Parent Action Plan (What you can do to help!)

“To do great important tasks, two things are necessary: a plan and not quite enough time.” -- Anonymous

• Help your child understand that planning is part of any process and give him experience in learning and using planning skills.

ü	Have your young child keep a calendar and document activities and events she plans to participate in.
ü	Have your child plan an itinerary for a family vacation.
ü	Have your child prioritize tasks that need to be done at home over a weekend.

• Help your child identify natural talents, interests, and abilities AND connect these to a career cluster or pathway. Clusters used in most high schools are listed below. Click any of these you are interested in learning more about.

Arts, Media, and Communication

Business and Marketing

Engineering and Industrial Technology

Health and Human Services

Agriculture and Natural Resources

If your child enjoys math and has a knack for selling things, he may want to explore careers in the Business and Marketing career cluster. Or, if you’re unsure about what career cluster your child should explore, have your child take this on-line career interest inventory to find out more about your child’s interests, values, skills, and strengths. When he completes the Career Check, the inventory will automatically connect him to a career cluster based on his answers.

Click here to take the Career Check interest inventory.

• Check with your child’s high school to receive information on each of the career clusters listed above, or information on the career clusters offered at your child’s high school.

• Discuss with your child his career cluster choice and make plans to review this choice along with his high school career plan of courses at least once per semester. In other words, know what courses your child is taking in high school and how these courses fit in with his career plan.

• Talk to your child about her career goals and her plans for college. Make sure that her college plans are directly in line with her career goals.

• Talk with professionals who have the same career in which your child is interested. Ask them for information relating to job opportunities in this field.

• Contact the labor market information department with the SC Employment Security Commission www.sces.org or the SCOICC (South Carolina Occupational Information Coordinating Committee) www.scois.org for labor market information and job openings in South Carolina.

• If your child doesn’t know what he wants to do after high school, suggest he get a job, preferably tied to a field that seems of interest to him. He can work while he learns more about the world of work and what type of college preparation is needed for careers that interest him.

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Great things don’t just happen
If you’re planning, you’re learning
College is only a key, not the door
I wish I had known….
True/False Quiz – A dose of reality
What sometimes happens when we don’t plan
So, why is career planning important?
Parent action plan
Links related to career planning