What You Will Find and What You Can Do in Career Information

Here's what you can do in the Career Information section:

• Discover which types of careers suit your personality by reading the Self-Assessment
• Determine which careers map to your interests by using the Student-Career Matching Assistant
• Explore a wide range of careers in the List of Careers
• Store and track the results of your career exploration in your MyMentor Careers

Reasons to Use VirginiaMentor and Career Information

Research shows that people are happier if they make concrete progress toward their goals. The VirginiaMentor Career Information is designed with that progress in mind. Its components can help you discover your dreams as well as determine, pursue, and attain your goals.

General Career Training Information

There are many ways to train for a career. Some careers require education beyond high school. Other careers allow for on-the-job training. Below is a quick guide to the different types of training that are required for various careers.

• On-the-job training: Short- to medium-term training (less than one year) or long-term training (more than one year of coursework and training, which might need to be accomplished on your own time, e.g., you might need to attend night school while employed full time during the day)
• Postsecondary vocational training: One to two years of training beyond high school (e.g., vocational technology school, noncollege-level nursing school, and all branches of the military)
• Associate's degree: At least two years of education beyond high school (or GED)
• Bachelor's degree: At least four years of education beyond high school (or two years beyond associate's degree)
• Master's degree: At least one to two years of education beyond bachelor's degree
• Doctoral or professional degree: At least two to three years of education beyond bachelor's degree

Choosing a Career

We are provided with a seemingly endless list of careers from which to choose. Because there are so many choices, the decision can seem daunting.

The Career Information module is designed to help students with all aspects of their career decisions, taking into account talents and interests in the Self-Assessment, and helping you match these interests to a particular career in the Career Matching Assistant. Once you have a few specific careers in mind, the List of Careers can give you a summary of what those careers entail, what skills and education levels are required in those fields, approximate salary for each career, and schools and majors that can lead you to those careers.