STEM, STEM-related careers:
– https://www.engineergirl.org/ – reveals how STEM degrees can lead to unexpected careers
– https://careerschoolnow.org/careers/popular-stem-careers – reveals some popular and unusual STEM careers

STEM Organzations and resources:
– https://girlswhostem.com/best-stem-organizations-for-girls-and-women/
– https://edventures.com/blogs/stempower/10-resources-to-help-you-empower-girls-in-stem

Do your own STEM projects:
– https://www.engineergirl.org/128249/Try-This
– https://www.sciencebuddies.org/
– https://www.explorationworks.org/experiments

Find STEM mentors, role models
– Meet women in STEM and ask questions about what their day actually looks like and what sorts of things they are commonly doing. Ask a lot of questions and demystify the career area as best you can.

Take STEM classes
– Find and take STEM and STEM related classes. Test the waters. Remember, there are far more STEM-related careers without a deep-dive into Science, Tech and Math. So, grab STEM related courses like 3D animation, network security, conservation and many more. Do this as early, often.

Attend STEM events
– Find STEM camps, clubs, and events in your area or online and jump in. Where possible and appropriate, meet other people that are also interested in STEM and make connections.

Learn about women in STEM:
– https://www.beyondcurie.com/ – Women you should know
– https://www.engineergirl.org/4447/Engineers-Directory – reveals current and historical women in STEM careers
– https://www.cincymuseum.org/stem-girls/ has interviews with cool STEM women out there right now!
– https://shecanstem.com/stories – introduces you to women in STEM careers right now
– https://womenyoushouldknow.net/ – More women to know
– https://www.energy.gov/downloads/women-stem-posters-series-one – Cool bios on women and posters too
– BOOK: 33 Women in Science Who Changed the World
– BOOK: Women in Science : 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World

Noteworthy inspiring books, movies and TED talks for girls:
– https://www.builtbyme.com/stem-books-for-girls-movies-ted-talks/

Start a list of your collective abilities or CA’s (abilities plus skills):
– Use the pages in the journal to create a living list of talents and skills that you have. These will be primary in career selection. The list will grow over time. Nothing comes off the list until you have multiple proofs that it is not a talent or skill you have.

Secondary career selection criteria – Use the journal to:
– Start a living list of passions you have
– Start a living list of dreams you have
– Start a living list of interests you have

Connect with girls interested in STEM:
– Surround yourself with people that either share your interest in STEM or support your interest in STEM. If the people that surround you are negative about your interest in STEM, you need to expand your circle of friends and support or redo your circles entirely. Carve out space for those that are interested in STEM or at least support your interest.

Start a living list of careers you are considering.
– Talk with your academic adviser and discuss what careers fit with your CA’s (defined in Selecting a Career Pt 1). Do not remove items from your list unless you know you you have no interest, OR you have multiple confirmations that you do excel in the necessary skill sets.

Keep your most likely career candidates near the top of your list. Ask an advisor to help you with this, preferably one that has known you for some time and has access to your grades and the courses. Let your adviser know about STEM activity you have done.

If your advisor is not comfortable or familiar with STEM paths, see if a different advisor is available or maybe a teacher or professor.

Identify colleges with STEM majors
– Find colleges with STEM majors that lead to the career(s) you are interested in. Get assistance from your parents and an academic advisor.

College and Education Tracks
– In college, remember what the priority is. You have a goal. Sometimes you will need to decline some fun and games in order to get the job done. Your STEM education is designed to set you up for rewarding work that pays really well for decades. There will be plenty of time for entertainment later, and you will be able to afford it! Be intentional about your efforts and preparations and don’t waste your education opportunity.

Regardless of what college track you pursue, you may find course(s) that you don’t like. Rise above it anyway. You may find courses that you don’t end up using later, but all majors have such courses, carry on. Or you may find courses that you struggled with or failed. This is all normal. Reset, re-focus, new plan attack, retake, and new instructor. Overcome.

