Educational Resources

101 Career Paths for Every Personality explores is a guide that connects personality types with career paths.

A series of Ted Talks by Wendy De La Rosa on decision-making and factors affecting our financial decisions.

9 free practice aptitude tests, each test has 10 timed questions with feedback provided after the test.

Backpack to Briefcase has a series of activities to help support students to build their self-awareness and to make connections to potential future selves.

Students will see fifteen sets of four pictures that show specific work activities to explore careers that best fit their personality (based on Personality types and the Holland Codes) 

Exploring how the 7 competencies for work can be developed. The 7 competencies are: critical thinking/problem solving, oral/written communications, teamwork/collaboration, information technology application, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, and career management.

see also

This survey (approximately 10 minutes) lets you rate activities you enjoy, your personal qualities, and school subjects to see which career clusters match your interests.

Explore 3 career-oriented and 3 personality quizzes to find out what occupations may be a good fit

1. Your abilities                              1. multiple intelligences

2. Data, people and things             2.learning style

3. Your work preferences               3. work value

The Circle of Courage model provides educators with an evidence-based approach for teaching youth. This site also integrates research on positive youth development with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Explore students' strengths (interests, values, and skills) and ask them to see where these strengths fit in the Circle of Courage. Extend on this by having students identify what strengths they would like to improve.

The Core Competencies are sets of intellectual, personal, and social and emotional proficiencies, they are organized into three categories: communication, thinking, and personal and social. See Core Competency Profiles for reflection tools to use in the classroom.

This personality test looks to see if you are an artist, thinker, adventurer, maker, producer, dreamer, innovator or visionary. It takes less than ten minutes, with very artistic and entertaining animation that connects to answers, it is free and you do not have to sign up.

Digital Citizenship Curriculum is a free on-line American resource that provides classroom tools and helps prepares students to be digital citizens. Lessons can be filtered by grade and easily adapted to meet the BC Curriculum.

Examples:

Social Media and How You Feel

Risk Check for New Tech

Curated Lives

Rewarding Relationships

Looking for self-assessment tools and career quizzes to help identify your strengths, skills, and interests to help find a career that fits you? Take the ‘Find Your Path’ career survey as a first step in identifying some possible careers that suit your interests.  There are 60 ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ questions which should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. There are also biographies on current Métis Role Models and, did you know Terry Fox comes from a Métis fur-trading family?

Education Planner.org, has two free career and skills matching activities: Career Clusters Activity and Which Careers Match Your Skills? Or Careers can be explored in three categories: "I want to be a..." "I'll know it when I see it" or "I'm not really sure" at My Next Move. This is American based but access is free and students do not have to sign up.

A combination of informative videos and interactive quizzes to help dig deeper into interests, strengths, and values to make career path decisions.

There are some skills in life that everyone needs. Managing money, finding housing and work are just a few of these things. Explore this section to learn more about these life skills. Foundry BC also has additional information on mental health, substance abuse, healthy living, and tough topics.

This quiz asks 26 yes-or-no questions that are primarily geared towards different career focuses. While the questions themselves are limited (as yes-or-no questions typically are) it is interesting to note that the quiz tracks your progress in a graph that you can look at while answering questions.

This site provides a free basic report and it take around 10 minutes to complete. There is an option to create an account or view results on the spot.

There are 17 Indigenous Relations Behavioural Competencies. These were developed from BC Public Service and Indigenous peoples in BC. BC Public Services is recommending employees to add these competencies to their profiles, students can do the same. There are four that are being emphasized: self-discovery and awareness, sustained learning and development, cultural agility and change leadership.

In these inspirational moments, Ken Kies takes learnings from over 30 years of leadership training and distills it down to bite-sized tidbits of wisdom to help you live and lead your best. Videos are approximately 3-5 minutes long and cover a wide range of motivational topics such as Characteristics of success, Integrity, The gift of Forgiveness to media addiction.

Everyone's timing is Different" Jay Shetty challenges the set school to career timeline, set in the UK (4 minutes).

How to Get your First Job" Jay Shetty describes how he reached out to his network to get his first job and gives 6 tips for finding a job, set in the UK (6 minutes).

Explore the 6 essential lessons of a satisfying productive career through a graphic novel.  

