First Career Steps Survey Results
March 2012
"My school gives us websites to check out and take assessments. We have appointments with our counselors to talk about college and careers. I think our school should provide meetings/ appointments more often to talk about our career and college plans."
-Student Survey Response
The First Career Steps survey was initiated by The Skills Library in November 2011 to gather student and parent voices to support the work of exploring career readiness. The survey data will be valuable for informing the ongoing work of the School to Career Connecting Activities initiative and related career development and youth employment work. The survey results provide insights about student's career development experiences. The results also provide insights about what type of questions would be valuable if we were to design a larger survey or design a career readiness self-assessment or checklist for students.
The survey was conducted online, and included student and parent versions of the survey, with versions available in English and Spanish. The survey was promoted via email, websites, Facebook and in-person to a wide variety of groups of students, including urban, rural and suburban students across Massachusetts.
"Make [parents] part of the process of college and career planning. Start in sixth grade!
- Parent Survey Response
The largest source of survey responses was the North Shore Workforce Investment Board region, who promoted the survey extensively. Results are presented here for all students, and for students from North Shore, North Shore Career/Vocational Technical Education (CVTE) programs and non-CVTE programs, and students from other regions of the state. Parent results are included where applicable. Overall, the survey received 328 survey responses, including 16 parent survey responses and 312 student survey responses.
Thank you to all of the partners from across the state who assisted with this survey, particularly to the North Shore WIB and others who promoted and administered the survey in their classrooms, and to all those who posted and shared the survey on their Facebook pages and websites.
Summary
Results showed that students are well-engaged in career development, expressing confidence and feeling ready (as well as some worry and not-so-readiness) and expressing interest in a variety of career areas and options for post-high-school first steps. Most have participated in several career development activities, including talking with parents, friends, teachers and counselors, career interest inventories, work experience, including summer jobs, after-school jobs, internships or volunteer work and a variety of career-related events and activities.
Students described many positive things that their school or program does to support career development, and also provided suggestions for additional efforts. The parent survey provided similar input, with parents making suggestions about how schools can support students and parents in student career development.
The most helpful thing that my school's [vocational program] does to help the students learn about careers is having the students work on projects in class, group projects and individual projects.
- Student Survey Response
"My school has offered job suggestions and information about future careers. But I feel that my school can offer more field trips or workplace experiences that can offer more skills that are going to be used in future careers."
-Student Survey Response
The survey results provide testimony to the value of youth employment. One survey question asks "If you have had a job, internship or volunteer position, what do you think you have learned from this experience?" Respondents indicated that they have learned about career options and developed career skills, basic foundation skills and learned about applied academics from their work experiences. Another survey question asks "How would you rate your strength in the following career skills?" with a list of career skills to be rated on a 1 to 5 scale. Analysis of responses to this question shows that students who have had work experiences showed greater confidence in their career skills.
Responses suggest that students are exploring many options for the future, with the majority indicating that they have more than one career area that they might be interested in, and many considering different postsecondary and training options for first steps after high school.
These results provide food for thought for exploring youth development issues and for establishing a vision of career readiness that embraces the confidence and concerns that youth bring to this important part of their development.
Report Contents
- Question 1: How do you feel when people ask you about your career plans?
- Question 2: Do you know yet what career areas you might be interested in?
- Question 3: If you can, please list one or more career areas that you might be interested in
- Question 4: What do you plan to do after high school?
- Question 5: Which of the following career development activities have you done?
- Question 6: How would you rate your strength in the following career skills?
- Question 7: What are the best things your school does to support career development? What else should it do?
- Question 8: If you have had a job, internship or volunteer position, what have you learned from this experience?
- Question 9: What grade are you in?
- Question 10: Where did you learn about this survey?
- Parent Survey - Responses to Open Ended Questions
- Detailed List of Career Interests
About the survey
The survey was designed to be a positive, reflective experience. The survey takes about five to ten minutes to complete online. The online records (with start time and end time) show that 86% of respondents completed the survey in ten minutes or less. The median time to complete the survey was 5.83 minutes. The tone of the survey is designed to be very positive, recognizing that career development is a long-term process, and that many high school students are just beginning to explore and set goals. The survey assured respondents that all individual responses would be kept confidential.
While the number of respondents is good, this should be considered "pilot" data and should not be considered to provide a random or representative sample of students in general. Responses came from (1.) students who were asked to take the survey in a class or workshop; (2) students who took the initiative to take the survey based on a survey link on Facebook or a website. In both cases, the students are either connected to a teacher or staffperson who took the initiative to share the survey link or were personally motivated to take the initiative to respond to a survey link. The responses came from a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities. Responses from North Shore region are especially likely to come from urban settings, but at least half of the responses from other regions were also from urban communities.
These are exciting "pilot" results and just a general indication of the types of patterns and findings we would be likely to find if we expanded this survey or a similar survey or questionnaire to other groups of students.
1.) HOW DO YOU FEEL when people ask you about your career plans? Do you feel confident, worried, ready for the future, or not-so-ready? Check all that apply.
