Pequot Lakes High School is starting a new program that will assist students in the career planning process with access to educational, postsecondary, and career planning resources, allowing them to create a roadmap to success.

The Internet-based Kuder Career Planning System prepares students for critical academic and career transitions. Kuder is the leading provider of Internet-based assessment, career guidance and educational planning tools, with more than 120 million Kuder assessments completed worldwide in the past 60 years.

The system offers highly personalized career exploration, educational planning, researched-based interests and work values assessments, and comprehensive educational and occupational information. Job seeking and skill development processes are also covered.

As students enter high school they work with an adviser to develop a four-year plan for future coursework and the ability to track progress toward specific application and entry requirements for education and career goals. They start the process by participating in a career search designed to measure a person's activity preferences. Their interest results are matched to people in more than 2,000 occupations who have activity preferences similar to theirs.

Next is a skills assessment inventory that measures a student's confidence in a variety of occupational skills followed by a work values inventory that measures 12 work-related values in order of individual preferences.

Students have the opportunity to use a resume building tool that guides them through the process of collecting, organizing and presenting data for a resume. Two organizational formats and several styles to review information and suggestions on how to write and organize a resume are included in the program.

As a student progresses through the Kuder Program, career searches can be performed from the largest and most comprehensive occupation database available, which includes state-specific and national career information. In addition, career comparison provides a side-by-side view of up to three occupations in which job descriptions, education background, wages, and job outlook for each occupation can be viewed simultaneously.

Kuder also provides a college database that features approximately 7,000 postsecondary colleges, universities, education training centers and other institutions.

Students will have the ability to search for colleges by location, type of institution, programs offered, tuition range, and types of degrees and/or certificates offered. A college comparison function allows a side-by-side comparison of up to three postsecondary institutions. Individuals will be able to compare types of colleges, student body, admissions, and tuition and fees. Along with all of these options, parents will have the ability to view their student's plan online similar to how academics and grades are now viewed in the Skyward System.

By creating a smooth pathway for students, the Kuder system is an avenue to careers and the resources students need for the workforce tomorrow.

(John McDonald is principal at Pequot Lakes High School and can be reached at 568-9210.)