When you play The Game of Life, you simply choose a career card to start your journey around the board. In the real world, though, there is a lot more work involved in deciding which path to take in life. For instance, you may need years of college instead of a few lucky spins of a wheel to secure a higher-paying job.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a great tool for figuring out which career is right for you and then setting some SMART goals to help you get there. Use your favorite search engine to find the Occupation Outlook Handbook, and then try each of the methods below to learn more about a career that interests you. Click each method to see detailed instructions.
In the search bar, type a job or occupation that interests you. Once you hit enter, or click on the magnifying glass, a list of resources will appear-something similar to what you see when you conduct a Google search. Click on a link to learn more about that occupation.
The second method for researching a career is to use the A-Z index. If you already know some career options that interest you, this may be the best way to search. Use the index to find a job that interests you. Look at the jobs listed before and after that job—do you see any related careers that you hadn't considered?
If you're not sure what job you want but you know what field of work interests you, the third option may be most useful. Find the list of occupation groups on the Occupational Outlook Handbook homepage, and explore the different jobs and careers in that group. Identify a few that you might find fun or fulfilling.
Now that you've tried several different ways to search for occupations, dig a little deeper into the data provided by the Occupational Outlook Handbook. The following activity will describe how other students have used the web site. Click one of the links below to access the activity, and answer the questions in Section 1.
When you have answered all of the questions in Section 1, save your work and leave the worksheet open so you can add to it later in the lesson.