Go all the way and finish. Collect the prize. Be rewarded for decades.

Multi-science resources:
– https://www.livescience.com/– A multi-science news site.

The Dream Job Myth:
Here are some links covering the topic of dream jobs and commencement speech candy. It is provided here only as a caution against leaning too strongly on these criteria as opposed to your collective abilities (abilties + skills) or CA’s.

– https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/292821
– https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-dream-job-myths-you-need-to-stop-believing-if-you-want-to-be-happy
– https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/05/dream-job-myth-work-nightmares.html
– https://www.deseret.com/2019/3/6/20667538/tiffany-gee-lewis-the-myth-of-the-dream-job
– https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/work/5-myths-about-a-dream-job-that-you-need-to-stop-believing/photostory/73125260.cms

Quality Career Exploration and Matching Resources
(Not STEM specific, but very helpful for identifying which careers are a fit or you, including STEM careers)

There are numerous private, federal, state and university resources out there for exploring careers, self assessment and more. We have collected a few that stand out as robust, or as having some particular strength(s).

— CAREER ONE STOP (FEDERAL GOVERNMENT)
https://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/explore-careers.aspx – US Dept of Labor’s Career One Stop website, Explore Careers section. Here you can find:
– Self assessments to better understand your own interests, skills and work values.
– Career clusters, profiles, videos, comparisons and industry comparisons
– Career goal setting, salaries, professional development


— MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES CAREER EXPLORATION RESOURCES
These resources are found on a Minnesota State Ed website that has free access to many resources, as well as links that lead to resources elsewhere. Here are some example resources we are highlighting:

Informational Videos About Various Careers:
http://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/careervideos.html

Interest Assessments (They take different approaches. Keep in mind that they work off of what you enter or select. You are the one that is directing the results. When you are making choices today about what you like or prefer, those choices might be different tomorrow or a year from now as you discover talents and add skills, which can change your interests. But it is still useful to check it out now to get you thinking about the process):
https://www.minnstate.edu/careerexploration/planningtools/interest-assessment/index.html

https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/interestProfiler

https://www.careeronestop.org/GetMyFuture/Toolkit/interest-assessment.aspx

https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/clusterSurvey?do=0

Skills Assessments (Again, you are dictating the results. Your inputs may be different in a year)
https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/Skills/skills-matcher.aspx

https://www.myskillsmyfuture.org/

Work Values Assessments
https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/work-values-matcher.aspx

https://www.onetcenter.org/WIL.html

Reality Checks for Cost of Living and Careers – Want to know how much it costs to maintain a certain lifestyle? Want to know if your career selection will support the lifestyle you are interested in? Check out these reality check models. Be sure to click multiple items in each category if they apply, and enter a specific dollar amount if you know what it is.
https://www.minnstate.edu/careerexploration/realitytool.html

What Can I Do With This Major
https://whatcanidowiththismajor.com/info.html


— MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES CAREER CAREERwise WEBSITE – This is a broad career exploration, education planning and job exploration hub. It has various resources that you should explore. A couple unique features that we will mention are:

– https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/clusters.html
You can click on career areas and drill in for more information

– https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/dreamjobs.html This is a nice REALITY resource to help put dream jobs into perspective.


— SOUTH DAKOTA CAREER AND ED PLANNING SITE (SD Residents only):
– https://sdmylife.com/ – restricted access site explore careers and education within SD


— CAREER ONE STOP (FEDERAL GOVERNMENT)
– https://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/ – This is a deep dive, model-based analysis of various industries. It provides very in depth information about competency areas for specific industries. Competency areas include:

Personal effectiveness
Academic
Workplace
Industry-wide
Industry Sector
Management
Occupation specific

A graphic and a very detailed PDF are available for each model. This information can be a bit overwhelming, but it is there if you really want to dig in. If you do, be sure and compare it to other models.


— BE SURE AND EXPLORE CAREER RESOURCES PROVIDED BY YOUR STATE AS WELL!