Career Exploration Project | Career Research Worksheets, Grades 8-12
Career Exploration Project 5-day unit cover
5-DAY PROJECTCAREER READINESS

Career Readiness: Career Exploration Project

A career research project students cannot fake

Most career projects come back as a stack of pages that all say the same thing, because students found one website and paraphrased it. This one requires three citable sources, a source log you can actually check, and a salary reality check that tests the number that got them interested in the first place. Five days, or stretch it to two weeks — both pacing maps are in the download.

✓ 5 days, or 2 weeks✓ 26 deliverables✓ Three required citable sources✓ Self-grading Google Forms™
$15

● Instant download · Lifetime access · Editable & print-ready

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See inside the curriculum

What's in Every Lesson

Everything in the Career Exploration Project, in one folder.

Editable Slides
A 13-slide deck to launch and run the project.
Career Profile
Ten research prompts, including an ordinary workday and an honest drawback: the two that are hardest to fake.
Source Log
Three required sources, each logged with publisher, link, date and the fact it supports.
Choice Board
Slide deck, one-page brief, 60-second pitch video or informational interview write-up. All four graded on one rubric.
Assessment
An 8-question Research Skills Check, a performance task, and a five-criterion, four-level rubric with a score sheet.
Self-grading Google Forms™
Three forms: the quiz, the performance task and the source log.

See the Actual Pages

How the week runs.

The profile

Ten prompts, two of them unfakeable

The Career Profile asks for the things a promotional video never covers: what an ordinary workday actually looks like, and one honest drawback. Students who skimmed one website cannot answer either.

  • ✓ Ten research prompts
  • ✓ Editable Word and print-ready PDF
  • ✓ Works with or without an interest survey
The Career Profile research page
The source log

Grade the honesty in thirty seconds

Three required sources — the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, a real current job posting, and a real program of study — each logged with publisher, link, date and the fact it supports. Read the log first and you know what you are holding.

  • ✓ Three required, citable source types
  • ✓ Publisher, link, date and the claim it backs
  • ✓ Source credibility guide: five questions, six red flags
The Source Log page with its three required source rows
Salary reality check

The number they assumed, against the number that is real

Students write down the figure they had in their head, find the median, find the entry-level figure, estimate take-home pay, then subtract one real local cost. Career videos almost never mention entry-level pay, and that is usually where the surprise lands.

  • ✓ Assumed vs median vs entry level
  • ✓ Take-home minus one real local cost
  • ✓ Bridges straight into a personal finance unit
The Salary Reality Check worksheet page
Assessment

Graded without you writing it

An 8-question Research Skills Check with a written rationale for every answer, a performance task, and a five-criterion, four-level project rubric with a score sheet, plus self-grading Google Forms™ versions.

  • ✓ 8-question quiz with a keyed rationale
  • ✓ Five-criterion, four-level rubric and score sheet
  • ✓ Self-grading Google Forms™
The Research Skills Check and the project rubric

The 5-day plan

Day 1
Launch and choose
Project overview read, a shortlist of three careers narrowed to one choice.
Day 2
Research the occupation
Career profile started and source 1, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, logged.
Day 3
Research the real world
Sources 2 and 3 logged from a real job posting and a real program of study; the profile is finished.
Day 4
Verify
Credibility check done and the Salary Reality Check complete.
Day 5
Build and present
The chosen product from the choice board is finished and peer feedback is given.
In this unit
Read-First teacher guide
5-day and 2-week pacing maps
Standards & Skills Map
Source credibility guide
Editable Word and print-ready PDF
Answer keys & rubrics

Plus a teacher checkpoint tracker, so a stalled project shows up on day 3 rather than on submission day.

Why Teachers Choose It

Three required sources

The Occupational Outlook Handbook, a real current job posting and a real program of study. That is the difference between a research project and a paraphrasing exercise.

A log a rubric can check

Publisher, link, date and the fact each source supports, so you can grade the honesty of a project in thirty seconds by reading the log first.

The Salary Reality Check

Median against entry level, take-home against one real local cost. It is the moment the project stops being a worksheet.

Honest about AI

The credibility guide gives students a straight answer: a fine place to start a question, a bad place to end one, and never a source for a number you cannot trace.

Four ways to present

A choice board of slide deck, one-page brief, 60-second pitch video or interview write-up, all on one rubric, so it fits any classroom.

Open and teach

A Read-First guide plus both a 5-day and a 2-week pacing map, day by day, with differentiation notes.

What Teachers Say

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FAQ

What exactly is in the Career Exploration Project?
26 deliverables: a Read-First teacher guide, a project plan with both 5-day and 2-week pacing, a Standards & Skills Map, a 13-slide editable deck, a project overview, a Cluster Starter, a shortlist worksheet, the Career Profile, the Source Log, the Salary Reality Check, a source credibility guide, a rushed-vs-researched worked example, an informational interview option, a four-option choice board, a presentation planner, a peer feedback page, an 8-question Research Skills Check, a performance task, a checkpoint tracker, self-grading Google Forms™, and the answer key and four-level rubric. Editable .docx and .pptx plus print-ready .pdf throughout.
Is it five days or two weeks?
Either. Both pacing maps are in the teacher plan, day by day. The two-week version adds a full day for the informational interview, a work day for the final product, and a presentation day, which is the shape to use if this is a summative project rather than a unit closer.
Do students need to take the Career Interest Survey first?
No. Students who have interest results shortlist inside their matched clusters; everyone else starts with the Cluster Starter, a ten-minute sorter included in this download, so a class with no survey can still begin on day one.
Are there salary figures printed in it?
No, on purpose. Pay data goes stale, and a student copying a number out of a packet has learned the opposite of the lesson. Every figure is one they look up and date themselves.
What grades is it for?
Grades 8 to 12. It fits CTE, career readiness, advisory and college and career readiness programs, and it runs well in middle school career exploration.

Run the career research project next week.

One download, five days planned, every key and rubric included.

See the full Career Exploration bundle