My Career Exploration Journal {Review}

As a high school counselor, one of the things I find myself talking with students about often is career exploration.  After all, we should start planning high school with the end in sight...and if you don't know where you want to head, that can be difficult!  So this Career Exploration Journal for middle schoolers is a fantastic addition to the homeschool toolbox -- it helps you start high school with some semblance of a plan...

About the My Career Exploration Journal

The book is broken down into several sections, including an introduction to careers, exploring yourself, and exploring careers.  Sections include:

• Massive List of Careers
• With nearly two hundred careers, this list will help unsure students find a place to start their exploration.
• All About Me
• Introspection is a good thing, and as students explore their likes and needs, this will help them narrow down the list of potential careers to explore further.
• Brainstorm Careers to Explore
• This serves as a starting point for career to take a deep dive into.
• “I Want to Explore ________”
• Templates, questions, writing prompts, and more send your student on a career researching adventure. But with this journal, they’ll go deeper than just finding out basic information. There are templates to help them identify:
• What the job actually does
• Skills needed
• Abilities needed
• Required education, knowledge, experience
• Future career potential
• Career goal setting
• Interview questions
• Journaling pages
• Certificate of Completion
• One of these is provided for each career they fully explore.

High School Academic & Career Advising

What We Thought

The format is both engaging and comprehensive, perfect for middle school and even upper elementary school age. While it’s fun and visually appealing, it also forces kids to think a little bit deeper about potential career choices than simply what ‘sounds cool.’ Questions about experience, knowledge, and skills required for each job go even further by asking kids to define what each of those skills mean…so they aren’t just making a list, they’re acknowledging what each entails. They finish up the unit with “A Day in the Life of…” looking at what a typical job day would be.

Where to Snag a Copy

Digital Versions

• The mini version provides you with enough printables for researching one career.  Does not include some of the templates from above.
• The full version - described above - provides you with enough printables for researching five careers.

Physical Version

• You can pick up a printed, physical copy of the full version over at Amazon.

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