This question served primarily as a "warm-up" question for the survey and to get a general sense about how students feel about career development. Answers were mostly positive - confident (but also worried), excited, ready. Answers varied somewhat by grade, with 9th grade students more confident than 10th grade students, and with confidence, worry and a combination of both rising and falling from grade 9 to 12.
Results by respondent group show that students in Career/Vocational Technical Education (CVTE) programs were more likely than other students to identify "Confident" and "I have lots of options" among other responses. They were also more likely to feel that they had the right amount of information.
The parent survey included a similar question, asking parents how they think their child feels about career development. Parents were more likely than students to check "not-so-ready" -- a not-surprising reflection of the confidence of youth vs. the caution of parents.
Question 1 Detailed Results
| All Students | North Shore Non-CVTE Students | North Shore CVTE Students | North Shore Total | Other Regions | Parent Survey | |
| Confident | 44% | 42% | 47% | 45% | 42% | 38% |
| Worried | 34% | 33% | 31% | 32% | 41% | 19% |
| Excited | 46% | 44% | 45% | 45% | 55% | 19% |
| Bored | 5% | 5% | 6% | 5% | 4% | 0% |
| Ready | 29% | 33% | 30% | 31% | 27% | 13% |
| Not-so-ready | 26% | 24% | 26% | 25% | 26% | 38% |
| I know exactly what I want | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 21% | 19% |
| I have lots of options | 36% | 27% | 42% | 35% | 40% | 19% |
| I don't have enough information | 20% | 21% | 18% | 19% | 23% | 13% |
| I have too much information | 4% | 4% | 6% | 5% | 2% | 6% |
| I have about the right amount of information | 17% | 14% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 19% |
| I haven't really started planning yet | 20% | 25% | 22% | 23% | 15% | 6% |
| Number of responses |
2.) Do you know yet what career areas you are interested in?
Question 2 asks students whether they know what career areas they might be interested in. It is important to note that the introduction to the survey sets a tone that it is not necessary to know exactly what you want, saying that "THIS SURVEY asks about your current career plans -- with the assurance that it is fine if your career plans are continuing to evolve." As a pilot survey, it was important not to communicate assumptions that students "ought to be" in a certain place in their career planning or to make respondents feel uncomfortable about where they are. Therefore the survey may have a tendency to make students feel comfortable with more than one career option.
Most students respond that they have 2 or 3 areas that they might be interested in. This question is valuable because it raises questions about a natural pace of development of career intersts during high school. Do students identify specific career interests while they are in high school? Are students in CVTE programs (or other career-focused programs) likely to have one specific career interest in mind or have multiple interests? How does this answer change as students continue through high school?
Between grades 9 and 12, not surprisingly, students become less likely to say that they have not started planning yet or that they do not know what career areas interest them. The share of students who have one strong career goal increases greatly in grade 12, appropriately, since students who are interested in career fields that require specialized education and training must apply to these programs during grade 12.
The majority of students say that they have 2 or 3 areas that they might be interested in. The percentage varies somewhat, but this is the most common answer consistently among all grades and respondent groups. CVTE students, who are generally most immersed in a career program, among those most likely to say that they have 2 or 3 interests.
Responses to Question 3, which asked students to list some of their possible career interests, showed that among those who said they were interested in 2 or 3 career areas, some were interested in closely related fields, while others were considering fairly disparate options. Many responses included an aspiration toward the arts, music, acting or professional sports, along with some alternative career options. Others included careers with similar themes, such as military/police/law or photography/travel/history. Among students who said they were interested in 2 or 3 career areas, some examples of responses from question 3, include:
- Electronic Forensics, Electrician, Electronic Engineer
- Journalism, Media Producer or Director
- Cosmetologist, Cosmetology teacher, Salon Owner, Esthetician
- Electrican, Linesman, Businessman
- Medical Assisting, CNA, Nutritionist, Personal Training
- Wildlife Education, Elementary School Teaching
- Sound Producer, Web Design/Programmer
- Culinary arts, FBI/police officer, Graphic Communication
- IT help desk tech, Programmer, Musician, Guitarist
- Lawyer, sports manager, doctor
- Video game design, Music, Computer Networking
- Kindergarten teacher, Music producer
- Full-time military, Police officer, Lawyer, Paralegal
- Physicians Assistant, Pediatrician, Surgical Tech
- Marketing, Management, Professional Athlete
- Photography, Travel, History
Perhaps the most important messages to draw from this question are:
- It is valuable to encourage broad exploration, while also encouraging students to be ready to apply for and enter specific career-related programs of study if they may be interested in careers requiring specific training, such as architecture, engineering, and teaching.
- It is also important to help students explore career options related to personal interests in "hard to enter" fields - such as professional sports, music and acting - in a way that is encouraging as well as realistic.
- Most important, it is important to help students of all ages, starting in elementary school, to develop interests and passions that can develop into areas for further study, lifelong personal interests and possible career interests. The students who responded to this question with interests in wildlife education, photography, travel, history, journalism, media, music and more are likely to have discovered many of these interests through various school, community, personal and family experiences.
Did you know when you were in high school that you would be in this career area?.
