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Career Counseling Resources On the Internet

To celebrate National School Counseling Week we provide some of the best free resources related to career counseling on the Internet, courtesy of the American School Counselor Association.

NOTE: This article by Kate Deddens and Susan James Ed.D. first appeared in The ASCA Counselor, a publication of the American School Counselor Association. A national organization that focuses on providing professional development, enhancing school counseling programs, and researching effective school counseling practices, ASCA is responsible for National School Counseling Week.

School counselors are discovering a wealth of career information on the Internet. Many of the career materials are free and easy to access. The following list offers a collection of Internet sites applicable to several stages of the career development process.

GENERAL CAREER GUIDANCE ON THE WEB

Self-Assessment and Interests/Values Inventories

There are many self-assessment tools, in the form of personality tests, IQ tests, and interest and aptitude quizzes available on the Internet. The results obtained by such online tests should prove valuable to students, but it should be emphasized strongly to them that these tests are not, and should not be regarded as, absolute authorities on their personalities, skills, or interests, and thus on their future employment prospects. Rather, such tests should be viewed as helpful insights. Whenever possible, more information about the tests and their importance should be obtained.

  • The Holland Interest Inventory is an online interest inventory, which is scored and then succinctly interpreted.
  • The Career Planning Process offers a model that takes one through all the following levels of the career planning process via web sites: Self-Assessment; Academic and/or Career Options; Relevant and/or Practical Experience; Job Search and/or Graduate School Preparation; Career Change. It is a good synthesis of information, insight-oriented questioning, guidelines, and solid career advice.

Career and Occupational Information

  • Hoover's Online is an encyclopedia of company profiles and company web sites.
  • Job Smart Salary Survey provides students with a place to take their own "Salary IQs." It describes salary surveys and salary negotiation strategies.


THE WEB-AIDED JOB SEEKING PROCESS
 

  • Indeed is the #1 job site worldwide and and includes all the job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations, and company career pages and employers can even post jobs directly to Indeed that may not be available anywhere else. We recommend also checking out their Essential Job Search Guide and exploring their Forums.
  • How To Become a Counselor: A counseling career gives you the opportunity to help others every day and this resource provides all of the information you need to pursue a career as a professional counselor, no matter where you live.
  • How to Write a Resume is a compilation of advice, resume descriptions, and resume writing tips. It also provides an interactive resume template.
  • Contract Employment Weekly, Jobs Online is an excellent site for students wishing to submit work for a portfolio of writing samples. Freelance, or contract work, can be obtained at this site, providing an opportunity for students to publish or complete some type of work they are interested in on a limited basis and at no risk. In addition, those students seeking self-employment (for example as editors, writers, graphic artists, and so on), might find this site not only helpful in beginning to build a portfolio, but in learning where and how to obtain contract work. Job assignment searches can be completed as a guest at no cost, but are limited to a certain percentage of listings.
  • SnagAJob.com offers a tool for locating summer jobs for teens and students.
  • UST Career Development Center is a fantastic, comprehensive site offering a circular model (illustrating how various career issues overlap, as well as how they continue to be important through the life cycle), including self-assessment, job search strategy and implementations, career management, and occupational research. This is a very nice site!
  • Monster.com is a site where international job searches can be performed by location, discipline, and keywords. This site also contains a job search agent. Other advice and information, such as employer profiles, are available here as well.
  • Careers at Yahoo is another excellent and inclusive site, offering career planning, company information chat groups, information concerning employment law, salaries, job classifieds, telecommuting information and a special section on women's resources.
  • Career Builder is a jobs database containing job opportunities, employer information, resume help, online job fairs, and a career resource center.


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Updated 05/07/2013