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Tuesday, October 9, 2018

CashCrunch Careers {A Review}

When I was offered a chance to review CashCrunch Careers by
CashCrunch Games, I didn't hesitate for a second before voicing my family's interest.



Why We Chose to Explore Career Pathways with CashCrunch Careers 

Since we first began homeschooling, my husband and I have made an effort to note our children's growing skills and apparent interests and also to track their passions and possible career aspirations, so that one day, we might help them discern their callings and how paid work might fit into the overall balance of their lives. 

Further, my husband recently went through a job loss, and, with it, our 12, 11, and 8 year olds became even more interested in finding ways they might earn money at their young ages while also thinking ahead to possibilities for future employment or entrepreneurship.  


Likewise, my husband, though once again employed, still thinks about future career directions, and, I am always curious about career and personality quizzes myself.  So, trying out CashCrunch Careers seemed a well-timed thing to do.

Our Experience
 


For our review, we opted to use CashCrunch Careers with four of us - my husband, my oldest son, my daughter, and myself.  

Doing so required using four separate email accounts - which was a bit of a nuisance for our family since not all of our children have their own email accounts and I often prefer to keep multiple accounts with one vendor under a single login address.  However, it was not too difficult to set up email accounts in order to get everyone up and running and, once we had separate emails, sign up/login were easy enough.

Once each person logged in, a survey was available.  This survey consisted of 75 pairs of descriptors where you could choose one or the other.  


Since once of my children is dyslexic and both of the children I had take the survey sometimes get confused by new (to them) vocabulary, I opted to sit with them as they took their quizzes, helping them to read and/or understand words in the descriptors as needed.

It was a good thing I did this, because there were a few descriptors they simply did not understand as well as others that they failed to note the nuances of.  (My children were a bit young for this product, but we wanted to try it with them anyway due to their recent increased interest in the working world.)

Another (unexpected!) reason it was good that we sat together to take the surveys was for the sheer laughs.  In our family, we know each other well, and can laugh both at ourselves and with each other. 

Words like "cooperative"
brought eruptions of laughter as we'd had some issues earlier in the day when taking the quiz.  Words like "punctual" and "prompt" also brought giggles, because some of us are not well known for such attributes these days. 

Likewise, words like "creative", "truthful", and "independent" brought smiles of positive recognition. So, each 10-15 minute survey, then, became a fun group experience for us.

Then, reading our reports became even more fun. 

In some of our cases, the reports "nailed it"...





In others, they made us say, "hmmm..."



However, all proved illuminating and fun to read.




Plenty of Resources to Explore Skills, Jobs, College, and Career

Each of our our individualized reports offered career categories that, oddly, appeared almost identical - but, in reality, were an invitation to dig deeper.



Indeed, as we reviewed our individual results, my children found it a bit bizarre that the listed career categories were so similar for all of us even though our personalities and interests - and, therefore,  resulting narrative reports -  differed.  


However, once we realized that the career categories were just that - categories - and that jobs within each category can vary considerably,  we "got" how that portion of CashCrunch Careers works.

Your individualized survey results in a report which gives you insight into yourself, including your strengths, motivators, demotivators, etc. 

As a part of that report you get a list of general career categories. 

This list, in turn, offers you areas to explore further, using the linked database, where you can find details about different jobs within specific career categories.  These can match up with the insights gleaned in your personalized report.  And, they can also lead you to checking out linked information about colleges, career videos, etc.  


So, while on the surface, CashCrunch Careers seems like it is just a quick quiz, with clear (and, at times, humorous!) personalized results about your strengths, etc, alongside some generic career categories, as you dive deeper into it and use the database, you realize CashCrunch Careers is a well-fleshed out resource for exploring future career paths.



Learn More

You
can watch this quick overview to get an idea of  how all the features of
CashCrunch Careers come together:


You can also take our word for it that taking the survey results in interesting personalized reports and a database which can provide helpful information for a man seeking career changes, a mom curious about where she might direct future work energy, one child discerning how best to follow personal passions, and another child who is learning that focusing on strengths - not just the challenges of dyslexia - is vital.


You can also check out what all seventy Homeschool Crew Review families who tried our
CashCrunch Careers have to say about it.

Read the reviews!

We would recommend CashCrunch Careers to people looking for a tool for exploration and would also like if  CashCrunch Careers added a bit more direct specificity to the job list you get.  For, while there is plenty to dig deep and discern with within the reports and databases, sometimes, having a clearer, more specific idea of actual job titles (as opposed to career categories) up front is  helpful for certain personalities.

CashCrunch Games can be found on social media at:
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