Chapter 3Researching Careers

What You’ll Learn You will learn how to research careers. You will look at career clusters and

kinds of activities people do in many careers.

You will find out where to get information about careers that interest you.

Lesson 3.1Career Choices

Discover Which career

clusters, or groups of related careers, interest you.

Career interest areas, or kinds of activities, that can direct you toward specific careers.

Why it’s importantBy looking at career clusters and career activities, you’ll get an idea of the kinds of careers you might enjoy. Exploring all kinds of career possibilities now will help you make career choices later.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!!!

You have to make all kinds of decisions in life…

What flavor of ice cream?What do you want to do for a living?

How will you ever be

able to decide?

There are more than 28,800 different careers to choose from.

The U.S. Department of Education has organized careers into 16 career clusters.

Career Clusters Career clusters are groups of similar

occupations and industries. Career clusters will help you discover

your interests and decide where you want your future to take you.

U.S. Department of Education Career Clusters

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Architecture and Construction Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and

Communications Business, Management, and

Administration Education and Training Finance Government and Public

Administration Health Science

Hospitality and Tourism Human Services Information Technology Law, Public Safety, and

Security Manufacturing Marketing, Sales, and Service Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Mathematics

Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics

Clusters are organized by industry and occupation Industries, such as

finance and manufacturing, produce products or services.

An occupation, such as a teacher, requires workers to have specific job skills and knowledge.Many careers may fall into two different career clusters.

For example, Medical transcriptions are part of both the Business, Management, and Administration career cluster and the Health Science career cluster (workers in this career must use medical knowledge to provide transcription service).

Every Cluster is divided into career pathwaysA career pathway is an area of occupational interest within a career cluster.

Each career pathway contains a group of careers requiring similar academic and technical skills, as well as similar education, training, or certification. (In your Pathfinders, these are referred to a subgroups.)

Career Interest Areas

Career interest areas are general kinds of activities people do in many different careers.

The career interest areas are: Creator Investigator Organizer Influencer Doer Helper

Creator Likely to be a

creative thinker Often the

independent type May need to

express your ideas or feelings through some form of art

May like making things

Creators may be actors, journalists, photographers, songwriters, teachers, advertising executives, plastic surgeons, city planners, robotics engineers, Webmasters are just a few careers that you may find in this career interest area.

Investigator Probably a logical

thinker May like testing

theories and doing research

May be interested in discovering new ways of doing things

Interests may include science, math, or history

Investigators include physicians, repair technicians, librarians, lawyers, weather observers, and historians. They may also design solar energy systems, write computer programs, or conduct experiments in laboratories.

Organizer Probably love

working with information or numbers

May be neat and orderly

Find it easy to follow rules and directions

Thrive on routine Usually like

working as part of a team

Organizers may be proofreaders, office managers, reservation agents, magazine editors, laboratory technicians, food specialists, financial consultants, word-processing specialists, and printing equipment operators. They may also keep a company’s financial records or record research data.

Influencer Likely to be out in

front and leading others

Probably good at making a point

Usually have no problem persuading others to agree with you

May be somewhat competitive

Influencers include politicians, company presidents, marketing managers, salespeople, restaurant managers, TV announcers, small business owners, real estate agents, film producers, and building contractors.

Doer Always seem to

be busy Appear to have

endless energy May like working

with your hands Probably enjoy

using tools and machinery

May love the outdoors

Doers may be electricians, firefighters, farmers, dental hygienists, forestry workers, jewelers, automotive mechanics, hair stylists, and camera operators. Doers may spend their days outdoors repairing power lines and building roads and highways or they may work indoors operating special machinery to build airplanes or automobiles.

Helper Tend to think of others

before yourself Others may describe you

as friendly, fun, or patient

Always around to lend a hand

Probably work well in groups

Communicate well with others

Nurses, teachers, ministers, social workers, wedding coordinators, travel agents, environmental engineers, career counselors, psychiatrists, and child care workers.

What’s Your Match? You may actually have more than one interest

area that fits you. There’s a little bit of each type in all of us.

Focus on one or two areas that describe you best. These areas help pinpoint your strongest interests, values, skills, and aptitudes and will point you to careers you might like.

Once you have determined your career interest areas, review the job examples for the Career Clusters (listed in Figure 3.1 on page 44). What careers match the career interest areas that describe you? Do any of these careers appeal to you?

Lesson 3.2Career Research

Discover Key questions to

ask about careers that interest you

Where to get information about careers

Why it’s importantBy researching careers you’ll get to know as much as you can about careers that interest you. The information you gather will help you decide which careers are right for you.

Time for research…

Once you identify interesting careers, it is time for some research.

When you do research, you investigate a subject and gather information about it.

It helps to know what kind of information you’re looking for. (What do you want to know about the career?)

