Ohio Means Jobs

Recently the Ohio Means Job website has added a student section to their website that will hopefully get students in grades K through 12 thinking about their careers at an earlier age and hopefully more often. If any of you are familiar with the old OCIS website, this will be the replacement to that. We had a small seminar the other day that was an introduction to the website and how, as educators, we can help each and every student in our school. I feel this is really a great tool to use with our staff and students and everyone will immediately see the benefits from using it. If you get the opportunity, please go to the Ohio Means Job website and take the guided tour that is available. Please feel free to create an account, you will definitely want one whether you are a student or a staff member.

One of the things that I really like is the "Backpack" feature. Basically this is all your information, such as career inventories you filled out, any assessments you have taken, or any other information that you have gathered. It is all put into your "backpack" so that you can review it any time you want. For the current juniors, that means we can look at it together for the next year or so and work together to decide your future. What is really nice is the student in 2nd grade will work on it every year and when they eventually get to Vantage, they will still have that same backpack with all the information in that we can use to create a career path for them.

There are so many features that I liked but I will just mention a few that stand out. The student can create a budget by typing in a typical rent or house payment, grocery cost, utilities, etc... when they determine what their budget is, the site will let them know if the job area they are looking at will be adequate enough to meet their budget. The student can also upload their resume and the site will grade it from A to F based on the job you are going for. Another great feature is that you can search any area in Ohio to see what jobs are available in the student's area of interest. The website will also guide the student to whatever college in Ohio offers their major of interest. For example, if you are interested in Aerospace Engineering, the will list all the colleges and universities that offer aerospace engineering. Finally, there are all kind of assessments available on the website. You can take the PSAT, ACT, SAT, COMPASS, ASVAB and AP practice tests. There is also help for your current math, english, science and social studies classes.

There really is just to many things to mention. You must really get on and explore. You will be glad you did. If you have any questions, please stop by my office and I will help you start your account or any other information you may need. Thanks and have a great weekend.