What are the odds I will be a professional basketball, baseball, or hockey player?
A lot of students write in asking about their chances of playing professional sports. And who can blame them?
Category Archives: Career Exploration
Helping Students Meet Their Goals
Do you have goals for the new school year?
That was the question we asked students using our Choices360 site last week – and the results were impressive! A full 80 percent of students said they were starting the academic year with some goals in mind. Read more…
The New Skills For Youth Initiative, Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
This year, a multi-disciplinary team of organizations created a new initiative which aims to create opportunities for economic success for those without high school degrees, and those who have graduated but do not have sufficient skills to begin a meaningful career. The New Skills For Youth (NSFY) program was created by the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium and Education Strategy Group, and is funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Read more…
Helping Students Break into the Job Market
Most of us know a student who wants a summer job this year. After all, summer jobs are a great way to break into the working world! But experts tell us the summer job market might be tight this year. Looking for some tips to pass along to your favorite job seekers? Here’s a typical message sent to Faith, XAP’s career and education advice columnist: Read more…
A Parent’s Guide to Apprenticeships
College is not the only route to a satisfying, well-paying job. Apprenticeship training, which allows you to earn a salary while learning job-related skills, may be a good option for your teen.
Help Students Fall in Love With Their Career Plans
It is Valentine’s Day soon, so we’re going to hear a lot about love — whether we want to or not! There are many catchy phrases about love: all you need is love; love makes the world go around; love is friendship set to music. In fact, some of the best quotes with the word “love” are actually about careers. A good one is from Confucius: “Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.” In other words, if you love what you do, every day will be like a holiday. Isn’t that a great goal for students?
Opportunities and Aging: The Bright Side
2016 has arrived. And no matter how many “get healthy” resolutions we might make, we can’t escape the fact that we will all turn another year older in 2016. Whether or not we publicly admit to having a birthday is another matter…but one thing about birthdays is they come around every year, no matter what we do.
In fact, the North American population is growing older. That’s largely because of the baby boomers. There are 76 million baby boomers in the U.S. Those baby boomers are getting older every year, even if they never tell anyone. The result? The American Association of Retired Persons says the number of Americans over 65 will double in the next 30 years. Read more…
The Force of Apprenticeships
“Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.”
— Yoda
Great advice, Yoda gives. These words were first spoken a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — or on a movie screen in 1980, depending on your perspective — but they can be used in every part of life, including career counseling.
Not only is Yoda a quotable philosopher, he is also a great teacher. In fact, his relationship with Luke Skywalker is a good example of an apprenticeship program in action. Read more…
Gearing Up for the FAFSA – Start with the FAFSA ID
As 2015 starts drawing to close, it’s time to start thinking about what lies ahead in 2016.
Our predictions?
Well, in a perfect world, January 1, 2016, will be the day every high school senior sits down to file the FAFSA. After all, it’s important to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible. Some schools and states award aid money on a first-come, first-served basis.
