Career Center for Parents

GAcollege411 can serve as your child's virtual guide to academic and professional planning, helping him or her discover personal dreams while determining and achieving goals.

Tools are provided to help students with the following projects:

• Selecting a college, university or trade school
• Deciding on an academic major
• Gathering information on the courses, grades, and scores required for the school(s) of their choice
• Developing a central site to store the information
• Exploring education and career possibilities
• Understanding how to finance their dreams
• Understanding which activities can help them succeed

The GAcollege411 Career Center provides tools that can help your child find and set a path for their future.

Step One: Self-Knowledge

The first step in uncovering a career path is self-knowledge. To help students learn more about themselves, the Career Center provides a Career Key. After reading the assessment, your child should have a clearer understanding of his or her interests, skills, values, and personality.

Step Two: Exploration

The List of Careers has hundreds of career descriptions for your child's exploration. The range of careers goes from the traditional dental hygienist to the high-tech webmaster. The career descriptions include a summary of what it takes, both academically and practically, to work in the occupation or profession. For example, you and your child will find out which majors can lead to your child's future occupation and which institutions in Georgia offer those majors.

Step Three: Game Plan

This step is the one in which you can be of most help to your child. After learning about your child's interests, you have an opportunity to brainstorm with them using the Career Key results as a starting point. Using the Career Matching Assistant, you can match up your child's interests with specific careers. Then think of people you know through your work, community organizations, or volunteer work that can help your child gain a clearer understanding of the career and what it takes to enter the field. Find out if your employer offers scholarships for the children of employees. Summer jobs, internships (both paid and unpaid), and volunteer work can help your child find out if they are truly interested in a particular field. These experiences will also help your child to create a network of contacts and build a resume through the Resume Builder for both college admission and future employment.