Occupations/Careers: Grades 9-12

Transition Target: Identify personal career interests and aptitudes helpful to achieve Postsecondary Education, Employment, and/or Community Independent Living goals.

Transition Target: Analyze the impact of employment on financial status.

Transition Target: Demonstrate employability skills in a work-based learning experience (e.g., job shadowing, mentoring, paid or unpaid work, service learning, school-based enterprises, on-the-job training, internships, and apprenticeships).

Transition Target: Demonstrate ability to seek and obtain employment.

Transition Target: Demonstrate skills needed for maintaining and changing employment.

Express and document long-term goals in personal-social, occupational, and further learning domains. 

Discuss and demonstrate personal career-related skills, aptitudes, and dispositions.

Report and document information about specific jobs and careers of interest.

Compare personal assets with requirements of specific jobs or careers.

Create a personal career plan to meet career goal(s) and objectives.

Describe the impact of wages on personal financial status.

State the purpose of gainful employment to meet personal needs and wants.

Demonstrate financial literacy related to income.

Manage employment wages and reporting requirements.

Apply money-saving strategies as a tool for employment advancement.

Demonstrate adequate job-readiness skills (e.g., positive attitudes, following directions, asking for help when needed, flexibility).

Exhibit appropriate work habits and behaviors (e.g., punctuality, time management, task completion, and quality task performance).

Demonstrate positive social interactions (e.g., teamwork, leadership, stress management, and conflict resolution) needed for the workplace.

Demonstrate appropriate work ethics (e.g., honesty, dependability, loyalty).

Document needs and accommodations for employment (if applicable).

Identify sources for learning of employment opportunities (e.g., newspaper listings, online job postings, O*NET, One Stop Career Center, and Department of Labor).

Identify criteria to be used in selecting an occupation (e.g., salary, location, environment, and job duties).

Identify training requirements for a variety of occupational choices.

Select career options based on aptitudes and abilities.

Demonstrate appropriate job-seeking behaviors (e.g., research, attire, interview skills, follow-up).

Define the need for advancement in employment.

Identify methods for advancement in employment (e.g., networking, research, continuing education, building relationships).

Assess the need for continuing education to maintain employment.

Examine the increasing demands for advancement among skilled employees.

Explain the impact of technology (e.g., computers, electronics, machinery) on maintaining and advancing in employment.

Identify the future career goal of greatest interest. 

Express at least one specific occupational interest.

Document at least one meaningful long-term goal in personal-social, occupational, and other learning domains. 

Identify a number of possible goals related to at least one domain (e.g., personal-social, occupational, further learning).  

Analyze and report which occupational skills are essential to individual career choice(s).  

Categorize five or more skills or areas of knowledge that one has acquired from a range of workplace experiences since middle school (e.g., job shadowing, information-gathering interviews, volunteer work, unpaid and paid internships). 

Describe results of transition assessments that highlight career-related aptitudes and motivations. 

Identify three or more major skills learned through experience with hobbies, chores, and work experiences. 

Research, analyze, and report employment trends in a selected occupation.

Complete and utilize at least two work-related forms and documents for obtaining employment (e.g., resumes, job applications, and tax forms). 

List standards and qualifications that must be met to enter at least five given industries/careers. 

Identify at least five sources of job descriptions (e.g., career guidance programs, O*NET online, Department of Labor and other online resources, OneStop Career Center, and ASVAB Web site). 

Evaluate and predict the outcomes of multiple employment options based upon individual assets, needs, and career plan objectives. 

Compare at least five varied career choices to individual assets, needs, and career plan objectives.

Describe multiple individual needs that contrast with the demands of five given occupations.

Describe multiple personal assets that match the requirements of five given occupations. 

Predict how pursuit of personal career interest(s) relates to achieving individual postsecondary education goals (and independent living goal, if appropriate).

Develop timelines and ways to monitor achievement of action steps needed to reach personal career goals and objectives.

Prioritize and sequence action steps needed to reach personal career goals and objectives. 

Review, and revise as needed, personal career goals and objectives. 

Analyze both the short-term and long-term impacts of receiving wages and other benefits and explain the need to plan for employment with this impact in mind (e.g., identifying careers with greater and lesser impact of wages and benefits).

Describe the long-term impact of receiving wages and other benefits (e.g., ability to save for college or a home, health insurance in case of injury or illness).  

Describe the short-term impact of receiving wages and other benefits (e.g., having money for a concert or movie or vacation days). 

Identify the general impact of receiving wages (e.g., ability to pay bills and purchase necessary goods). 

Assess how employment allows for the meeting of personal needs and wants and apply these insights or results in an individualized career planning process.

Exhibit a broad understanding of how employment allows an individual to meet personal needs and wants, as well as the specific impact of part-time and fulltime employment or volunteer work.

List specific personal needs and wants and multiple ways in which employment would affect those needs and wants. 

Identify at least one general way in which employment affects personal needs and wants (e.g., the effect of wages on having a place to live). 

Create a three-year budget with potential wages, likely expenses, credit, loans, and long-term repayment of debt.

Create an annual budget with real or imaginary wages and basic expenses. 

Develop a monthly budget with imaginary wages and basic expenses.

Identify how and when wages are paid. 

Research and report state requirements for gross receipts tax reporting.

Based on projected personal annual income, develop and file annual tax returns. 

Set up checking and savings accounts for depositing money earned through freelance jobs, chores, and/or allowances and record all deposits and expenditures. 

Identify how wages will be deposited and reported for federal (and state) taxes. 

Use personal three-year budget to project savings and payments for education/training, national skills certifications, equipment, or materials critical for advancement in a career of choice.

