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National Career Development Guidelines - High School

The National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) represent a major nationwide effort to foster career development at all levels.  They are a competency-based approach to career development designed to help plan quality career guidance and counseling.

The Guidelines address four developmental levels—Elementary School, Middle School/Junior High School, Senior High School and Adult. They focus on three career development areas—self-knowledge, educational and occupational exploration, and career planning.  The NCDG contain competency areas that represent knowledge, skills, and abilities individuals should master in order to deal effectively with their own career development.  The NCDG also identify specific indicators that describe behaviors needed to demonstrate mastery of career development competencies.

The NCDG were developed to assist the process of creating a national awareness that certain competencies are required of students to be prepared for the world of work in the twenty-first century.  The National Guidelines are intended to strengthen existing guidance programs, not to replace them.

 HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL

Self-Knowledge

Competency I:  Understanding  the importance of a positive self concept.
Indicators:
Identify and appreciate personal interests,  abilities and skills.
Demonstrate the ability to use peer feedback. 
Demonstrate an understanding of how individual characteristics relate to achieving personal, social, educational, and career goals. 
Demonstrate an understanding of environmental influences on one's behavior.
Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between personal behavior and self-concept. 

COMPETENCY II:    Skills to interact positively with others.
Indicators:
Demonstrate effective interpersonal skills. 
Demonstrate interpersonal skills required for working with and for others.
Describe appropriate employer and employee interaction in various situations. 
Demonstrate how to express feelings, reactions, and ideas in an appropriate manner.

COMPETENCY III: Understanding the impact of growth and development.
Indicators:
Describe how developmental changes affect physical and mental health. 
Describe the effect of emotional and physical health on career decisions. 
Describe healthy ways of dealing with stress.
Demonstrate behaviors that maintain physical and mental health. 

Educational and Occupational Exploration

COMPETENCY IV: Understanding the relationship between educational achievement and career planning.
Indicators:
Demonstrate how to apply academic and occupational skills to achieve personal goals.  
Describe the relationship of academic and occupational skills to personal interests. 
Describe how skills developed in academic and occupational programs relate to career goals. 
Describe how educations relates to the selection of college majors, further training, and / or entry into job market.
Demonstrate transferable skills that can apply to a variety of occupations and changing  occupational requirements. 
Describe how learning skills are required in the workplace. 

COMPETENCY V: Understanding the need for positive attitudes toward work and learning. 
Indicators:
Identify positive contributions workers make to society. 
Demonstrate knowledge of social significance of various occupations. 
Demonstrate positive attitude toward work.  
Demonstrate learning habits and skills that can be used in various educational situations.
Demonstrate positive work attitudes and behaviors.

COMPETENCY VI: Skills to locate, evaluate, and interpret career information.
Indicators:
Describe the educational requirements of various occupations.  
Demonstrate the use of career information resources (handbooks, career materials, labor market information, and computerized career information delivery systems).  
Demonstrate knowledge of various classification systems that categorize occupations and industries.   
Describe the concept of career ladders.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of self-employment as a career option. 
Identify individuals in selected occupations as possible information resources, role models, or mentors. 
Describe the influence of change in supply and demand workers in different occupations. 
Identify how employment trends relate to education and training.
Describe the impact of factors such as population, climate, and geographic location on occupational opportunities. 

COMPETENCY VII:  Skills to prepare to seek, obtain, maintain and change jobs.  
Indicators:
Demonstrate skills to locate, interpret, and use information about job openings and opportunities. 
Demonstrate skills and behaviors necessary for a successful job interview.
Demonstrate skills in preparing a resume and completing job applications.
Identify specific job openings.
Demonstrate employability skills necessary to obtain and maintain jobs.
Demonstrate skills to assess occupational opportunities (working conditions, benefits, and for change). 
Describe placement services available to make transition from high school to civilian employment, the armed forces, or postsecondary education/training.
Demonstrate an understanding that job opportunities often require relocation.
Demonstrate skills necessary to function as consumer and manage financial resources. 

COMPETENCY VIII: Understanding how societal needs and functions influence the nature and structure of work.
Indicators:
Describe the effects of work on lifestyles.  
Describe how society's needs and functions affect the supply of goods and services.  
Describe how occupational and industrial trends relate to training and employment. 
Demonstrate an understanding  of the global economy and how it affects each individual. 

Career Planning

COMPETENCY IX: Skills to make decisions.
Indicators:
Demonstrate responsibility for making tentative educational and occupational choices.
Identify alternatives in given decision making situations.
Describe skills / aptitudes needed to qualify for desired postsecondary education / training.
Identify appropriate choices during high school that will lead to marketable skills for entry-level employment or advanced training.
Identify and complete required steps toward transition from high school to entry into postsecondary education / training programs or work.
Identify steps to apply for and secure financial assistance for postsecondary education and training. 

COMPETENCY X: Understanding the interrelationship of life roles.
Indicators:
Demonstrate knowledge of life stages. 
Describe factors that determine lifestyles (socioeconomic status, culture, values, occupational choices, work habits)
Describe ways in which occupational choices may affect lifestyle.
Describe the contribution of work to a balanced and productive life.
Describe ways in which work, family, and leisure roles are interrelated.  
Describe different career patterns and their potential effect on family patterns and lifestyle
Describe the importance of leisure activities.  
Demonstrate ways that occupational skills and knowledge can be acquired through leisure.

COMPETENCY XI: Understanding the continuous changes in  male/female roles.
Indicators:
Identify factors that have influenced the changing career patterns of women and men.
Identify evidence of gender stereotyping and bias in educational programs and occupational settings. 
Demonstrate attitudes, behaviors, and skills that contribute to eliminating gender bias and stereotyping. 
Identify courses appropriate to tentative occupational choices.
Describe the advantages and problems of nontraditional occupations. 

COMPETENCY XII: Skills in career planning.
Indicators:
Describe career plans that reflect the importance of lifelong learning. 
Demonstrate knowledge of postsecondary occupational  and academic programs.
Demonstrate knowledge that changes may require retraining and upgrading of employees' skills. 
Describe school and community resources to explore educational and occupational choices. 
Describe the costs and benefits of self-employment.
Demonstrate occupational skills developed through volunteer experiences, part-time employment, or school-to-work transition programs.
Demonstrate skills necessary to compare education and job opportunities.
Develop an individual career plan, updating information from earlier plans and including tentative decisions to be implemented after high school.