Guides & Articles
Practical guidance you can act on
These are written to answer a specific question properly rather than to cover a topic broadly. They are built for Minnesota students and families, which means state-specific programs and processes appear where they genuinely matter.
Nothing here is locked behind a form. If a guide answers your question, that is a good outcome.
Start here
The most useful guide to read first
If you are at the beginning of the process, this is the one that answers the most questions at once.
College Readiness Checklist for Minnesota High School Students
A year-by-year breakdown of what actually needs to happen between ninth grade and a submitted application, including the parts families usually discover too late.
The library
Four more guides
Each covers a different point in the journey, from writing a first resume to understanding how Minnesota systems fit together.
How Minnesota College Students Can Prepare for Their First Professional Job
The transition from education to a first role starts earlier than most students expect, and the work is different from coursework in specific ways.
How to Build a Strong Resume When You Have Limited Work Experience
If you have not held many formal jobs, the material is still there. This covers how to find it and how to describe it in terms an employer recognises.
How to Prepare for a Job Interview: A Practical Guide for Students and Recent Graduates
Research, practice, the questions you will actually be asked and the ones you should be asking. Built around what preparation looks like in practice.
A Guide to Education and Career Resources for Immigrant and New American Families in Minnesota
How Minnesota's education and workforce systems fit together, and where families new to them can find authoritative information rather than secondhand advice.
Getting more from these
Reading is a starting point, not the finish
A guide can explain how resumes work in general. It cannot tell you whether the way you have described your summer job is landing the way you mean it to.
Most people who use these articles well read one, try the thing it describes, and then want a second opinion on what they produced. That second opinion is the part we can actually help with, and it is the reason the guides are written to be acted on rather than just read.