The Career Outlook Project is a project by The Skills Library that compiles informational interviews with adults in various professional fields. One of the questions asks "Did you know when you were in high school that you would be in this career field?" Most of the adults interviewed did not know when they were in high school that they would be in their current field. Many said that their career field did not even exist when they were in high school; others said that they started in one career field and one opportunity led to another, bringing them to their current career fields. (See "Did You Know..." in the Career Outlook Project.) In a dynamic economy, it is valuable to prepare students to gather skills, knowledge and credentials for careers that interest them while also encouraging broad exploration. Some will follow very specific career paths, especially in fields requiring specific education, apprenticeships and credentials, while others will shape careers that build on their early interests and on emerging opportunties.
Question 2 Detailed Results
| All Students | North Shore CVTE Students | North Shore Non-CVTE Students | North Shore Total | Other Regions | |
| Yes, I have one strong career goal | 30% | 34% | 22% | 29% | 32% |
| Yes, I can name 2 or 3 possible career areas that might interest me | 57% | 61% | 57% | 59% | 52% |
| NOT YET, but I am starting to think about careers | 8% | 4% | 11% | 7% | 9% |
| NO, I do not know yet what type of career I want | 5% | 2% | 9% | 5% | 7% |
| Number |
3.) If you can, please list one or more career areas that might interest you.
Open ended question allowing up to four responses. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NUMBER OF ANSWERS IS MORE THAN THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS BECAUSE UP TO FOUR RESPONSES WERE PROVIDED.
The most common responses fell into the following categories: See table at the end of this report for more details.
- Healthcare/Medical (100)
- Science, Engineering and Math (46)
- Education and Early Childhood (45)
- Construction Trades (39)
- Criminal Justice and Forensics (36)
- Cosmetology (36)
- Arts (36)
- Social Work and Psychology (33)
- Business and Marketing (28)
- Computer Networking/Technical/Repair (27)
4.) What do you plan to do after high school? Check all that apply.
Responses to this question are fairly consistent with the "Plans of High School Graduates" published by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE). According to the school and district profiles, available on the ESE website at http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/profiles/student.aspx?orgcode=00000000&orgtypecode=0&leftNavId=307&, the "Plans of High School Graduates" data shows that approximately 23% of graduates plan to attend two-year colleges, approximately 59% plan to attend four-year colleges and approximately 7% plan to enter employment.
|
Plans of High School Graduates, Class of 2011 | |
| Plan | % of State |
| 4-Year Public or Private College | 59% |
| 2-Year Public or Private College | 23% |
| Other Post-Secondary | 2% |
| Work | 7% |
| Military | 2% |
| Other | 1% |
| Unknown | 6% |
The "First Steps" survey question uses different categories than the "Plans of High School Graduates," and allows multiple responses. Approximately one-fifth of the survey respondents checked more than one postsecondary education and training option, including 4-year college, 2-year college, career training, apprenticeship and military service. Grade 10 and Grade 11 students were most likely to check multiple options. Along with the career area data in questions 2 and 3, the survey responses show that students are typically considering a variety of options for their future.
Question 4 Detailed Responses **
| All Students | North Shore Non-CVTE Students | North Shore CVTE Students | North Shore Total | Other Regions | Parent Survey | |
| Attend a two-year college | 20% | 25% | 23% | 24% | 11% | 13% |
| Attend a four-year college | 69% | 61% | 66% | 64% | 81% | 56% |
| Attend a career training program | 9% | 11% | 9% | 10% | 5% | 0% |
| Enter an apprenticeship program | 3% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 2% | 13% |
| Enter the military | 7% | 4% | 13% | 9% | 2% | 6% |
| Work in a part-time job while attending school or training | 41% | 45% | 47% | 46% | 29% | 13% |
| Work full-time | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 10% | 0% |
| Work or volunteer for a year before attending school/training | 4% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 7% | 0% |
| Number of Responses | 313 | 97 | 125 | 222 | 91 | 16 |
** Please compare these responses to the ESE School and District Profiles for a more complete view of what students plan to do after high school. This data is available by school and district as well as statewide.
5.) Which of the following have you done? Check as many as apply.
Question 5 looks at the career development activities that students have participated in, including activities that may take place in school and out of school. Some activities may be self-initiated; others may be school-wide activities. Results were encouraging; most students have participated in a variety of career development activities, including some type of workplace experience, whether volunteer work, summer jobs, after-school jobs or internships, and a variety of career exploration activities.
Grade 12 students are more likely to have participated in the various activities; since the question is asked in a way that elicits cumulative responses, it is natural that students in higher grades will have had more experiences.
One of the interesting groups of survey respondents was the group of 41 students who initially responded to the survey through Facebook postings. (The link to the survey was posted on a variety of Facebook pages, reaching a mixture of urban and rural students.) These students appear to be very self-motivated, and show higher-than-average participation in some of these activities, including talking to friends, talking to parents, looking at books, websites and videos, and doing volunteer work.
It is useful to look at this data along with the responses to question 7, the open ended question about career development activities.