Free Evidence-Based Mental Health strategies.  MindShift CBT uses scientifically proven strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you learn to relax and be mindful, develop more effective ways of thinking, and use active steps to take charge 

Dr Seuss' masterful story "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" instructs readers to moving forward in life and overcoming challenges. Ideal for any age this book has been a guide to graduates of Kindergarten through college and remains a great advisor to many adults (6 minutes).  

Suggested activity: Look at the theme.  How does it connect with where you are at right now in your life?

A tool to discover new and unexpected career possibilities based on current skills and on growing job fields.

Resources available for download that describe 9 essential skills identified by the government of Canada as needed for the workplace, also at this site are 9 videos that explore essential skills or the essential skills mobile app.

Skills for Success outlines 9 skills that employers are looking for and has free online assessment tools.

Skills Ready provides tools and resources such as a self-assessment rubric on Attitiude Skills and Knowledge.

Numerous motivation talks organized by name, topic, type. For example Chris Hadfied talks about how he went from a little boy to an astronaut and decision making or Jesse Brown talks about the future of Canada? the Speakers' Spotlight platform sells the talks but the videos are free.

The Stigma-Free Society is offering tool kits to educators to promote wellness for Grades 4-7 and 8-12. Kits include documentary videos, mental health topics and personal stories, and interactive components for youth. Career Education learning standards are identified in numerous lessons.

"Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success," is a curriculum developed by ODEP focused on teaching "soft" or workforce readiness skills to youth, including youth with disabilities. Created for youth development professionals as an introduction to workplace interpersonal and professional skills, the curriculum is targeted for youth ages 14 to 21 in both in-school and out-of-school environments. The basic structure of the program is comprised of modular, hands-on, engaging activities that focus on six key skill areas: communication, enthusiasm and attitude, teamwork, networking, problem solving and critical thinking, and professionalism.

Balance Careers is home to experts who provide clear, practical advice on job searching, resume writing, salary negotiations, and other career planning topics such as work/life balance and diversity.

Explore the science of how to get better at getting better. with learner shorts, videos, podcasts and articles on numerous topics ranging from mindsets vs self-awareness, fixed mindset vs fear. 

This links to the trailer the full documentary is $3.99. Encourages self-awareness, what one needs verses wants, and connects wants and needs to global and local implications. Alternatively 18 minute TED Talk

24 question quiz for students to answer and receive some suggestions about possible career choices.

Explore balance by using the Wellness wheel (there are 7 dimensions of wellness) and there is a Wellness Quiz.

A collection of social and emotional learning (SEL) resources for educators and other adults who work with children and youth.

Way of life app is an intuitive habit tracker to support motivation to build a better, stronger and healthier you. This is a free app - it is important to consider student privacy policies when using apps.

What Colour is Your Parachute? For Teens helps teens explore who they are, what's important to them, and what they like to do. This self awareness builds foundations towards possible preferred life-choices. This link provides a review of this book. Cost is approximately $18 or the book is available at HGEC.

Use SOAR and STAR TEchniques as strategies to explore how weaknesses can be a strength.

SOAR (situation, Obstacles, Action, Results)

STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Results)

Three quizzes for students to take that offer suggestions about careers that could be a good fit.

An online career planning tool for students that contains essential career, education, and job search resources to help them plan their career options.  Lesson plans are available for teachers to download on the Blueprint Builder page.

120 statement questions to find out more about who you are and your strengths. Results are instantly provided.

This is a free personality test that can help students explore who they are and why they do things the way they do. There are 4 main Personality Types: Analyst, Diplomats, Sentinels, and Explorers that are then further divided into subcategories. Some preteaching of the personality types is recommended. 

A guide to behaviour interview questions. 

An accessible article from the Muse, that explores pronouns and gender-inclusive language:

"Picture this: You’re gathered around the coffee machine one morning with a group of your co-workers when Joe says, “You guys missed a great story Robin told while we were manning the conference booth yesterday. No seriously, dude, she’s so funny.”

Sounds normal enough. But read it over again and see if you can spot all the ways Joe might’ve unintentionally made people feel uncomfortable or excluded."

Explore the careers in bio-economy. The bio-economy can be defined as the economic activity associated with the invention, development, production, and use of products and processes that are based primarily on biological resources. The bio-economy includes the use of resources from agriculture, forestry, fishery-based biomass, and organic waste. The field is multidisciplinary in that it cuts across health, energy, agriculture, chemicals, and materials industries.

