates (David P. O'Neil & SSG Rowe)

 

With less than 1% of our population serving in the military it is not always a pathway on students short list.  The Army offers many rewarding opportunities for individuals to grow and develop skills such as Leadership, Discipline, Loyalty and Respect which are traits highly sought after in today’s competitive job market.  Learn what the Army is like through the experience of an active-duty soldier.  Education is one of the keys to building a successful future.  Professional training and challenging experiences combined with a wide range of educational opportunities can help make you a better Soldier and person.

 

Early Graduation Options (Kathi Kearney)

 

Sometimes homeschooled students finish high school early, either because they needed the challenge of advanced coursework, have been learning right along with an older sibling, or finished a basic high school course of study and wish to move on to work or career training. In this session, HOME Board Member and Maine Certified Teacher Kathi Kearney shares more about the questions, options and legal considerations surrounding graduation for students under the age of 17.

 

More Webinars

How to Leverage Early College for Your Post-secondary Education is an informative webinar featuring UMA, UMaine and UMaine Machias Early College Directors, Rachael Magill, Kari Suderley, and Christy Alley. Together they team up to present an informative session on Early College Enrollment.