Most students describe valuable things that their school does to support career development; many also suggest that they would like additional activities, particularly
more opportunities to connect with workplaces and see and learn about career opportunities, and opportunities for individual meetings to talk about career planning.
Question 5 Detailed Responses
| All Students | North Shore Non-CVTE Students | North Shore CVTE Students | North Shore Total | Other Regions | |
| Talking with friends about careers | 78% | 66% | 85% | 77% | 82% |
| Talking with teachers and counselors about careers | 64% | 53% | 73% | 64% | 65% |
| Talking with parents about careers | 83% | 76% | 88% | 83% | 85% |
| Career interest checklists/assessments | 32% | 16% | 32% | 25% | 48% |
| Hearing guest speakers about careers at my school | 33% | 31% | 30% | 30% | 40% |
| Career days or Career fairs | 23% | 19% | 24% | 22% | 26% |
| Field trips to companies and workplaces | 27% | 16% | 36% | 27% | 24% |
| Job shadow days | 10% | 6% | 12% | 9% | 12% |
| Looking at websites, videos or books about careers | 48% | 38% | 52% | 46% | 53% |
| Summer job(s) | 39% | 30% | 46% | 39% | 38% |
| After-school job(s) | 30% | 23% | 36% | 30% | 29% |
| Internship(s) | 18% | 4% | 25% | 16% | 22% |
| Volunteer work | 34% | 31% | 29% | 30% | 44% |
| Summer program(s) related to career interests | 10% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 13% |
| Clubs or activities related to career interests | 15% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 24% |
| Classroom projects related to career interests | 32% | 19% | 42% | 32% | 31% |
| Number of Responses | 313 | 97 | 125 | 222 | 91 |
6.) How would you rate your strength in the following career skills?
Question 6 asks respondents to rate their strength in various career skills, using a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 as "very strong" and 1 as "not yet strong." Respondents gave themselves the strongest ratings for basic foundation skills (often called “soft skills”), such as being on time for work and meetings, having good attendance, and dressing for a professional workplace. They gave themselves relatively lower ratings for career skills such as working with data and numbers, communicating in writing, working with tools and equipment and managing timelines and projects. In the middle of the list were skills such as working with people, leadership and creative thinking.
Youth development theory suggests that teens and young adults function on multiple levels at once. The teenage years are a time of dramatic growth in cognitive skills and abstract thinking. Teens and young adults have a desire to be engaged with important issues in their work and communities and to be engaged in learning and using high-level skills. At the same time, they need instruction and reinforcement on basic skills, though would not want to focus ONLY on those skills. The survey findings, along with other data available to us, suggest that youth employment programs should seek a balance of opportunities to exercise higher-order skills as well as providing instruction on basic foundation skills for the workplace.
Overall average skill ratings for individual respondents were correlated with the following:
- Grade level (grades 8 - 12)
- Being in a CVTE program
- Having work experience, with the number of types of work experiences checked in Question 5 (after-school jobs, internships, volunteer work, summer jobs) correlated with the average skill rating.
- Checking "Looking at websites, books and videos about careers" in Question 5 about "Which of the following have you done." This relationship is probably an indirect relationship, with students who are self-directed more likely to have looked at websites, books and videos about careers and more likely to rate their career skills highly.
- Checking "Confident" in Question 1 about "How do you feel when you are asked about career development..." This relationship is probably is a two-way cause and effect relationship. Feeling confident about one's skills would make one feel confident about career development overall. And having a generally confident personality might make someone more likely to rate themselves highly on career skills.
Some points about specific skill areas:
- Managing Timelines and Projects. Time management and project management are two high-level career skills that can be built through experiences in classroom work, community work and workplace experience. Overall, respondents gave themselves relatively lower ratings in this area. Respondents who gave themselves relatively strong ratings included students who are in CVTE programs, students who have had internships, after-school jobs and volunteer work, and students who said they plan to attend a four-year college or an apprenticeship program.
- Working with Data and Numbers. Respondents rated themselves as relatively weak in working with data and numbers, in comparison to other skill ratings. Respondents who had relatively strong ratings included students who plan to attend a four-year college, two-year college, apprenticeship or military; students who said they have participated in classroom projects related to career interests, and students in upper grades, particularly Grade 12 students.
- Communicating in Writing. Similarly, respondents rated themselves are relatively weak in writing skills in comparison to other skill ratings. Respondents who had relatively strong ratings included students who said they had a variety of work experiences and those who have participated in classroom projects or clubs and activitites related to career interests, and students in upper grades, particularly Grade 12 students.
- Working with Tools and Equipment. Many people are calling for greater attention to technical skills, including the ability to work with tools and equipment. These skills are important in science, technology and engineering jobs, in skilled trades and manufacturing and in many emerging "green" jobs as well as in personal and community life. This was an area where students felt relatively weak. Students who said that they plan to attend a four-year college gave themselves the lowest ratings in this area, while students who are currently in a CVTE program, students who have had summer jobs, and students who said they are planning to enter career training programs, apprenticeships or the military gave themselves higher ratings in this skill area.
Basic Foundation Skills vs. Higher-Level Skills
These results are consistent with data gleaned from the Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan. The Work-Based Learning Plan (WBLP) provides performance evaluation of students on a 5-point scale, with 1 as the lowest rating, 5 as an advanced rating, and 3 as an in-between "competent" rating. Participants in summer and after-school job and internship programs are evaluated on a set of basic foundation skills such as attendance, workplace appearance, interacting with others, and on up to seven other skills specific to the individuals' job/internship placement, such as project management, time management, equipment operation, leadership, working with children, managing information and other skills. Evaluations are done at least twice during each job/internship placement.
The Online Work-Based Learning Database allows us to analyze aggregate-level data from WBLPs. The table below presents WBLP data for the period July 2010 to June 2011. Generally, ratings for the foundation skills, including attendance and workplace appearance, were higher at the first review than the ratings for the workplace and career specific skills. By the second review, however, the difference evened out and students had similar ratings in both sets of skills. Read more about the Work-Based Learning Plan at http://skillspages.com/masswbl.
Question 6 Results for All Students
| What Skill | 5=Very Strong | 4 | 3 = In-between | 2 | 1=Not Yet Strong | Average Rating | Number of Responses |
| Communicating verbally | 97 31% | 112 36% | 85 27% | 13 4% | 3 1% | 3.93 | 310 |
| Communicating in writing | 72 23% | 112 36% | 103 33% | 19 6% | 4 1% | 3.74 | 310 |
| Working with people | 141 46% | 118 39% | 41 13% | 3 1% | 1 0% | 4.3 | 304 |
| Creative thinking | 110 36% | 123 40% | 61 20% | 13 4% | 2 1% | 4.06 | 309 |
| Logical thinking | 108 35% | 133 43% | 58 19% | 5 2% | 3 1% | 4.1 | 307 |
| Leadership | 120 39% | 108 35% | 63 21% | 12 4% | 3 1% | 4.08 | 306 |
| Managing timelines and projects | 59 19% | 113 37% | 95 31% | 37 12% | 5 2% | 3.6 | 309 |
| Working with data and numbers | 58 19% | 91 30% | 108 35% | 41 13% | 9 3% | 3.48 | 307 |
| Working with tools and equipment | 93 30% | 99 32% | 73 24% | 30 10% | 10 3% | 3.77 | 305 |
| Dressing appropriately for a workplace | 202 65% | 88 28% | 17 5% | 3 1% | 0 0% | 4.58 | 310 |
| Being on time for work and meetings | 217 70% | 69 22% | 20 6% | 3 1% | 0 0% | 4.62 | 309 |
| Having good attendance | 197 64% | 84 27% | 22 7% | 4 1% | 1 0% | 4.53 | 308 |
| Understanding workplace safety rules | 228 74% | 68 22% | 11 4% | 3 1% | 0 0% | 4.68 | 310 |
| Being motivated and taking initiative | 164 53% | 110 36% | 30 10% | 3 1% | 2 1% | 4.39 | 309 |
7.) What are the most helpful things that your school or program currently does to help students learn about careers? And what do you think your school or program should do (or do more of) to help students learn about careers?
Open ended question, with sample answers below. Approximately half of the students described positive things that the school does to support career development, with no additional suggestions. About three out of ten of the students described something positive and also said the school should do more, or should get all students to do these activities. About one in ten said that their school does not do enough to support career development. A very small number of students said they had no opinion or that they were still in an earlier grade (generally 9th grade) and had not started career exploration yet. The parent version of the survey asked similar questions, and parent responses are shown in the end of the report.
Sample student responses:
- At our school we have a career center, and we have plenty of resources to help us find out what our strengths and weaknesses are. We have college planning classes, Internships, and Vocational programs. These programs are extremely helpful.
- Career center that helps us plan for the future and chose a good career. Field trips to colleges or programs that can help us with our career.
- I think we should have more hands-on experiences about the careers we hope to reach one day.
- It helped a lot to have the internship program. It really helped me decided if that was what I wanted to do. Also I have gotten information about my career from my school's career counselor.
- Its a technical school we have a lot of options and talk to a lot of people including our teachers and various industry specialists as well as various internships.
- Mock Interviews, Lab related projects.
- My electronics teacher gives the class many career and college related assignments
- My school has a career cruising program which helps you develop skills in writing cover letters, resumes, put together your portfolio and work with your MCAS and GPA scores. Each year, this program makes you create a career plan using that information and your current likings in your career field. I think that during our vocational week of school, my school should have at least one or two days a month to do career cruising and research the different types of Healthcare jobs and the colleges that provide education for them.
- My school has classes such as World of Children. Child Study, Culinary and Career Development.
- My school mostly focuses only on college preparation, there isn't really any career preparation.
- My school uses College Board to help us search careers that we may be interested in. They also have us fill out goal plans every year to see how our goals and achievements progress.
- My shop at the end of senior year talks about salon business and management. I like learning about what the industry is going to be like. I think that they should try and be kind of like a job finder for students. They used to have salons calling all the time looking for workers, but not so much anymore. I think they should call or email salons in the area explaining how there are plenty of students looking for work to help us out a little.
- Our school does Career classes every Friday (W.I.B). We should do hands on shadowing more often.
- PDP class and guidance counselors. I think that the school could have more individual meetings one on one about what we want to do with our life.
- Portfolios, Resumes, Co-op, certifications
- Since I want to go to College for Singing, Music, and Theater, I think my school should have more classes or after school things for people who would like to go to College for those specific things.
- Start making people think about what they want to be earlier. Give them options as to what they want.
- Taking career surveys in the career center. Do more up to date surveys. Co-Op
- The best thing that my school does it let each freshman tour around each of the 12 vocational areas and then re-explore 3 shops. The school does a great job showing the freshman what they can accomplish in the next 3 years and beyond.
- The career center where you can go to learn about careers and how to get to that certain career.
- The most helpful thing my school does to help us learn about careers is that we have a career exploration class which helps us figure out what we are interested in. It teaches us everything we need to know for getting jobs too, like filling out applications.
- The most helpful things that my school has to offer would have to be the abundant amount of administrators or teachers that are available for a helping hand. Whether it is with college, scholarships, or recommendations, you can be assured you will find help anywhere in this building. What my school should do more of is create broader opportunities for students to become more aware of what to do when they graduate high school. There should be easier methods for students to easily become more involved.
- The most helpful things that my school shop does to help the students learn about careers is having the students work on projects in class, group projects and individual projects.
- There is a variety of clubs that anyone can be a part of, but I think they should have teachers talk more about it.
- They don't do very well. They could relate jobs to lessons we are learning.
- They have college fairs and have people from certain colleges or careers and talk to us about the jobs and what's a good choice when it comes to decision making college/career wise.
- They teach us real life situations that could happen when working in our shop. such as working on multiple projects at once.
- We have Naviance Family Connection, which helps with career and college planning.
8.) If you have had a job, internship, or volunteer position, what do you think you learned from your experience? Check as many as apply.
Question 8 asks asks “If you have had a job, internship, or volunteer position, what do you think you learned from your experience? Check as many as apply.” The responses suggest that students see a variety of benefits to their work experiences, including developing career skills, foundation skills, exploring career options and having opportunities to apply academic skills. Between one-third to three-fifths of respondents who have work experience checked each option. It is likely that
the answer to “what did you learn” depends on the type of experience as well as the way the student perceives his or her own learning from that experience.
Question 8 Detailed Responses
| All Students | North Shore Non-CVTE Students | North Shore CVTE Students | North Shore Total | Other Regions | Parent Survey | |
| Career options (what type of careers I might like) | 61% | 54% | 65% | 60% | 62% | 50% |
| Career-specific skills (such as childcare, cooking or computers) | 54% | 46% | 54% | 51% | 62% | 57% |
| Applied academic skills (such as how to use writing, reading, or math in a workplace) | 34% | 31% | 37% | 34% | 32% | 57% |
| Basic foundation skills (such as working with others or professionalism) | 61% | 53% | 60% | 57% | 71% | 71% |
| Higher-level professional skills (such as project management, creative thinking, or leadership) | 37% | 34% | 39% | 37% | 38% | 50% |
| None of the above | 7% | |||||
| Other | 4% | |||||
| Number of Responses (Includes those who have had a job,internship or volunteer position) | 267 | 85 | 105 | 190 | 77 | 14 |
9.) What is your current grade or school status?
| 12th Grade |  28% | |
| 11th Grade | 27% | |
| 10th Grade | 30% | |
| 9th Grade | 10% | |
| 8th Grade | 1% | |
| In college or training program | 3% | |
| Not currently in school | 2% | |
| Other | 4% |
10.) Where did you learn about this survey? Check as many as apply
| School | 80% | |
| After-school program | 3% | |
| Summer program | 2% | |
| Community-based program | 5% | |
| 13% | ||
| Website | 6% | |
| Other | 12% |
MORE DETAILS - STUDENT AND PARENT SURVEYS
Parent Survey Question 5: In your opinion, what are the most helpful things that your child's school or program does to help students learn about careers?
- Allowing them to job shadow.
- Career Day
- Career fairs
- College visits. College fairs. College prep work.
- Employability classes, Management & Entrepreneurship classes, technical competency classes and immersion in the plumbing program as well as cooperative employment opportunities.
- He is just in eighth grade. Most helpful so far: an interesting and up-to-date science program, a strongly college-prep school, high expectations for verbal and written work.
- Job fairs, interaction w/ guidance dept. They have a very specific program for the college application process.
- Job shadowing. He visited two hospitals and saw gene splicing at one hospital.
- Not a lot - the communication in his school is based on people checking into their x2 program which is hard to get into and even less easy to navigate
- Not aware of any at local public school. At least I never hear about it if it takes place.
- Not enough at this time
- She is currently a freshman and nothing has been said to them yet. She hasn't even met with the guidance counselor!
- Visits to colleges and career exploration
- He was a sports reporter for [a local online newspaper] and had been writing for the school newspaper. That was good. I'm not sure what career advisory they gave him at his school.
- Field trips to community organizations.
Parent Survey Question 6: What do you think your child's school or program should do (or do more of) to help STUDENTS learn about careers?
- Give children guidance according to their choice of subjects and into which career they should be steered into.
- Have more guest speakers from a broader area; over a whole year expose students to different niches.
- Include a Career Development course as a special
- Job Shadowing
- More hands on in the class room
- On the job training or career pathway at a younger age
- Posters in the school - flyers, announcements as part of the daily announcement system, emails
- Provide an early understanding of trends, opportunities and requirements to get into career fields. I would like some focus on technology and engineering careers, health care and other opportunities likely to be available when our son is an adult.
- Short term internships, practical experience available to all students
- Start freshman year with some information.
- Help all students find out about summer programs and after-school programs in the community. Have internships earlier in high school rather than in the end of the 12th grade.
- MANDATE job shadows and field trips to see and interview workers. Strongly encourage internship placement in a field of interest rather than just getting a job.
Parent Survey Question 7: What do you think your child's school or program should do (or should do more of) to help PARENTS help with their children's college and career planning?
- At least a meeting to inform parents of workshops, etc. that are available to us.
- Continued communication, use parents as resource to speak about their job, experience and offer/ help create internships
- Dept of Labor has a link that is helpful.
- Emails, flyers sent home
- Give us all the possible financial breakdowns of what is required. Bursary apps etc.
- Have meetings giving plans for the process.
- Make them part of the process with college and career future planning. Start in the sixth grade.
- Maybe just provide links to websites with good career info?
- Nothing- [the high school] has it covered!
- Start in the freshman year. (Or even middle school or sooner.) One thing I discovered is that when you get to be a sophomore or junior it is late.
- Help parents (and students) find out about summer programs and after-school programs in the community. Provide information to help parents to support their child with course selection. Most important: the school should have a broader range of courses available -- as a small school it has very limited elective courses.
- Raise money to tour a lot of area campuses.
CAREER CHOICES: ALL RESPONSES FOR QUESTION 3: If you can, please list one or more career areas that might interest you.
Open ended question allowing up to four responses per respondent. These responses are grouped by general career areas.
NOTE THAT THE NUMBER OF ANSWERS IS MORE THAN THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS BECAUSE UP TO FOUR RESPONSES WERE PROVIDED.
| [Healthcare/Medical (100)] Anesthesiologist | Brain Injury Rehabilitation | Cardiologist | CNA nurse | Dental assistant | Doctor | Emergency room nurse | EMT | Health Care | Hematologist | Massage Therapy | Material Therapist | Medical | Medical Assisting (CNA?) | Medical Doctor | Medical Field | Medical Oncology | Neuro psychology | Neurologist | NICU nurse | Nurse | Nurse at St. Jude | Nurse Oncologist | Nurse Practitioner | Nursing | Nutritionist | Nutritionist (Personal Training?) | Occupational therapy | Oncologist | Oncologist doctor | Paramedic | Pediatric nurse | Pediatrician | Personal Care Provider | Pharmacist | Pharmacy | Physical Therapist | Physical Therapist Assistant | Physical Therapy | Physician | Physicians Assistant | Pulmonologist | Radiologist | Registered Nursing | RN | Something involving radiology | Surgeon | Surgical nurse | Surgical Tech | Therapist | Ultra sound tech | Ultra sound technician | Ultrasound technician | Working with kids or babies in health field | X ray tech | |
| [Science, Engineering and Math (46)] Animal Science | Architect | Astronaut | Biologist | Biology teacher | Biomedical engineering | Biotech | Biotechnology | CEC Engineer | Chemistry | Clinical lab scientist | Computer engineer | Computer engineering | Computer Hardware Engineering | Electrical engineer | Electrical Engineering | Electronic engineer | Engineer | Engineering | Marine Biology | Marine science | Mathematician | Mathematics | Medical Research | Research | Robotic Engineer | Science | Science- Biology | Scientist | Software engineer | Something in the sciences. | Technology | |
| [Education and Early Childhood (45)] Art Therapist | Child development | Childcare | Cosmetology teacher | Early childhood education | Education | Elementary Education | Elementary School Teaching | English Teacher | Guidance counclier | Guidance Counselor | Helping little kids | Kindergarten Teacher | Music Therapist | Special Education | Speech Language Pathologist | Speech Therapist | Speech therapy | Teacher | Teaching | Work with kids | Working with children | Working with kids. | |
| [Construction Trades (39)] Brick Layer | Brick Laying-Mason | Business owner (construction) | Carpenter | Carpentry | Carpentry construction | Construction | Construction electrician | Electrian | Electrical | Electrical Contracting | Electrician | Inter-Networking | Join the mason union | Linesman | Mason | Masonry | Plumber | Plumbing | Project manager or general contractor | Tile Setting | Title v inspections | Working for my dad | |
