Career Exploration Resources

There are many career exploration resources from local, state and national organizations.
Below is a full list of the most requested.

Local Resources

PetroChem Works
This site informs students and prospective candidates about education and career opportunities in the thriving petrochemical industry.

Steel Toe Pro
Learn about the many specialized occupations in the construction industry. Craft jobs involve fabrication, assembly, and installation of components and materials in buildings, industrial facilities, roads and infrastructure, shipyards, and the oil patch.

Dream It. Do It. Southeast Texas
Learn about manufacturing careers in our region.

Construction Citizen
Explore training options for craft training in the greater Houston area.

Texas Gulf Coast Area Community Colleges
The Gulf Coast Consortium of Community Colleges is a partnership of nine public community colleges along the Texas Gulf Coast collaborating to advance the mission of community college education, train the region's workforce and enrich the student learning experience.

UpSkill Houston
A place where you can learn about the many well-paid, rewarding careers that require less than a four-year college degree-and the steps to achieving them.

Workforce Solutions YouTube Career Videos
These videos provide a closer look at each of our high-skill, high-growth occupations. Use the videos if you would like to see occupations in action! Think of it as a virtual field trip or job shadow.

Texas-Based Resources

Texas Career Check
Texas Career Check offers information on hundreds of job titles, pay information, and future projected jobs, this interactive website can help answer your education and career exploration questions.

Texas Internship Challenge
The Texas Internship Challenge is a partnership between the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), Texas Education Agency (TEA) and The Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), who challenge employers to offer paid internships and make it easy for students to search and apply for them.

Texas Reality Check
It's difficult to predict the future, but it's never too early to start planning for it. Texas Reality Check will show you how much your living expenses will cost, and the amount of money you will need to earn to pay for them.

Texas Genuine CTE Assessment
This is a career guidance tool that allows you to respond to questions and identify your top three Career Clusters^TM of interest based on your responses.

Your Bright Future
Take a self-assessment to help jump start your career planning and determine your education and training needs.

Texas CREWS
By evaluating programs and institutions on the basis of resultant wages and student loan levels, Texas CREWS will allow parents and students to make informed decisions about college and get the best return on their educational investment

Texas Work Prep
Whether you're looking for a job for the first time, seeking tips to succeed in your current job, or wanting to land a new job, this set of online courses can help you get there.

Generation Texas
Equal parts inspiration and information, Generation TX (spoken "Generation Texas") connects us to each other and clarifies the steps wen eed to take on the path to college and career education, from taking the right classes and tests, to applying to colleges, and then finding the money to pay for school.

Apply Texas
I am ready to start my college journey, now what? ApplyTexas is a one-stop shop for applying to a public university or community college in Texas. Start now at applytexas.org.

Texas OnCourse
Texas OnCourse empowers you-pre-K through grade 12 students, parents, teachers, and counselors-to make decisions that will help you, your child or your students succeed after high school. It is the result of three Texas government agencies pooling our resources, with the help of UT Austin, in one easy-to-navigate site.

Jobs Y'all
Anything is possible -- that's what Jobs Y'all is all about. Jobs Y'all is where you can explore good-paying and meaningful careers in growing industries. Here, you'll discover rewarding and satisfying jobs right in your hometown or elsehwere in Texas. Find the career that matches your interests and goals. Your career starts here.

- Counselors, advisors and teachers, click here

- Students and families, click here

National Resources

Apprenticeship Finder
An apprenticeship combines on-the-job training and specialized classes to help workers enter highly skilled occupations. Workers earn a salary while gaining valuable skills.

Jobs Made Real
A site filled with career videos aimed at a teen audience and organized by interests. They have compiled videos from around the internet to present them to teens, informing them about the available careers and what can get them there.

Build Your Future
Build Your Future aims to be the catalyst for recruiting the next generation of craft professionals.

My Next Move
My Next Move is an interactive tool for students to learn more about their career options. My Next Move has tasks, skills, salary information, and more for over 900 different careers.

O-Net Interest Profiler
The O*NET Interest Profiler can help you find out what your interests are and how they relate to the world of work. You can find out what you like to do. The O*NET Interest Profiler helps you decide what kinds of careers you might want to explore.

BLS Student Resources
Find careers that relate to your interests and learn fun facts about the economy and jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

Education Planner
Information for Middle and High School students covering career planning, college preparation, self-assessments, and financial advice from he Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. They have checklists to keep you on track as you progress.

Your Free Career Test
These career tests help individuals learn about careers within their area of interest. The main test has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, German, Marathi, and Hindi. They also provide a brief overview of a career profile for their careers. Tests are completely free and require no registration.

Career One Stop
Your source for career exploration, training & jobs. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.

MySkills MyFuture
Helps laid-off workers and other career changers explore new careers that may use the skills and experience gained in previous jobs.

GetMyFuture
Offers career, training, and job search resources to young adults age 16 to 24.

WorkforceGPS
WorkforceGPS is your online technical assistance website created to help build the capacity of America's public workforce investment system. WorkforceGPS was developed specifically for workforce professionals, educators, and business leaders. Here you will find curated communities of interest, useful webinars and other training resources, promising workforce development practices, and relevant evidence-based research -- giving you the tools you need to help you create innovative approaches to improve the employment prospects of job seekers.

Innovation and Opportunity Network
The Innovation and Opportunity Network (ION) is designed to support state and local workforce development boards, system professionals, and employers, helping you find the resources you need to successfully implement the vision of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The ION is a part of the WorkforceGPS network. 

ASVAB Career Exploration Program
The Department of Defense provides high schools with the Career Exploration Program as a career planning and exploration program. This is free to the schools and students and can provide career path information that students may not be considering. It includes an aptitute and interest assessment with links to occupations.

GPS LifePlan
Career, education, finance, leadership, and personal plans for success for students. Start with the assessments and learn how to create smart goals and actions plans.

Personal Globe Inventory
This interest assessment was created by Arizona State Univeristy to help students and clients match interests scores to occupations and college majors.

Student Interest Survey for Career Clusters
A career guidance tool that allows students to respond to questions and identify the top three Career Clusters of interest based on their responses. This pencil/paper survey takes about fifteen minutes to complete and can be used in the classroom or for presentations with audiences who have an interest in career exploration. The survey is available in English and Spanish and can be viewed and printed.