Career Café: Career Interest Resources Elementary, Middle and High School

Career Café is an opportunity for students to learn about careers from individuals in their community. One of my biggest success as a school counselor has been starting a Career Café at my school. Students absolutely love Career Café, it is a blast to host, and it meets ASCA Student Standard in the Career Domain. Career Cafe can also be geared toward any level - elementary, middle, or high school!

I have gotten tons of inquiries and questions about hosting a Career Café. I am creating a series of posts to explain Career Café in greater detail and provide you with the tools you need to start a Career Café at your school.  

There are a number of ways that you can determine how students are selected to participate in Career Café. Students can be chosen based on results of career interest inventories, select which Career Cafés they would like to attend, or entire classrooms or grade levels can be invited to participate.

Selecting Students to Participate

The size of your Career Café location dictates the number of students you are able to select to participate in a Career Café session. I recommend creating a list of students who you plan to invite so you can determine if their are enough participants or too many.

At my school I hosted Career Café for grades 5-8. Last year, for grades 5 and 6 I used the Holland Code Career Party and had students sign-up for Career Cafés that related to their interests. 

For grades 7 and 8 I had all students take the My Next Move career interest inventory. I used their results to determine who would be invited to each speaker. If I had extra slots I would allow other interested students to sign-up. In the future I would probably use PA CareerZone since it has been recently revamped and includes a login for students. (I made a printable PDF Version of a Sign-Up Sheet for you to utilize at your school.)

Below I have provided links to various FREE career interest inventories and games. Most of these resources require computer access. 


I have also provided a list of books you could utilize in classroom lessons and activities with students in conjunction with Career Café.

Elementary Level

Career Interest Inventories and Games for Elementary School Students:

• Holland Code Career Party by Learn More Indiana
• Paws and Jobland by Bridges
• Career Town by Virginia Career View

Career Books to Use with Elementary School Students:

• When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic (check out this post for more ways to use this book)
• Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty
• Career Day by Anne Rockwell
• What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scary
• Whose Hat is This? by Katz Cooper
• Whose Shoes are These? by Katz Cooper
• Whose Tools are These? by Katz Cooper
• Whose Vehicle is This? by Katz Cooper

Middle School and High School Level


Career Interest Inventories and Games for Middle and High School Students

• Who R U? (web-based assessment) by Virginia Career View
• Who R U? (paper based assessment) by Virginia Career View
• My Next Move by O*Net Online
• Career Clusters Activity by Education Planner
• What Careers Match Your Skills? by Education Planner
• Drive of Your Life by The Indiana Youth Institute
• PA CareerZone by The PA Department of Education (Do an online search to find career interest inventories specific to your state)
• My Road (QuickStart Careers and Personality Profiler) by The College Board 

Career Books to Use with Middle and High School Students:

• Do What You Are Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron-Tieger
• What Color is Your Parachute? by Carol Christen
• Who Moved My Cheese? for Teens by Spenser Johnson 
• McGraw-Hill Careers for You Series

I keep emphasizing this, but you can really make Career Café your own. If you are at a smaller school, it may be possible for you to invite a whole grade level or whole classrooms to Career Café sessions. You may decide you only want to host Career Café for a certain grade level. There are many different ways you host Career Café and choose which students to invite. 

Do you host a Career Café at your school? What career interest inventories and resources do you use? How do you select students to participate?

This post is the third post in a series of how to host a Career Café at your school. 
Career Café: Location, Location, Location!
Career Café: Setting a Schedule
Career Café: Career Interest Resources Elementary, Middle, and High School
Career Café: Recruiting Speakers
Career Café: Inviting Students

Read other posts about Career Café:

Serving Up Career Standards With Career Café

Serving Career Standards Through Community Involvement

One of My Greatest Accomplishments as a School Counselor...

One Cool Career Café Cat
When Meeting with a Detective is a Good Thing

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Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.