You may need a little support deciding what to do with your life and where to get started planning for your future career. Or maybe you’ve done your career planning and you’ve set your goals, but need help with next steps. Either way, we can get you prepared for a promising future. We’ll help you narrow down your interests. We’ll guide you toward the education, training and skills you need. We’ll put you on the right path for a rewarding career adventure. You can get started in three steps.
Your future awaits
Step One
The first step is finding out what you're interested in. Knowing what interests you have can help you find the right career path for you. A great way to do this is to use the Interest Profiler here on CareerForceMN.com. The Interest Profiler asks you to answer questions about how much you like or dislike a variety of activities. The results will show what types of careers interest you by telling you which categories you "score" highest in among the following categories:
- Realistic
- Investigative
- Artistic
- Social
- Enterprising
- Conventional
The Interest Profiler will show you which occupations match the interest categories you score strongest in.
First you need a CareerForceMN.com account. It takes just a few minutes to set up your no-fee CareerForceMN.com account. Then login to CareerForceMN.com and select on the Search interests on the My Goals & Experience tab on your personal dashboard. When you've completed the Interest Profiler, select up to six of the suggested occupations that interest you as "My Career Goals". Now you're ready for step two!
Step Two
Now that you've selected occupations as "My Career Goals", you're ready to start exploring those occupations of interest to you. Select Learn more for each of the career goals you've set for yourself. You will then open a page about that occupation where you can watch a video and read about the daily activities of a person working in that occupation. You can learn about future demand for each occupation. This will give you information about whether it's likely employers will need people in that occupation in the future. You can find out about education and training requirements for occupations you've selected. You can see what current average wages are for a person working in that occupation. Need some more information about how much money you will need to make to support the lifestyle you want to live? Check out the Reality Check tool.
By exploring your career options, you may learn that some occupations you were considering are not a good fit for you as career goals. You may also discover occupations you never heard of before that are a great match for you. Now you're ready for step three.
Step Three
You've narrowed down your career goals based on your interests plus future demand, daily activities, wage information and education or training required. You've identified a few occupations that you're considering as your career goals. Now, you're ready to consider how you can prepare yourself to get on a career path that is right for you. One of the first things you need to figure out is how you will get the education or training you need to reach your goals. This is a great time to talk with a school counselor or a CareerForce specialist about you career goals and how you can get on the path to reach them.
More resources
On CareerForceMN.com, there are many ways to explore careers and get ready to the path that's right for you.
- If you have work or volunteer experience, you might want to use our Skills Matcher. Just select Search skills from the My Goals & Experience tab on your personal dashboard.
- When you’re ready to land your dream job—or a position that will pay the bills while you work toward your goals—we have tools to help you market yourself.
- If you need one-on-one career help, contact a CareerForce location near you.
Want to explore more? Check out the helpful links below:
