Your School Counselor can help you some with Career Planning and can point you to many more resources you can use to examine possible jobs, see what might be a good fit for you, and make sure you're taking the right steps in high school to plan and be ready for what comes beyond.

Here are just a few resources to start with:

Certificate, Trade, and Apprenticeship programs in the greater Streamwood area.

Testing: If you've taken a standardized test at Streamwood High School (and by the end of October of your Freshman year, you have), you've done some career exploration through the materials on the test. The PLAN, the EXPLORE, the ACT, and the PSAT all include some career exploration. Bring your score sheet to your counselor for help discussing the results! And if you're interested in a career in the military, be sure to talk to your counselor about signing up for the ASVAB test! 

Career Related Websites
There are all kinds of excellent websites we can recommend for doing career exploration. Here are just a few of our favorites:

• Naviance!   Open Naviance, and take a look at the Careers Tab!  There are also lots of Naviance assessments you can do under Self-Discovery.
   
• http://www.bls.gov/ooh/ - This is The Occupational Outlook Handbook from from the United States Government Bureau of Labor Statistics. The site is very career specific if you know the career you're looking for, and privdes information on average pay, job description, education required, work enviornment, pay, and job outlook.
   
• http://www.onetonline.org/ O*Net is a site full of great information, and an ideal jumping off point if you know your general field of interest (say science) and need to learn more about careers in that field. 
   
• http://www.mynextmove.org (through O*Net). My Next Move is an interactive tool for job seekers and students to learn more about their career options. My Next Move has tasks, skills, salary information, and more for over 900 different careers. Users can find careers through keyword search; by browsing industries that employ different types of workers; or through the O*NET Interest Profiler, a tool that offers personalized career suggestions based on a person's interests and level of work experience. My Next Move is developed and maintained by the National Center for O*NET Development, under the sponsorship of the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) through a grant to the North Carolina Department of Commerce. 

• http://www.Whatsnextillinois.org (ISAC recommended). You can create your user account or browse as a guest. The Career Planning tab has an excellent online survey to help with determining your interests, skills, and work values, and then using them to find appropriate career options. There are also links for exploring careers, creating resumes, and high school, college, and financial aid planning. 

• http://www.thinkcollege.net (for students with special needs). Think College is a national organization dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving inclusive higher education options for people with intellectual disabilities. With a commitment to equity and excellence, Think College supports evidence-based and student centered research and practice by generating and sharing knowledge, guiding institutional change, informing public policy, and engaging with students, professionals, and families.