Because of conscious choices, or because of failure to undertake appropriate preparation during earlier years, certain occupations and careers are foregone, and others are attempted. Finally, Figure 1 shows a single occupational choice as continuing into adult life. While this happy state of affairs may be the case for a few individuals, many people may need to make several occupational changes during their lives. It may be best to view the last two rows of this figure as representing a cyclical process. Figure 2 expands on the notion of presenting vocational information in age-appropriate ways.
Schools have an increasing effect up through secondary school and then little after that.
Finally, society is seen as having a relatively constant effect across time. Vocational information can be presented in various ways and at various levels of specificity. These skill profiles can act to guide the kinds and levels of training and education, again, in age-appropriate fashion, that should be provided to individuals seeking opportunities in those career clusters. However, education and training can be presented in the context of a career or cluster of careers rather than in terms of discrete skills. Thus, a curriculum could be arranged around such career clusters as law enforcement, therapy and counseling, and trades, with context-rich courses and presentations, but with appropriate skill emphases and inclusion.