Use personal annual budget to project savings to pay for continuing and/or furthering education. 

Identify at least three money-saving strategies that may assist with employment advancement.

Identify the role of finances in employment advancement (e.g., being able to have the financial resources available to attend postsecondary education or training). 

Apply and self-evaluate specific job-readiness skills or behaviors (e.g., initiative, flexibility, problem-solving, safety orientation, and personal health management). 

Demonstrate a thorough understanding of job-readiness skills and their importance in the work environment and apply these insights to a personal career planning process. 

Identify and demonstrate self-discipline, self-worth, positive attitudes, and integrity in school and work settings. 

Express and demonstrate flexibility and willingness to follow directions and learn new knowledge and skills in school and community settings.

With supervisor input, self-assess personal performance on at least five relevant work habits/behaviors.  

Analyze the importance of appropriate work habits and behaviors in the work environment in the context of an individualized career planning process.

Demonstrate multiple appropriate work habits or behaviors and identify the importance of those habits or behaviors in the specific work environment

Identify the importance of exhibiting work-appropriate habits or behaviors. 

Demonstrate collaborative problem-solving skills for the workplace (e.g., conflict resolution, employee/employer relationships, and response to constructive criticism).  

Build effective working relationships with colleagues and supervisors using positive interpersonal skills, valuing of diversity, and stress management. 

Demonstrate teamwork processes that facilitate team building, consensus, continuous improvement, respect for the opinions of others, cooperation, and adaptability. 

Practice positive interpersonal skills and behaviors through working cooperatively with peers and adults.  

Apply ethical reasoning to a variety of workplace situations in order to make ethical decisions.

Apply rules, policies, and procedures of the workplace (e.g., pre-employment, test and/or screening, dress and grooming, time management, attendance, and sexual harassment policies). 

Discuss the importance of a strong work ethic for worksite performance and job recommendations. 

Identify five or more aspects or examples of an appropriate work ethic. 

Describe personal needs and accommodations for employment (if applicable) to a potential or current employer, focusing on essential functions of a job. 

Describe personal needs and accommodations for employment (if applicable), as well as illustrate how to request such accommodations, during a transition planning meeting.  

Describe personal needs and accommodations for employment (if applicable) and likely outcomes based on whether or not those accommodations are received. 

Identify at least one need or accommodation for employment (if applicable). 

Analyze labor market trends as a tool for selecting employment targets in an individualized career planning process. 

Assess the positive and negative aspects of at least five sources for finding employment opportunities.

Demonstrate an ability to use at least two sources of finding employment opportunities.  

Identify at least one source for finding employment opportunities.  

Select one or two occupational choices to pursue based on how those occupations align with personal selection criteria.

Describe a number of occupations and how those occupations meet or fail to meet personal selection criteria. 

Value and rate personal criteria for selecting an occupation.

Identify criteria that could be used in selecting an occupation. 

Assess the specific certifications and/or licenses required or recommended for three or more occupations of interest.

Locate a potential training program that meets the training requirements for each occupation of interest. 

Compare and contrast training requirements for differing occupational levels within the same field (e.g., nurse vs. nurse’s aide).

Identify training requirements for various occupations. 

Select two particular career options compatible with personal aptitudes and abilities, based on researching various careers. 

Assess the level of fit between personal aptitudes and abilities and specific career options of interest.  

Describe ways in which personal aptitudes and abilities may be helpful within various work environments. 

Identify personal aptitudes and abilities based on results of informal and formal transition assessments and work-related experiences. 

Demonstrate use of multiple job-seeking behaviors during the process and selfassess individual performance on those behaviors.

Demonstrate an ability to engage in multiple appropriate job-seeking behaviors during mock interviews and related exercises.

Describe the impact of specific job-seeking behaviors on gaining employment.  

Identify at least two appropriate job-seeking behaviors. 

Establish long-term career goals that facilitate advancement over time.  

Apply knowledge of the benefits of advancement to a personal career planning process. 

Identify benefits of advancement in employment within specific occupations that may be of interest (e.g., being in charge of particular tasks, supervising others, and having greater freedom).

Identify general benefits of advancement in employment (e.g., receiving higher wages). 

Research local and regional labor (workforce) markets and job growth information to project potential for advancement in a selected industry.

Examine the organization and structure of various segments of a selected industry to prepare for career advancement.  

Compare and contrast multiple methods for employment and which of those are likely to be most successful. 

Identify at least one method for employment advancement.  

Employ self-assessment, organizational priorities, trade journals, Internet sites, professional associations, peers, and other resources to develop specific continuing education goals. 

Assess the types of continuing education that may be needed within particular areas of interest, comparing and contrasting each. 

Describe personal reasons for seeking work-related continuing education and engage in a cost-benefit analysis of whether or not continuing education would be beneficial. 

Identify at least one reason why a person would seek work-related continuing education. 

Prepare and utilize work-related forms and documents (e.g., resumes, job applications, tax form, worker’s compensation, contracts, reports, pay procedures, deductions, net and gross pay, fringe benefits, electronic funds transfers) to meet changing employment expectations. 

Model appropriate dress and behaviors (e.g., reliability and dependability) at a job site in order to contribute to a safe and effective workplace.

Discuss the increasing demands of advancement among skilled employees, and apply this knowledge when considering future career plans. 

Summarize three key activities necessary to retain a job and advance in the industry. 

Demonstrate ability to use technological tools for achieving workplace needs (e.g., assistive technology, common tools, equipment, and machines). 

Assess the personal need for technological skills based on occupational interests and apply information regarding workplace technologies to a personal career planning process. 

Discuss how both worker and worksite technologies impact employment options and employment success.

Identify ways in which technology impacts employment.