Access to Education
Dr. Chris Woods
Assistant Professor of School Counselor Education
The Ohio State University
Help your child achieve
Children are more likely to stay in school and achieve academically if they see how their school work fits into their long-range career goals.
Research consistently shows that parents are the strongest influence on the career choices of their children.
How to help your child's career development
- Work with your child to identify personal strengths and interests.
- Help your child expand on the careers to explore.
- Arrange for your child to interact with people from a variety of careers.
- 4Seek out occupational information from free online resources.
- Determine which courses your child needs to take to get ready for careers of interest.
- Visit with your child's school counselor or a career specialist.
- Together, map educational plans.
O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, provides this free website from the government that provides career interest assessments, skills/career matching, occupational information, and labor market projections.
This is the "Ohio Career Information System" - a site provided by the Ohio Dept. of Education's Career Development Office. It provides local and national career information in a format friendly to both students and parents. The site can be used for career assessments, occupational information, and information about education programs in Ohio (for educational planning). There is even a portfolio capability where students can accumulate such things as a resume, the results of their career assessments and job searches. There is a cost for the service, but many school districts have already paid this, so students can get a username and password from their school.
This U.S. Department of Labor site contains the "Occupational Outlook Handbook" which has some information about specific careers and gives projections on job growth in specific areas.