My Strategic Compass – Budget Your Life
The Purpose
Forming a budget is one of the most important parts of financial success. As you first enter the
workforce, or even if you switch jobs, knowing how much money you will have available to
spend on different aspects of your life will help you avoid debt and possibly even save some
money for a rainy day.
The Components
My Strategic Compass – a career exploration system that
helps you explore everything from the average wages and
job openings for an occupation to the education and
training programs that get you prepared.
The Steps
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Budget Your Life
Go to http://westvirginia.strategiccompass.com
Log in with your username and password
Click on the Budget Your Life icon
Click Begin
You have two options. Select Work Forward to find
how much you’ll need each month.
Select your West Virginia county to identify cost of
living estimates specific to this county.
Enter your preferences for the lifestyle you
anticipate for yourself. The system will input cost
estimates for each of these entries and finally give
you a summary of the amount of money you’ll need
to earn to support the lifestyle you’ve identified.
Click View Occupations. You will see a table of
occupations that pay average wages that support
your chosen lifestyle.
You can limit the table to a certain job family cluster
or job zone or salary range based on your
1
Dr. Kathy D’Antoni – Assistant State Superintendent of Schools, Division of Technical & Adult Education - kdantoni@access.k12.wv.us
Dr. Sherri Nash – CTE Coordinator - sherri.nash@access.k12.wv.us
West Virginia Department of Education
preferences and future plans. (See Explanations below for Job Family Career Clusters and Job
Zones)
10. Click on any of the occupations in the table to see a detailed profile, including the education and
core employability skills associated with that career.
JOB FAMILY CAREER CLUSTERS
Each Career Cluster represents a distinct grouping of occupations and industries based on the
knowledge and skills they require. Job Families are groups of occupations based upon work
performed, skills, education, training, and credentials. My Strategic Compass identifies the Job
Family for each occupation:
2
Dr. Kathy D’Antoni – Assistant State Superintendent of Schools, Division of Technical & Adult Education - kdantoni@access.k12.wv.us
Dr. Sherri Nash – CTE Coordinator - sherri.nash@access.k12.wv.us
West Virginia Department of Education
JOB ZONES
A Job Zone is a group of occupations that are similar in how much education, related experience,
and/or on-the job training is needed to do the work.
The five Job Zones identify type of education and training preparation needed for the occupations:
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Job Zone 1 occupations that require little preparation, including:
o A high school diploma or GED certificate.
o Little or no previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed.
o Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few days to a few months of
training. Usually, an experienced worker could show you how to do the job.
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Job Zone 2 occupations that need some preparation, including:
o A high school diploma or GED certificate.
o Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed.
o Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of
working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be
associated with these occupations.
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Job Zone 3- occupations that need medium preparation, including:
o Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational (career and technical)
schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
o Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these
occupations.
o Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving
both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A
recognized apprenticeship program or attainment of industry credentials may be
associated with these occupations.
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Job Zone 4- occupations that need considerable preparation
o Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
o A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for
these occupations.
o Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related
experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational (career technical) training.
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Job Zone 5- occupations that need extensive preparation
3
Dr. Kathy D’Antoni – Assistant State Superintendent of Schools, Division of Technical & Adult Education - kdantoni@access.k12.wv.us
Dr. Sherri Nash – CTE Coordinator - sherri.nash@access.k12.wv.us
West Virginia Department of Education
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Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a
master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many
require more than five years of experience.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations
assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, workrelated experience, and/or training.
NEXT STEPS
1. Return to My Strategic Compass. Click on the “Grow” menu and “Journal.” You can create a
journal entry and briefly describe what you learned from this Budget Your Life Activity. You
can create as many journals as you want, so that you can keep tasks separate and easy to
find. To create a journal, just give it a title in the box, click the “Create Journal button”,
select today’s date, and write a brief narrative.
2. Take the My Strategic Compass Assessments
to discover your interests, skills, and work
preferences and how your preferences relate
to the world of work.
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Dr. Kathy D’Antoni – Assistant State Superintendent of Schools, Division of Technical & Adult Education - kdantoni@access.k12.wv.us
Dr. Sherri Nash – CTE Coordinator - sherri.nash@access.k12.wv.us
West Virginia Department of Education