College & Career Planning
Student Career Exploration & Planning Resources
Online Career Planning & Work-Based Learning Coordination System
- Xello is Florida’s official, K-12 career planning and work-based learning coordination provider. Xello empowers every student to design a personalized plan for the future by providing a high-quality career development experience that’s modern and visually appealing, interactive, and age-appropriate. It has been professionally translated into Spanish and can support other preferred languages. Full Florida functionality in Xello starts fall of 2023. In the Xello platform, students can:
- Build personalized profiles to display their interests, skills and abilities
- Take career matching assessments to guide and motivate exploration
- Explore their options by reviewing career profiles, labor market data and postsecondary training opportunities
- Set both short and long-term goals and track their progress with academic course planning and managing the college application process
- Prepare for the world of work by developing a professional resume and creating shareable portfolios, and applying for local work-based learning opportunities
- Continually learn, reflect, and re-assess their plans with the support of built-in college and career readiness lessons
Additional Career & Postsecondary Exploration Resources
- FloridaShines.org offers an array of free online tools and resources designed to help students succeed in school, earn a college degree, and embark on a rewarding career. FloridaShines works with the state's public colleges, universities, and K-12 school districts to develop tools that benefit students, parents, counselors, and educators alike. FloridaShines is funded by the state of Florida and provided by FLVC. Its tools and resources are available at no cost to students. Among the features on FloridaShines.org:
- A centralized inventory of all programs and certificates available from Florida’s public postsecondary institutions, in addition to all online courses offered by each institution and courses with zero textbook costs.
- Detailed profiles of each public college and university statewide, along with technical colleges and centers.
- Centralized access to the academic library collections and resources at all 40 public colleges and universities statewide .
- Florida’s official Transient Student Admissions Application used by postsecondary students to apply to take a course at another institution.
- Student access to their unofficial transcripts.
- Ability for students to see the impact of transferring to another institution or changing their degree program.
- GetMyFuture is the U.S. Department of Labor’s career and postsecondary readiness site geared toward young adults. The site includes occupational assessments, career information, career videos, labor market data, and numerous college and career readiness resources.
- CollegeNavigator is the National Center for Education Statistics’ tool to learn more about postsecondary training institutions offering a wide spectrum of short- and long-term credentials. Search by keyword, filter by category, interact with a map, conduct side-by-side comparisons, and review detailed institutional information and data.
- Apprenticeship Job Finder is the U.S. Department of Labor’s web tool to locate registered apprenticeships by occupation, company name, keyword, or geographic location.
- MyFloridaFuture is a data dashboard produced by the Florida State University System (FSUS) to show typical loan amounts and wages by degree for FSUS graduates.
- Get There is Florida’s official site to learn more about Career and Technical Education (CTE) – explore pathways and learn more about career-focused educational opportunities.
- FDOE resources for students considering entering the teaching profession
National Service Exploration
- ASVAB Career Exploration Program is the Department of Defense’s online system to assess career aptitudes and explore college, career, and military options.
- AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages millions of American adults of all ages in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work programs in many sectors.
Educator Career Readiness Resources
- Career Readiness Education Framework and Needs Assessment
- Use Florida’s Career Readiness Education Framework and Needs Assessment for Secondary Educators (PDF) to assess the extent to which your school or district is providing the full range of educational experiences that lead toward career readiness.
- PowerPoint (PDF) and recording of a webinar on Florida’s Career Readiness Education Framework.
- Curricula
- Career Cruiser 2.0 offers 24 modules designed to model for teachers, counselors, and others how Florida’s Career Readiness Education Framework can be implemented. Educators are encouraged to use the materials as a starting point that can be adapted to meet the needs of a particular student audience and setting. The lessons were written to a secondary audience, but the underlying concepts are largely applicable to adult learners as well.
- Career Exploration
- Assessing Your Career Interests (Word)
- Assessing Your Career Skills (Word)
- Assessing Your Career Values (Word)
- Exploring Careers (Word)
- Analyzing Career Data (Word)
- Conducting a Career Informational Interview (Word)
- Exploring Local Training Options (Word)
- Analyzing Postsecondary Data (Word)
- Experiencing Postsecondary Training (Word)
- Career Planning
- Choosing a Career (Word)
- Making a Postsecondary Credential Goal (Word)
- Choosing a Postsecondary Training Provider (Word)
- Applying to Postsecondary Training (Word)
- Getting Financial Aid (Word)
- Budgeting for School (Word)
- Choosing High School Courses & Extracurriculars (Word)
- Developing a Personalized Career and Academic Plan (PCAP) (Word)
- Career Preparation
- Navigating a Job Posting Site (Word)
- Asking for a Reference, Recommendation, or Endorsement (Word)
- Drafting a Resume (Word)
- Drafting a Cover Letter (Word)
- Developing a Professional Portfolio (Word)
- Preparing for a Job Interview (Word)
- Branding Yourself Online (Word)
- Career Exploration
- Plan It Florida is an initiative of the Florida College Access Network (FCAN) and offers a wide variety of curricular activities and promotional materials to increase postsecondary credential attainment. In addition, FCAN links to Local College Access Networks, many of which have student and educator resources that are specific to the different economic regions of Florida.
- Career Cruiser 2.0 offers 24 modules designed to model for teachers, counselors, and others how Florida’s Career Readiness Education Framework can be implemented. Educators are encouraged to use the materials as a starting point that can be adapted to meet the needs of a particular student audience and setting. The lessons were written to a secondary audience, but the underlying concepts are largely applicable to adult learners as well.
- K-12
- FDOE course site
- FDOE dual enrollment site
- FDOE high school acceleration site
- FDOE Congress-Bundestag Vocational Youth Exchange Program site
- FDOE Talented Twenty Program, which allows student with proven academic success in their respective K-12 public schools to be guaranteed admission, within space and fiscal limitation, to one of the 12 state universities
- Career and Technical Education
- FDOE Career & Technical Education site for middle school through associate’s degree Career and Technical Education programs, courses, standards, and resources. The individual Career Cluster pages have resources for educators, including labor market infographics.
- Work-Based Learning
- Florida College System
- Florida Public Universities
- Florida Independent Colleges and Universities
- FDOE Commission for Independent Education site on nonpublic, postsecondary educational institutions
- Adult Education
- Articulation
- FDOE Office of Articulation site
- Overview of Florida’s 2+2 system (PDF), which allows students to first get an associate’s degree and then complete a bachelor’s degree.
- Common Prerequisites Manual by the Florida Virtual Campus
- FDOE Statewide Postsecondary Articulation Manual
- FDOE statewide Career and Technical Education articulation agreements site
- Educational Performance & Outcomes
- Financial Aid
- Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA) site, including Bright Futures, by the Florida’s Office of Student Financial Assistance
- Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
- School Counseling