About Vocational Exploration

NBHS feels that it is very important for all students to have an understanding of career options after secondary as well as post-secondary education. We offer multiple opportunities for students to research and investigate career possibilities. Listed below are some of those avenues.

Job Shadowing Throughout the school year students are encouraged to participate in job shadows. Job shadowing allows a student to leave school and spend time with a professional in the student’s area of interest. Students must see their school counselor in order to fill out an application to participate in a job shadow. The student must provide his/her own transportation to and from the shadow site.

Field Trips Field trips are arranged according to career surveys or teacher and student suggestions. Field trips provide students opportunities to visit places of business and get a feel for various occupations within the surrounding community.

Guest Speakers Career related guest speakers visit the high school to present information about a variety of careers. In the past we have had speakers from many different career areas come in to talk with the students. Our department schedules speakers according to the interest levels of the students. Please encourage your students to see their counselors and put in their requests.

Interest/Ability/Career Assessments

For students who feel very undecided about what they may be interested in pursuing as a career after they graduate from high school, there are several different types of assessments available that can help students identify areas of interest. Students are encouraged to talk to their counselor to determine which assessment may be the most appropriate for them to take. Below is a brief description of some that are available:

Do What You Are Beginning in the 2008-09 school year, this online personality assessment will be completed by all sophomores. Juniors and Seniors will be given the opportunity to complete this assessment as well. To complete this assessment, students are asked to read several different scenarios and then respond to several statements after each one. Based on their responses, the program determines the student’s Personality Type which is then described in detail. The student is asked if this sounds like an accurate description of him/herself. The program identifies career choices for the student and gives detailed information about factors related to those careers including education required, workplace environment and other “personality types” that tend to be successful in the field.

To access the Do What You Are assessment: Go to www.bridges.com Click on Create a Portfolio Enter the Site ID (1222739) and Password (X9s8v4A6)◦Select Do What You Are in Your Tools box◦Click Register Here and submit your required information◦Create an account – both your Username and Password must be at least 6 characters long Select a security question and answer that will be asked should you forget your password Begin the Do What You Are assessment

Strong Interest Inventory The Strong Interest Inventory can be completed by any interested student by coming down to the Guidance Department. It is a paper and pencil inventory which has several sections. In each section, the student is asked to rate on a scale how much he/she likes or does not like certain occupations, work and leisure activities and educational subjects Based on this information, the Strong Interest Inventory identifies a range of possible careers that may be of interest to the student.

ASVAB Once a year, typically in December, the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) is administered at NBHS to any interested Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. This assessment is comprised of two sections. The first is an aptitude test that takes about three hours to complete and assesses academic and technical skills. The second section of the ASVAB is an interest inventory given to students when the results from the first section are returned. Students then combine the results from the two sections to identify potential career fields for further exploration.

Although developed and administered by the military, students have no obligation to the military if they decide to complete this assessment. Originally administered only to people who were enlisting in a branch of the military, the ASVAB Program recently was re-designed to be helpful to virtually all students, whether they are planning on immediate employment after high school in civilian or military occupations, or further education at a university, community college, or vocational institution. More information can be obtained at www.asvabprogram.com.

More info

Much more information about career choices is available in our Career Center and online. Below are some sites that we like:

To explore The Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook visit www.bls.gov/oco/ . This site will provide you with information on various careers as well as training and education needed, earning potential, expected job prospects, working conditions and much more.

Another site is www.jobhuntersbible.com. This is Richard Bolles, author of What color is your parachute? This is a great site with great information.

For testing/assessment: www.rileyguide.com visit this to get great overall information. As a subset area to this web page, visit www.rileyguide.com/assess.html for all assessment tools.Some have fees, some do not.