Top 3 Reasons to Use the Achieve Virtual Career Guide
Resources | December 19, 2018
A 5-year-old Tara (far right) shows her classmates her shell collection.
During our childhood, we were always asked: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” According to Tara, our operations coordinator, when she looked back at her own childhood memories, her dream was to become a swim teacher. It was a simple choice. She loved swimming through hula hoops and jumping off the high-dive. However, her dream ended as she grew older. She couldn’t stand being cold and wet…don’t even get her started on chlorine and hair health! Swimming just wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Most of us can relate to not fulfilling those early ideas of what we would become. As we grew and changed, so did our perspective.
Tara recently found this picture she drew in kindergarten.
But what about now? After reaching adulthood and facing so many demanding responsibilities, do we ever ask ourselves: “What do I want to be now that I’m grown up?” I’m sure many of us could do more to support our own growth, reach further and become a better version of ourselves both professionally and personally.
If you’re reading this, you likely chose a rewarding career in Childhood Care and Education. You’ve identified your passion for educating and caring for children. Whether it’s what you wanted to be when you were 8 years old or a path you were called to later in life there’s always room to grow. Sometimes, we just need to know where to start. That’s where the Achieve Virtual Career Guide comes in.
Are you ready to advance your skills or work toward new career goals in the ECE field? Maybe you know someone who wants to follow in your footsteps and they want to have a rewarding ECE career just like you! Either way, the Achieve Virtual Career Guide can help!
Our Virtual Career Guide is an interactive tool which includes many helpful resources in one area. It allows you to search opportunities and identify options for your path to achievement. Achieve’s Virtual Career Guide was designed with the MN Career Lattice in mind. If you’ve been assigned a Career Lattice step that allows room for growth, this tool will guide you through exploring opportunities available at higher steps.
Let’s count down the top 3 reasons to use the Achieve Virtual Career Guide.
3. Learn about your skills and interests.
Through the Virtual Career Guide, you can link to Develop to take the Individual Training Needs Assessment (ITNA), a self-assessment tool based on Minnesota’s Knowledge and Competency Framework for Early Childhood Professionals. You can use the ITNA to assess your current skills and set your own professional goals.
2. Identify career options you might pursue.
The Virtual Career Guide lists qualifying positions* based on the MN Career Lattice steps. Each position includes a description and most include a general salary range. The Virtual Career Guide also connects to Achieve’s Job Board where you can view open positions within Minnesota’s Childhood Care and Education Workforce.
*Qualifying positions are listed as examples based on generalities, this is not an exhaustive list.
3. Plan a successful childhood care and education career.
Review information about different Childhood Care and Education credentials through links found on the Virtual Career Guide. The guide also links to the Search for Training feature in Develop to make it easy to find professional development opportunities.
