For professionals, this is a moment to reflect on training and advancement within their careers, but for students, this is a critical time for them to start mapping their future based on the real world and the current labor market.
This year, to celebrate National Career Development Month, we’re spotlighting an innovative initiative from the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL). They are successfully tackling a long-standing challenge in workforce development, which is making complex Labor Market Information (LMI) engaging and accessible for young individuals.
National Career Development Month is all about taking proactive steps toward your goals. This involves self-reflection, research, and setting up a clear action plan. The T.O.T.O platform is designed to facilitate all three, transforming raw Labor Market Information (LMI) data into what KDOL calls "career intelligence" for learners of all ages. Labor Market Information includes data on wages, job demand, and required education. Understanding LMI data is the foundation of making smart career decisions.
However, as KDOL’s Deputy Director for LMI, Laura Crosswhite, noted during our recent Pathways to Employment webinar, “This data is often not presented in a way that resonates with its most crucial audience, which is students. Middle school kids and high school kids may not be able to utilize a lot of Excel spreadsheets or things like that to really make smart decisions about their future."
Kansas’s solution was a dedicated, creative platform called T.O.T.O., which stands for “Today’s Occupations and Tomorrow’s Opportunities.” The goal of T.O.T.O. was to create a Kansas-themed platform that makes career exploration interactive, creative, and accessible, transforming LMI data into career intelligence for learners of all ages, built on Geographic Solutions’ Virtual Career Center Portal.
From Spark to System: The TOTO Story
The idea for a site called Todays Occupation and Tomorrows Opportunities (T.O.T.O.) with a Wizard of Oz theme was initially intended for Kansas’s Labor Market Information Platform. The LMI platform was called KLIC, or “click” instead. The team still wanted to use the name T.O.T.O. and decided to use it for a single page on the LMI site, which contained career exploration and planning materials. But it truly took off after Laura and the KDOL LMI team saw a similar system in New Mexico and realized the potential for a dedicated Virtual Career Center.
For the Kansas LMI team, the platform’s creation was a proud, in-house effort. According to Laura, her team, including Gideon Hockenberger, Data Analyst, and Rosy Marquez, LMI Publications and Outreach Specialist, who joined Laura on the Pathways to Employment webinar was key in the creation and made the build of the system almost effortless, She described the alignment of skills as being "so cliche, it was just kind of magical, and everything just kind of fell into place." This internal capacity meant, as Gideon Hockenbarger put it, "The Kansas LMI shop finally had the resources available to actually do a project that they've been wanting to do for a long time."
Putting Data to Work: TOTO’s Key Features
The TOTO platform integrates all essential career resources and LMI data in a meaningful, simplified way, directly supporting the key aspects of Career Development Month.
1. Fostering Self-Awareness and Exploration
A core activity during Career Development Month is helping individuals, especially students, understand where their talents and interests align within the workforce.
TOTO’s built-in assessments turn this step into an efficient process.
Assessment Linkage: T.O.T.O. offers interests and values assessments, which Laura called one of her favorite features, detailing "How it links all that information together for kids after they take those assessments, and it links them up with the careers that really match their interests". This powerful linkage is key to "simplifying that process of career exploration and cutting out some of that extra work."
Path Planning: The system integrates directly with state educational goals, supporting the requirement that “Every student in Kansas has to have what they call an individual plan of study before they can graduate, and that’s something that T.O.T.O. can help with," according to Laura. 
2. Realistic Financial Literacy: The Wizard of Jobs
Career planning requires an understanding of the financial realities of various professions. Rosie emphasized the tool's value, saying, “LMI data tells you what occupations pay, and that's important to know, so that way you can live the life that you want.”
The TOTO platform’s Wizard of Jobs application is a powerful lifestyle budgeting tool that makes these realities tangible. Recounting the proud experience of testing with students, Laura explained the tool's impact.
“The Wizard of Jobs tool has been a fun one to test with kids. It tells them how much you need to earn to afford the lifestyle that you've chosen. We ask them, ‘What do you think about that? Do you think it's high or low?’”
The tool prompts a necessary conversation about wages, cost of living, and expectations, a critical component of career development.
3. Addressing Skill Gaps and Future Outlook
National Career Development Month is also about setting actionable goals for education and training. T.O.T.O. uses LMI data to give users the facts about their job's outlook. Laura detailed how the system makes the links for users.
Projections: Users can find out the “employment projections data, so they can understand whether their occupation might be growing or declining." This helps determine if they will "be able to get a job in this career field when I graduate from school."
Training and Education: Once a career is chosen, the platform shows them "Where in Kansas, specifically, they can get that education or training that they need."
Non-Traditional Paths: KDOL creates guides on the T.O.T.O. site, including one on “high demand, high wage jobs that require less than a bachelor’s degree” to help students who may not see a four-year degree as the right path. They also support students who are interested in hands-on learning, for example, the site can help by "linking up students with the Kansas registered apprenticeship program", supporting all forms of professional development and growth.
Success Through User Feedback
The ultimate measure of a Career Development resource is its adoption by the end-user. The T.O.T.O. team recognized that a digital tool must be continually shaped by its users.
The team conducted extensive end-user testing with schools and students. As Rosie noted, this included visiting schools and observing reactions in real-time, because "it's interesting to see what kids pick up on and what they don't pick up on."
They worked hard to walk the line between being engaging and being "too kiddy". Gideon explained that they couldn't use "overly cartoon graphics" or “overly simplified language” to ensure they were not treating teenagers like children.
The ultimate reward was positive feedback from the end-users. Laura recalled her "proud mom moments" when kids told them, "Oh, this is way better than Zella or way better than Naviance.” She summarized this celebration by saying, "I feel like I did it. I won"
Take Charge of Your Future This November
National Career Development Month is a great time to launch or refine your own career plan. Whether you’re a parent, educator, job seeker, or professional, explore the resources available to you.
This November, use TOTO’s example as inspiration. The Kansas T.O.T.O. platform is an excellent example of what happens when state agencies and technology align to deliver career development resources, helping every student find their “Pathways to Employment.”