Career clusters and pathways
Career Clusters and Pathways: how to choose one
What is a career cluster? What is a career pathway or career field? How can I use them to guide my career decisions? We can help you answer those questions and make a good choice.
You should consider several things in making this big decision. One of the most important is “Which one matches my interests?” A good match affects,
The grades you get,
How much you enjoy school,
The college major or program of study you choose later on,
Whether you can find a job, and
How satisfied and successful you are in a career.
Common sense tells you this, and scientific studies demonstrate it.
Five Steps to a Good Career Clusters Match
Step 1. Understand “career clusters” and “career pathways”
Career Clusters are broad groups of occupations and industries.
“Health Sciences” is an example. The U.S. Department of Education created 16 of these Career Clusters. You want to ask yourself, “Which cluster includes the occupations that match my interests?”
Career clusters are subdivided into “career pathways”
For example, the Health Science Cluster includes five career pathways.
Career Pathways are a series of courses that prepare you for an occupational field.
For example, courses in the “Therapeutic Services” Pathway lead to jobs like radiologist, physician, or physical therapist.
Career clusters and pathways are NOT organized according to career interests
They are organized around broad industry or economic areas. This means some jobs are in more than one cluster! For example, the job “accountant” is found in two clusters: a) Business, Management and Administration and b) Government and Administration.
So for an individual making a career decision, it makes more sense to start with interests and matching careers first before choosing a cluster or pathway.
Step 2. Take a scientifically valid career interest inventory like Career Key Discovery.
Read our tips for choosing a high quality assessment you can rely on for decision making. With Career Key Discovery you measure your strength in six interest areas, called the Holland “personality types” or “Holland Codes”: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. You learn which ones are likely to be thriving, promising and challenging environments for you.
Unfortunately, you may get directed to an invalid, informal test like the Career Clusters Interest Survey. Widely used on government and school websites, it has major flaws, including its failure to measure interests in four of Holland’s six personality types.* These missing types are the ones most closely associated with STEM careers, some of the most promising in our knowledge economy.
* Primé, D. R., & Tracey, T. J. G. (2010). Psychometric Properties of the Career Clusters Interest Survey. Journal of Career Assessment, 18(2), 177–188. (PDF)
Step 3. Identify the Career Clusters and Pathways that match your strongest personality types
The Career Clusters map shown on the next page will help you identify the Career Clusters and occupations that match your interests. For a complete match to clusters and pathways, individuals can purchase our eBook, “Decide on the Right Cluster, Field or Pathway using Holland’s Theory” in the Shop.
Career Key Discovery customers in K-12, Colleges and Business can add on and customize regional clusters and pathways as an option to our online assessment.
Step 4. Learn about Career Clusters and Pathways available to you
Learn as much as you can about the clusters/pathways offered by your state, school or community college. Talk with advisors, students and teachers in those pathways.
What courses are part of the career pathway?
Which career pathways best prepare you for the occupations that match your interests?
Does a cluster or pathway limit your ability to get a bachelor’s degree later? To advance in your career? For example, not taking advanced math and science classes in one pathway may hold you back later if you decide to switch to another that requires them.
Step 5. Make a good decision
Follow our 4-step decision making process in the Forward section of Resources. It will ensure you don’t leave out valuable information for this important decision.
Final Tips
Don’t sell yourself short.
Self-confidence plays a big role in making a career choice, in succeeding in school and at work. You can do far more than you ever imagined. Career Key Founder Dr. Jones (Larry) who was the first in his family to go to college says,
“ I never dreamed that I had the ability to earn a doctorate degree, to do what I am doing. Fortunately, I met people who encouraged me; slowly I gained confidence . . . (see My Story).”
Maximize your future options by avoiding a narrow “track.”
Does a cluster or pathway limit your ability to go to college later? To advance in your career? For example, not taking advanced math and science classes in one pathway may hold you back later if you decide to switch to another that requires them.
Associate with positive people.
This means people who listen; who are practical, knowledgeable, and cheerful; who will encourage you, help you.
Be an active learner.
Grow as a person. Read. Learn from others. Travel. Meet people different from yourself. Do well in school.