Answer: 44% of HS Juniors and 37% of HS Seniors responded "Before graduating high school." 

Question:

• Do you have an idea of a career path to pursue? If so, what career interests you?
• What do you think influences people's decisions about career paths?
• For your teacher: when did they decide they wanted to be a teacher?

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Junior Achievement):

Committing to a specific career path can be a daunting task. There are so many opportunities out there, but who really has the time to explore all of them so thoroughly that they feel 100
percent confident with their decision until they start working in their chosen career field?

According to the survey, not only is the decision a challenge, the timing on when to make concrete plans tends to be delayed as high school and college students get older. A majority of
high school juniors and seniors believe that decisions about a career path should be made either before finishing high school or right after graduating, but before starting college. However,
the timing for making that decision starts to get pushed later for college freshmen and sophomores, who believe final plans should be in place during college but before graduating
college or entering the workforce.

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NGPF's Career Unit was recently updated and includes a new lesson on the keys to career success. 

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About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.