{"id":1749,"date":"2020-04-27T13:17:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T17:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/career-services\/?page_id=1749"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:26:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T17:26:29","slug":"reality-checking","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/career-services\/exploration\/reality-checking\/","title":{"rendered":"Reality Checking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><div class=\"lead\">It pays to give yourself a reality check.<\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Make choices that are rooted in reality to achieve your goals more fully and efficiently.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Align your financial and lifestyle goals with your career goals.<\/li>\n<li>Make more strategic education and career decisions.<\/li>\n<li>Discover more viable career paths.<\/li>\n<li>Experience fewer employment gaps; increase how consistently you are employed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"su-accordion su-u-trim gcc\">\n<div class=\"su-spoiler su-spoiler-style-default su-spoiler-icon-plus su-spoiler-closed\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\" data-anchor-in-url=\"no\"><div class=\"su-spoiler-title\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><span class=\"su-spoiler-icon\"><\/span>Tools to Align Career, Financial, and Lifestyle Goals<\/div><div class=\"su-spoiler-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/\">MIT Living Wage (Calculator)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jumpstart.org\/what-we-do\/support-financial-education\/reality-check\/\">JumpStart Reality Check (Assessment)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/masscis.intocareers.org\/\">MassCIS360 Reality Check (Assessment)<\/a><em> Refer to\u00a0 instructions below<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"content_block\" id=\"custom_post_widget-1325\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/portal.masscis.intocareers.org\/\"><strong>MassHire360<\/strong><\/a> (previously MassCIS) is free for all Massachusetts residents and highly recommended for: career assessments, occupation research, and education research.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>If you are <em>not<\/em> a GCC student<\/strong>, use the \"Massachusetts Resident\" tab to login.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>If you are a GCC student<\/strong>, use the following credentials the first time you log into the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/portal.masscis.intocareers.org\/\">MassHire360 site<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;padding-left: 70px\">Username: <strong>greenfieldcommc<\/strong><br \/>\nPassword:\u00a0<strong>MassHire2025<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Then fill in the short form to create your own <a href=\"https:\/\/portal.masscis.intocareers.org\/\">MassHire360<\/a> account. This will make it possible for you to save and refer to useful information within the MassCIS360 dashboard. Click 'Yes, it is ok for the school counselor to view my comments.' so GCC Career Readiness Services can do more to assist you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"su-spoiler su-spoiler-style-default su-spoiler-icon-plus su-spoiler-closed\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\" data-anchor-in-url=\"no\"><div class=\"su-spoiler-title\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><span class=\"su-spoiler-icon\"><\/span>Salary Research<\/div><div class=\"su-spoiler-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\">\n<p>When using wage\/salary research tools, please keep in mind that salaries can vary considerably from state to state, as well as region to region. For example, people in Western MA make, on average, 65 cents to every dollar made in Eastern MA.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.careeronestop.org\/Toolkit\/Wages\/highest-paying-careers.aspx?persist=true&amp;location=MA\">Highest Paying Jobs in MA<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.careeronestop.org\/Toolkit\/Careers\/fastest-growing-careers.aspx?persist=true&amp;location=MA\">Fastest Growing Careers in MA<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.careeronestop.org\/Toolkit\/Careers\/careers-most-openings.aspx?persist=true&amp;location=MA\">Careers with the Most Openings in MA<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Take an inventory of what skills and knowledge you have now. Then compare your qualification with standard qualifications for jobs you are interested in. Then write down what you still need to learn as goals and action steps in a list format as well as in your calendar.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"su-spoiler su-spoiler-style-default su-spoiler-icon-plus su-spoiler-closed\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\" data-anchor-in-url=\"no\"><div class=\"su-spoiler-title\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><span class=\"su-spoiler-icon\"><\/span>Financial Literacy Resources<\/div><div class=\"su-spoiler-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerfinance.gov\/practitioner-resources\/your-money-your-goals\/toolkit\/\">Your Money, Your Goals \u2013 A Financial Literacy Toolkit by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerfinance.gov\/documents\/5306\/cfpb_ymyg_focus-on-people-with-disabilities.pdf\">Your Money, Your Goals \u2013 A Financial Literacy Companion Guide for People with Disabilities by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/files.consumerfinance.gov\/f\/documents\/201612_cfpb_YMYG-Toolkit.pdf\">Behind on Bills \u2013 A Guide by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/s19499.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/reality-check.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow diamond sign with reality check ahead written on it | Montgomery Community Media\" width=\"1698\" height=\"1131\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Make choices that are rooted in reality to achieve your goals more fully and efficiently. Align your financial and lifestyle goals with your career goals. Make more strategic education and career decisions. Discover more viable career paths. Experience fewer employment gaps; increase how consistently you are employed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3709,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mc_calendar":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1749","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reality Checking - Career Readiness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/career-services\/exploration\/reality-checking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reality Checking - Career Readiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Make choices that are rooted in reality to achieve your goals more fully and efficiently. 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