There are up to date labour market reports, skills needed, career profiles and more.

Use the interactive bouncy maps to build world perspective by exploring what countries have the most energy, minerals, agriculture, livestock...and more.

Career Clusters, a guide from Advance CTE: State Leaders Connecting Learning to Work. Career Clusters explores the essential knowledge and skills for the 16 Career Clusters and their Career Pathways and creating individual student plans of study for a complete range of career options.

Try a 3D experience with Google Expeditions app (devices needed). Search 100+ Career Expeditions or Areas of Interest virtually. Search 'Careers' in the Google Expedition app. Virtual Reality devices are available through HGEC or Elizabeth deVries for the 3D tours. Devices can be used for 360 tours too if you do not have VR headset/viewer/goggles.

Career Explorations is organized by interests and then sample careers linked to the Occupational Outlook Handbook which has written summaries and corresponding videos.

Career Girls is founded on the dream that every girl around the world has access to diverse and accomplished women role models to learn from their experiences and discover their own path to empowerment. This website explores specific careers as well as career clusters while role modelling accomplished women within career clusters.

235 titles in the Career Q&A: Professional Advice and Insight series in the Learn360 database. Careers range from Ecologists to Public Opinion researchers and are approximately 15 minutes in length. 

Creating a Career with the Arts in Mind is an eleven-part series from the Carolina ETV Network that explores topics and advice for teens about the value of arts in careers. This is in the Learn 360 database. 

Trades and technology related skill exploration, with student and teacher resources.

This project includes inspiring 4-5 minute Career Tech videos of people who have overcome adversity and who have shared their stories. 

Dollar Street is the brainchild of Anna Rosling that uses photos from everyday life on different incomes all over the world and where they fit on a scale from lowest to highest on a live street metaphor.

Edge Factor has engaging videos and interactive activities that help students explore careers and build self-awareness. This is a paid resource but there are some free resources.

Grow BC is a resource designed for teachers to show K-12 students the diversity of our province’s commodities and the importance of BC’s agriculture industry. It includes topics for straightforward integration into class curriculum. Teachers were directly involved in developing Grow BC to ensure its effective use.

Resources for educators and students to help explore trades.

The JobTalks Podcast is a weekly show hosted by Dr. Jon Callegher, a professor and employment researcher. In this podcast, he interviews experts about skills, tips, and tricks that will help you get ahead in the workplace

Watch Interviews with tradespeople who love their jobs. Hear how they chose their career, how they entered into it, and  about their work. All videos are 2 1/2 to 5 minutes in length. Funded by SSHRC to promote Skilled Trades careers in Canada.

Get to know people in Ontario's Construction Industry, learn about the work environment and job requirements from workers who love what they do.

Let's Talk Science has a Careers section to connect learning to real people and their careers. There are numerous profiles, teacher resources, and competitions linked with Chatterhigh. 

Explore perspectives from three Indigenous role models: a doctor, a lawyer, and a professor. National Post article

National Occupational Classification (NOC) is a system for describing the occupations of Canadians. It gives statisticians, labour market analysts, career counsellors, employers and individual job seekers a standardized way of describing and understanding the nature of work. 

CBC has a series on ODD jobs. this link is to "This industry is not for the weak': Working underwater as a commercial diver. There are four additional ODD JOBS related stories following the link.

Defending dangerous dogs and fur babies: The growing field of animal law

Is this the best job in the world? Making waves as a waterslide designer 

'It's certainly not for everyone': What it takes to be a trauma scene cleaner" (please use your school's protocols if students were to explore this job).

Pelvic floor physio: Treating pain during sex and other common women's health issues (please use your school's protocols if students were to explore this job).

College grad Sean Aiken didn't know what to do for a career so he set out to work 52 jobs in 52 weeks. Watch free sample clips or explore freesample lessons. The full program is available to purchase.

BLS has created our own periodic table! Instead of elements, we have used Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations. Each occupation is connected to the Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

RBC Disruptors is an ongoing podcast series about reimagining Canada's economy. For example How the NEXT Generation of Entrepreneurs Could Kickstart a Wave of Change has three students from the class of 2020 who share how they are reshaping economic and social systems. 

Real Talk promotes 'The stuff we wish we knew when we were in high school'. There is access to numerous jobs and real advise is free and there is the 'discover' option that looks into careers through personality type lens (caring, social, geek. handy...). This is a great site to explore clusters as well as specific careers.

