Chapter Summaries with Key Terms and Academic Vocabulary

Chapter 3: Researching Careers

Section 3.1 Summary
The U.S. Department of Education’s 16 career clusters can help you explore careers. You can use primary and secondary sources to research careers. Informal career research can include observing the world around you and talking to people. Formal research can include libraries, print and Internet resources, exploratory interviews, and also work experience, which includes temp work, cooperative programs, job shadowing, volunteering, internships, and community service.

Section 3.2 Summary
Determining what you need to know about a career will make your research more productive and help you make good career decisions. Start by researching and defining a career in terms of characteristics such as values, tasks and responsibilities, work environment, and education and training required. Then compare the characteristics of the career with your own expectations to determine if the career is right for you. Awareness of different career outlooks can help you plan for the future.

Key Terms
career clusters
exploratory interview
temp work
cooperative program
job shadowing
internship
service learning
work environment
flextime
career pathways
benefits

Academic Vocabulary
source
index
visualize
potential
decline