RVCC Career Services

What Can DISCOVER Do for You?

Don't have a clue what you want to "be" when you grow up?

Are you in the workforce and now looking for a different career?

Have you decided to go to college or go back to finish your degree?

Do you need help selecting a major or program of study?

Do you need technical training to get one of those fast-growing "techie" jobs?

So many kinds of schools…. college, community college, career/technical, distance learning. which one is best for you?

What are your educational opportunities in military service?

Want HELP??

You've come to the right place! DISCOVER can help with all these situations and more.

The concept is simple. DISCOVER offers guidance and information to help you make these important career and educational decisions.

Take the career inventories (there are no right or wrong answers). Explore the career areas that DISCOVER will then suggest for you. Link up with the training required. Find out where it's available. Start narrowing your decision.

Just remember that it's a process. Don't expect to finish it in one day or maybe even one week. Take time to think and to talk with a counselor and family member if you can.

Today's world of work is changing very rapidly. Maybe you've already been through this process once and are returning to DISCOVER to choose a different direction because your job has changed or is no longer needed. Whether you're planning your first career or your fourth, remember that we all need to be ready to look for new career directions throughout our working life.

Want a suggestion? If you haven't done this already, use the Plan My Steps section of DISCOVER. Go to the Home tab and select it from the menu. It will suggest the sections of DISCOVER that can be the most helpful for your particular situation. Want to decide on your own? Click on the DISCOVER Tour button and look at what's available.

Good luck in planning your career journey!

How do DISCOVER's inventories help me?

Your ideas about who you are and what you want to become influence your career plans and decisions. The role of the inventories in DISCOVER is to collect information about you and organize it in a way to assist your career exploration and planning.

The results of the interest, abilities, and values inventories are presented in an integrated way that makes it easy to understand the results as a whole by relating them to the world of work. DISCOVER's World-of-Work Map lets you see how interests, abilities, and work values relate to each other.

How can I be sure the inventories are accurate?

Members of ACT's research department conduct studies so that you can be confident that:

the inventories measure what they are supposed to measure (are valid)
the results will be stable over time (are reliable)
and an inventory is easy to take and that the results are understandable (are usable)

For example, the inventory content and scoring are periodically reviewed and, if needed, research is done to support revisions that improve how well the inventories function. A summary of these research for parents and counselors can be found at: http://www.act.org/discover/pdf/research.pdf. Note that this summary requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Disclaimer: The inventories in DISCOVER are intended for career exploration and planning. They are not intended for hiring or promotion purposes.

Who should take the inventories?

The inventories in this version of DISCOVER have been developed specifically for high school and college students and adults in the workplace. If you are in the 6th through 8th grade, use DISCOVER for Middle Schools.

Need someone to talk to about your results?

If you are a student, contact your guidance or career counselor.

If you are in the military, contact your Family Service Center.

If you do not have access to a counselor, one in/near your community can be found by contacting the National Board of Certified Career Counselors here. http://www.nbcc.org

Are DISCOVER inventories accessible for persons with disabilities?

Those with sight-impairment may use screen-reading software with DISCOVER.