Educators and career development professionals create awareness of the importance of career development in many different ways. Parents also can be involved and encourage their children to start thinking about careers from an early age.

For elementary students:

• In art class, have students draw, paint or sculpt from clay a worker, a work setting, or a tool used on the job.
• Read books about jobs and work. There are hundreds of title available. Two to consider are “Jobs People Do,” “Career Ideas for Kids Who Like Music and Dance,” but there are hundreds of others.

For middle school, junior high and high school students:

• Incorporate career information into everyday curriculum. If you’re teaching how to write a business letter, have students write a sample letter to the CEO or owner of a business they’re interested in, from Microsoft to the local hardware store.
• If your students are studying geometry, develop problems based on math concepts needed to figure profitable farm acreage or specifications needed for a new business building. You can find more than 80 career-related lesson plans covering all subject areas in the Career Information System (CIS).

For college students and other young adults:

• Attend a Dress for Success, Etiquette or Soft Skills workshop.  Many local Department of Labor offices and some college career centers provide them.
• Work with the school’s video production students to record practice job interviews.

For adults:

• Volunteering, besides benefitting the community, is a great avenue for maintaining work skills, meeting others in a chosen field and finding a career passion.  Serve Idaho is a great place to start.

The National Career Development Association and Idaho Career Development Association are great resources for ways to celebrate Career Development Month in November and to increase the awareness of the process of choosing and improving one’s career throughout life.

– Terry Mocettini, technical & support materials coordinator, Career Information System