work habits, attitudes, and maintaining physical
and mental health. They also include learning
how to balance multiple roles. High school is a
good place to develop many of these skills.
Career Choices
Deciding what career you will pursue is
probably one of the biggest decisions you will
ever make. Most people spend a large portion of
their adult life working. The average person will
not stay at the same job for his or her entire
work career. Knowing your strengths and inter-
ests can help you plan your future. Before you
are ready to make a career decision, however,
you need to learn more about different types of
jobs that can be found in the work world.
The Career Clusters
Studying the career clusters is one of the best
ways to learn about a variety of career options.
The career clusters are 16 groups of occupa-
tional and career specialties. Reviewing the
career cluster titles is the easiest way to
begin learning about each of the 16 career
areas, 23-2.
Each career cluster or group includes differ-
ent career pathways, or career directions. For
example, the hospitality and tourism career clus-
ter includes four different career pathways:
restaurants and food and beverage services
lodging
travel and tourism
recreation, amusements, and attractions
524
Part 5 Careers
23-2 These 16 career clusters can help you identify all occupations in the U.S. workforce.
Sixteen Career Clusters
The Career Clusters icons are being used with
permission of the States’ Career Clusters Initiative
www.careerclusters.org