An online mentoring program that connects rural students, virtually, to post-secondary students as mentors.  

This UK resource introduces the concept of remote working and is a safety guide. The resource is generic enough that Canadian students could review it if they are interested in learning more about remote working.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the world's best plan to build a better world for people and our planet by 2030. Knowing these goals can help students explore possible preferred futures. See the Teacher's Toolkit for Unesco Schools Network in Canada for classroom activities and resources K-12.

Explore job postings, career guides and resources. 

Talking Trades is a regular KamloopsMatters column by Shannon Ainslie. Ainsley There are articles on local community members and their career-life journeys such as "Kamloops video production company punching above its weight" as well as topics such as "What jobs are classified as trades jobs?".

Podcasts on interviews with Americans about their workdays. Some examples are: How Does Monopoly's Senior Director Do Her Job? How Does a Narrative Game Designer Do Her Job? How Do Oyster Farmers Do Their Jobs?

113 videos highlighting careers throughout BC. 

Use the example and RBC Student Budget Calculator to get students to calculate a budget for life after highschool. Then they could make a poster or infographic online to show their learning.

How can we prepare Canadians for the future of work? Brookfield Institute's new occupations and skills forecast Ahead by a Decade: Employment in 2030 explores how Canada’s labour market may evolve in the next decade. 

• Explore the occupations projected to grow or decline in employment share in Canada in the next 10 years.
• Explore the skills, abilities, and knowledge traits driving these results.
• Understand what experts think about the future of employment in Canada.
• Consider how the future of employment could be impacted by disruption, potentially diverging from the projections of the Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS).

Also, forecast results are available through an interactive web application; which enables users to filter forecast results by occupations, skills, geography, and demographic characteristics. 

Check out Brookfield Institute's publication Yesterday's Gone to dive into 8 megatrends.

Seniors are undergoing a major life transition as they prepare to graduate high school and launch into the adult world. This passage is a moment when students ask themselves important questions, such as:

• How does my life have meaning and purpose?
• What gifts do I have that the world wants and needs?
• To what or to whom do I feel most deeply connected?
• How can I rise above my fears and doubts?
• What are the highs and lows of the human experience?

Use BC's Career Guide for Indigenous People 2018  to support your career planning journey, all the way from exploration to success on the job. The Guide offers information on career exploration, skills training, education and funding support, and how to connect to employers. 

Advice, information and resources to help students plan their educational journey, search programs, and apply to multi post-secondary institutions.

Ministry of Advanced Education - BC Stats. There are links to several articles that show what post-secondary students are saying and doing.

BC Student Outcomes - the 2018 highlights were released on August 12, 2019.

The BC Transfer Guide shows how courses transfer throughout the BC system.

CFEE has numerous programs, the following are recommended for secondary students:

Talk with Our Kids About Money TTOKAM - visit the home program to filter by age, the school resources for BC are in progress

Money and Youth - a financial literacy guide for youth.

Next Gen Edition of the Globe and Mail - teachers and parent resources can be filtered by the subject careers for current articles.

FinLit 101 CFEE and the National Bank are partnering to create a program for students.

E:SA Entrepreneurship the Spirit of Adventure Videos to Entrepreneurship that are organized by profiles and insight and advice

Money & Monetary Policy In Canada Learning modules for students

Money Laughs - short video prompts on money that will make you laugh

Build skills with courses, certificates, and degrees online from world-class universities and companies. Founded by Stanford University.

In addition to the yearly university rankings publication, the Education Hub has a combination of resources from videos "What does a university education cost in Canada?" to a subscription to "The Insider's guide to Planning for University". 

The Environmental Scan series examines factors within and outside higher education, and cover trends in social, economic, environmental, technological and political spheres - all labour market topics that can support students; knowledge of the ever-changing world of work.

Everfi Financial Literary course targets grades 9-12. Time 6-8 hours. Students learn about banking, budgeting, saving...Everfi is an American based platform with numerous free courses. This link takes you to the home page, where you can register and access courses.

CPA offers free financial literacy sessions that cover budgeting and saving, credit cards, debt, earning income, and goal setting. Book these online with an approximate 12-week notice.

BCjobs.ca searches through thousands of opportunities to help people find jobs that suit their interests and skill set.

