Career Exploration and Real-World Readiness Bring It All “Full Circle” for a NC District

“It’s all coming full circle for me now,” said Cumberland County Schools (CCS) career development coordinator ShaKira Hodges, as she watches her juniors and seniors enter internships, job shadowing, apprenticeships, and even placements. 

Hodges was a computer science teacher when she first introduced many of them to the college and career readiness platform MajorClarity, and she recalls how they’d spent Mondays exploring careers, completing worksheets, and building the Career Development Plans (CDPs) that are being put to action today. She also reflects on some of the strategies the district is using to ensure that every student has space to explore and grow.

Early Career Exploration Broadens Awareness for the “Young and Fearless”

Younger children tend to have a more limited view of the world. Often, the only careers they know about are the ones they see in in their daily lives—jobs held by family members, staff at school, people they encounter in their communities. Early career exploration broadens that view for students who, Hodges believes, are at an age where everything feels possible.

“I think the best time for children to explore is when they’re young and fearless,” she explained. “To an elementary school student, nothing seems unattainable.”

MajorClarity gives those students fresh ideas about what their future could look like and a working plan to return to as they grow. It also gives districts like CCS the insight they need to connect each student with the most relevant programs and opportunities available. 

Career Development Plans Give Students a Starting Point

Hodges wants her students to imagine a wide-open future, but she also expects them to have a realistic understanding of what it takes to turn interests into plans. “You can want to be a barista today and a lawyer tomorrow; that’s absolutely fine,” she tells them, but students need to be setting and working toward goals, even when those goals end up changing.

At CCS, career exploration begins early, with counselors introducing it in fifth grade.  The plans that students make in middle school serve as a launching point that they can continually revise as they learn more about their own interests and the realities of pursuing different careers.

“You can set those goals in elementary school, refine them in middle school, and then know whether you’re going to work toward them in high school or need to find an alternative,” Hodges said. In short, the plan changes because the student changes.

Hodges is encouraging, but she’s also committed to making sure students are truly prepared for their postsecondary pursuits. “The real world is very real and very hard,” she tells them, “and there won’t always be a cushion.”

That’s the motivation to help CCS students connect what they hope to achieve with the considerations and steps it will take to get there.

• Which colleges offer the program they need?
• What GPA, courses, or credentials will they need?
• What will the education or training cost?
• What can they do while working toward the long-term goal?
• What’s the backup plan if circumstances change?

Over time, long lists of ideas become easier to narrow. A student may realize that a field requires more math than they want to take. Some discover careers they had never encountered. Others may learn that a college they planned on attending doesn’t offer the programs they need.

A Shared Career Readiness System Keeps Students on Track

Career planning at CCS is a collaborative effort. Teachers help students explore careers and complete plans. Counselors review those plans, discuss course selections, and connect students with college and career resources. CTE staff identify work-based learning opportunities. District career staff build relationships with employers and postsecondary partners. 

And everyone works with the same information, so when a student moves to a different school or counselor, there’s no need to start career exploration from scratch; their MajorClarity data is right there.

Student-Interest Data Helps Districts Target Career Opportunities

CDPs give the district a clearer picture of what students are interested in before opportunities appear. “Without a CDP, I have no guidance,” Hodges explained. “It helps students, and it helps me help students.”

Whenever a business reaches out, she can help her district identify students who have already explored that field and might benefit from that experience. That same data also helps the district understand which employer relationships they should be building —and which courses they should be offering.

It also gives CCS something valuable to share with local colleges. As student interest grows in a specific field, those postsecondary partners can be more proactive about providing the programs those students will soon need.

Work-Based Learning Teaches Life Skills That Are Often Overlooked

In CCS, career readiness shows up in some of the skills that seem small but have an outsized impact. Through internships and other work-based experiences, students learn how to become skilled at everyday tasks, such as:

• Completing an application carefully
• Answering a workplace phone and taking a clear message
• Writing a professional email
• Submitting a résumé
• Following up with a thank-you note
• Communicating with supervisors and asking questions

Those habits may feel second nature to adults, but Hodges knows better than to assume students have learned them, because many haven’t. “If you don’t let them experience it,” she said, “they won’t know.”

Apprenticeships and Skilled Trades Expand Postsecondary Options

Many students at CSS and throughout the country have no choice but to go to work after graduation, often while continuing their education. Hodges helps them leverage that to build stability while moving toward a longer-term goal. 

“Two people with the exact same job could have gotten there two different ways,” she reminds them. “Every path is different.”

A four-year college degree is one route to a career, but it’s not the only one. CCS students also pursue industry-recognized credentials, community college, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, work-based learning, and entry-level employment. “We have to change perspectives about what apprenticeship actually is,” Hodges asserted. “It’s not the kind of apprenticeship our grandparents did. You’re earning and learning at the same time.”

Provide Support When a Student’s Career Plans Don’t Work Out

One CCS student had spent his entire life planning to enter the military. His father had served, and that was the future he expected for himself. When circumstances took military service off the table, he knew he wanted hands-on work, but he wasn’t sure how to find another path. Through CCS’s partnership with the NCWorks NextGen program, a teacher referral, and a business partner willing to host its first high school intern, he found one.

He began as a general laborer with a local concrete plant and later moved into on-the-job training to become a diesel mechanic. The district helped purchase tools for his classes, and he began preparing for CDL training, college coursework, and an apprenticeship.

“Having that business partner come in and say, ‘We’re willing to show him the ropes and take a chance,’ that’s what made it work,” Hodges smiled. “Seeing that student start with a middle school CDP to him now being a fully employed adult is just awesome to see.”

That’s exactly the kind of moment that brings it all full circle. Learn more about MajorClarity.