| [Criminal Justice and Forensics (36)] Computer Forensics | Crime Scene Investigator | Criminal Justice | Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement | CSI | Detective | ELECTRONIC FORENSIC | FBI | FBI agent | FBI/police officer | Forensic Accountant | Forensic Accounting | Forensic science | Investigator | Law enforcement | Police | Police Force | Police officer | |
| [Cosmetology (36)] Barber | Colorist | Cosmetologist | Cosmetology | Esthetician | Esthetics | Hair | Hair colorist | Hair designer | Hair dresser | Hair dressing | Hair salon owner | Hair stylist | Hair Stylist/Cutter | I want to open up my own salon | Makeup | Nails | Opening my own salon | Own a salon | Paul Mitchell education school | Runway hairstyles | Salon owner | Work on commission at a salon | |
| [Arts (36)] Acting | Actor | Actress | Art | Art school | Artist or Designer | artista | Arts, audio/video technology communication | Broadway Dancer | Broadway Stage Production/Management | Dancer | Dramatic arts | Entertainment Management | Film | Graphic Designer / Apparel Design | Painter | Performing Artist | Photographer | Photography | Something in the arts. | Stage director | Theatre Technology | Video Production | |
| [Social Work and Psychology (33)] Child Psychology | Clinical or Sports Psychologist | Counseling | Counselor | Helping people | Human Services | Marriage Counselor | Psychiatrist | Psychologist | Psychology | Social Work | Social worker | Therapist | |
| [Business and Marketing (28)] Advertising | Banking | Business | Business owner | Businessman | Client relations | Dominos manager | Event Planner | Finance | Financial Analyst | Management | Marketing | Movie Theatre owner | Public Relations | Real Estate Agent | Secretary | Stocks | Teller | |
| [Computer Networking/Technical/Repair (27)] Computer aid and repair | Computer and office machines repairs | Computer field | Computer maintenance | Computer Networking | Computer operators | Computer Programmer | Computer Repair | Computer technician | Computer working | Help desk | Help desk technician | IT help desk tech | IT Technician | Network Computer | Network/System Administrator | Networking | Networking engineer | Networking specialist | System Analyst | Tech support | Technician | |
| [Law (24)] Law | Lawyer | Paralegal | Prosecuting lawyer | |
| [Media and Communications (23)] 3D Graphics | Communications | Design | Film | Graphic communication | Graphic design | Graphic Designer | Graphics | Graphics communication | Media producer or director | Motion Graphics | Movie Editing | Multimedia Journalism | News Broadcaster | Special Effect editor | |
| [Music (21)] Be in a band and make music | Guitarist | Music | Music Producer | Music Recording Engineer | Music/Singing/Theater | Musical Producer | Musician | Musician / Producer | Pianist | Producing music | Singer | Singing | Song writing | Sound Recording | |
| [Culinary (19)] Baking | Chef | Cook | Cooking | Culinary | Culinary arts | Pastry Chef | |
| [Writer/Author (19)] Author | Book Editor | Columnist | Creative writing | Journalism | Journalism, or general writing. | Journalist | Professional Editor | Story Writing | Travel writer | Writer | |
| [Game Design/Cartooning (17)] Comic book artist | Comics & writing | Computer animation | Game Design & Development | Game designer or cartoonist | Game programmer/ designer | Game Programming | Games designers | Gaming and design | Video Editor | Video game coder | Video Game Design | Video game programming | |
| [Military (14)] Air force pilot | Army | Army nurse | Full time soldier | Military | U.S. ARMY | U.S. Coast Guard | |
| [Higher Education, Social Sciences and Liberal Arts (13)] Archaeology | Economist | English | English major | English professor | English teacher | Historical | History | History Professor | History Professor in a College or University | Literature | Professor | Social Sciences/History. | |
| [Sports and Fitness (12)] Athlete | Athletic trainer | Basketball Trainer | Cheer coach | Gym Teacher | Hockey | Personal trainer | Physical personal trainer | Professional Athlete | Sports manager | |
| [Environment/Animal Care (10)] Environmental police | Environmental Science | National park service | Vet technician | Veterinarian | Veterinary | Veterinary field | Wildlife Education | |
| [Computer Programming and Web Design (10)] Programmer | Programmer/software engineer | Programming | Web design | Web Design/Programming | Web designer | |
| [Repair/Mechanical (7)] Air craft maintenance technician | Auto | Camera and photographic equipment repairs | Car repair | Mechanic | Motorcycle Mechanic | |
| [Retail/Fashion (6)] Fashion | Fashion Industry | Fashion Merchandising | Graphic fashion designer | Shoe Store | |
| [Architecture and Design (6)] Architecture | Designer | Interior Decorator | Interior design | Interior Designer | |
| [Accounting (6)] Accountant | Accounting | Accounting/bookkeeping | Certified Public Accountant | CPA | |
| [Politics and Government (5)] Politician | Politics | Politician | |
| [Religion (2)] Pastor | Youth Pastor | |
| [Manufacturing Trades (2)] Machinist | |
| [Languages (1)] Translator English and Spanish | |American Sign Language Translator | Sign Language Interpretation | |
| [Other (17)] Bank Security | Business owner | Fire Fighter | Firefighter | Game director | Golf course maintenance | Human Resources | Massage therapist/esthetician | Massage Therapy | Modeling | Mother/Homemaker | Party planning/business | Some other thing having to do with being outside and/or making a real difference | Traveling | |