The Future Skills Centre has a series of reports aiming to identify the most important issues currently impacting the skills ecosystem in Canada.  These are excellent reports to use with students to learn about labour market trends in Canada and globally.

Tools, information, and services for young Canadians.

Indeed can be used to find jobs, review companies, find salaries, etc... This website is great for research and is good to point out to students, however, make sure you follow FOIPPA policy and regulations regarding the websites function to upload resumes and subscriptions.

JA British Columbia and Coast Capital Savings have put together a video about budgeting for youth: Making a Budget. The video features a conversational style presentation that learners will find engaging and entertaining. 

Making a Budget is broken down into four short segments, giving learners bite-size portions of key information. The use of questioning, self-discovery, and self-reflection will allow learners to experience an inquiry-based learning approach when working through the video and participating in the prompted learning activities to develop their own personal budget. The video can be used as a standalone, or as part of JA’s popular Dollars with Sense program and other JA programs offered in British Columbia. For more information about the JA programs available check out jabc.ca/programs

Junior Achievement offers numerous programs that teachers can bring into their classrooms that focus on working with others, building a network, self promotion, building entrepreneurial skills as well as other career life skills such as financial literacy. Programs are: Economics for Success (8-10), Company Program-In-School (grades 10-12), Be Entrepreneurial (grades 10-12), Investment Strategies Program (grades 10-12), and Titan (grades 10-12), Entrepreneurial Trades (grades 10-12)

Information on salary is the most sought-after labour market information. the LMIC answers the question 'How Much do they make' with an interactive dashboard that shows 'how much is made' alongside types of credentials and field of study. The report How Much Do They Make? is also available or students can try the Interactive Dashboard

These are free online courses from budgeting to borrowing, real estate and beyond to gain the knowledge and confidence to make a lifetime of smart financial decisions. Taught by professors from McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management, the course is open to everyone. 

There are specific start and end dates.

PSBC connects students to 30+ post-secondary (public and non profit opportunities) is BC. This site helps students not only learn about programs and courses, but it also helps them to compare and contrast, as well as provide helpful tips such as "10 things Students Need to Know". This site can also be used by parents and guidance counsellors and connects with BC Planner.

An interactive web site with career quizzes, postsecondary school matching, and career matching. 

Canada British Columbia (SkillsBC) has operated as a provincial not for profit/charitable organization, working with industry, educators, government and labour to promote rewarding and in-demand skilled trade & technology careers to BC’s youth.

The Labour Relations Outlook provides a look at the top issues impacting the workforce and describes how other organizations have approached these challenges. 

Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) is Canada's literacy and essential skills assessment test. TOWES testing can be expanded on by using the Job Bank of Canada www.jobbank.gc.ca/essentialskills and search for jobs by essential skills. The level of essential skills is then listed by numbers in the description.

A hub for BC's public trades and training programs and services.

Udacity aims to reinvent education for the 21st century by bridging the gap between real-world skills, relevant education, and employment. They offer nanodegrees developed in collaboration with industry partners (such as Google, IBM, Facebook, MailChimp) and seek to provide skills in demand in short-course form.

Micro credentials recognise the achievement of a skill, skill sets or knowledge that is required by industry, professional associations, or the community. They are also referred to as nanodegrees, badges or stackable microdegrees. The best thing about microcredentials, is that they offer a new way to think about certifying a portfolio of skills, recognising small and discrete learning, as well as credentialing existing knowledge and skills.

EduData - An interactive graph that shows education and where graduates work.

British Columbia, Canada has one of North America’s most competitive, flexible, and supportive business climates. We consistently receive favourable credit ratings. Our vast resources, competitive taxes, stable and well-regulated financial system and fiscally responsible government attract investment from around the world.

This is a great resource to look at when asking students to explore their preferred locations.

Resources for teachers and students and information ranging from current labour market trends, a parent guide, to First Nations career resources. 

Career Lessons and Activities (US based)

Worxica is a job market research tool. It tracks Canadian job market trends by collecting and analyzing information from millions of Canadian job ads found online in the past year. Worxica answers questions like: How many job postings were advertised in the past year in your selected occupation, in your region? Who was hiring? What skills and certifications did they require? How much did they pay? How does your region compare to the rest of your province / territory? - and more.

50 ways 50 tasks to get a job. An unconventional but fun approach that can be used to build self-awareness and future planning.