Be sure to keep your list of interests, values, skills, and aptitudes handy also.

What to ResearchThe following 10 questions will help you gather basic information about careers:

1. What skills and aptitudes should I have? 2. What education and training would I need? 3. What would my work environment, or surroundings, be like? 4. What hours would I spend on the job? 5. What kinds of work would I do? 6. What responsibilities would I have? 7. Would I be able to move ahead? 8. What will this career be like when I’m ready to work? 9. What does this career pay?10. What other rewards would this career provide?

Where Do You Find It?

You can gather career information in many places and in many ways:

1. School or public library Reference books Career Magazines Career Videos

2. Search the Internet

3. Talk to People

A librarian can help you locate career reference materials. The following publications are especially useful:

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) Guide for Occupational Exploration Occupational Outlook Quarterly Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature

Check Out the Library

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)

A collection of 20,000 detailed job profiles

O*NET, the online version, is a database of job profiles

Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) A general source of information about

hundreds of careers Explains what workers in each career do Tells the education and training needed

for each career Makes predictions about the future of

each career Is available in print and online

Guide for Occupational Exploration

A guide to exploring 12,000 careers grouped according to 12 major interest areas and subgroups within those areas

Cross-references jobs by interests, experience, skills, and training

Occupational Outlook Quarterly

Provides current information on trends and outlooks

This update to the OOH comes out four times a year

Available in print or online

Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature

Detailed Index of magazine articlesMagazines and journals are referred to as

periodicals. The definition of a periodical is any publication issued on a regular basis, for example, magazines, journals, and newspapers.

Every year, thousands of articles are published in periodicals in this country and abroad.

The World Wide Web offers a wide range of job recruitment and career research Web sites.

These Web sites are run by various organizations and businesses.

Many Web sites specialize in specific careers and industries.

You can use the Internet to find career opportunities and information on a specific company’s Web site.

Most large companies now list their job openings either on their own Web page or with an online job listing service.

Search the Internet

Know Your SourcesYou can’t always trust what you find on the Internet!

It’s important to check any information you gather. Before you accept or act on any information you find. Ask yourself these questions about the information you find:

Is it fact or one person’s opinion? Is it current or is out out-of-date? Is it the same as what I find in sources that I trust?

Is it Current and Correct?

Remember: If the information is not current and correct, it will not be useful information!

Make sure the information is something that has been posted recently. Something posted several years ago may not longer be accurate due to changes that take place in careers over the years.

One of the best ways to learn about a career is to get an insider’s view of a particular career by conducting an exploratory interview.

An exploratory interview is a short, informal talk with someone who works in a career that interests you. That could include family, friends, neighbors, teachers, etc.

An exploratory interview can give you insight into a career that you may not learn from a class or book about that career. It gives you “first hand” knowledge from a person that is doing the work.

Talk to People

Exploratory Interviews During an exploratory interview, ask questions

such as these:1. How did you start in your career?

2. What education and training did it require?

3. What do you like about your job?

4. What do you do on a typical day at your job?

Take detailed notes during your interview. Afterwards, write your reflections on each interview experience. Add this information to your Career Resource file.

Work! How can I learn about it right now?Obviously the best way to learn about a career from the inside is to work. But there are things you can do now to explore work in a particular career. For instance:

Job Shadowing Internship Volunteering Service Learning Cooperative

Program

Attend a Career Fair Read Books Watch Videos Search Internet Interview people

Job Shadowing

Involves following someone for a day on the job.

You learn about a particular career by watching and listening.

You can see what a typical day on the job is like in that career (what a person actually does on the job each day).

It can help you make an informed decision as to whether or not you think you would like doing the job every day.

Internship

A temporary paid or unpaid position that involves direct work experience in a career field.

The value of an internship is the experience and the contacts that you make.

Internships can sometimes lead to job offers.

Volunteering

Working without pay.

Volunteering is a great way to explore careers.

Senior citizen centers, hospitals, museums, and libraries are always looking for volunteers.

You’ll get valuable experience, whether you choose that career later or not.

Service LearningA learning method in which students learn and develop through thoughtfully organized service to the community.

Examples of service learning:

Picking up groceries for an elderly neighbor Helping out at a local community recycling center Reading to young children at the public library Helping paint houses with a Habitat for Humanity

group Taking part in events such as walk-a-thons to raise

money for different causes

Cooperative Program

Combines school studies with paid work experience.

Allows you to gain first-hand experience on a job

Students use the skills they are learning in class in a job related to their career interests

Students receive school credit and pay Students gain great insight into a

possible future career

Career Critiques

Collect as much information as you can about careers you of interested in pursuing. Then write a critique of each career.

A career critique is when you write what you like and dislike about a career, and includes information on the career outlook.

Career critiques can help you make informed decisions as you select your career path.