Chapter 4

How to Find and Research Careers That are a Match for You

Copyright 2011. Raymond Gerson

Chapter Objectives

• Identify careers and career clusters that match you

• Determine your work purpose • Identify who you want to serve and the

influence you want to have• Learn how to research and explore careers of

interestNote: Many of the activities in this chapter will need to be done online

Introduction

• Find a purpose-driven career that inspires you• Find a need to fill that brings you joy• Explore several careers of interest and narrow

them down to the best matches• Look at this as a journey and adventure of

self-discovery• Your increasing awareness of yourself and

matching careers will increase the odds of your finding a career you love and do well

Career Clusters

• Career clusters contain occupations in the same field that require similar skills

• It is easier to begin by selecting a career cluster that is a match and then choose a career in that cluster

• Marketing, Sales and Service is an example of a career cluster.

• A few careers in this cluster are: Sales Manager, Market Research Analyst, Exhibit Designer and Marketing Manager.

Sixteen Career Clusters• O’Net Online provides a database

of hundreds of occupations you can explore. The following are career clusters identified by O’Net:

• Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

• Architecture and Construction

• Arts, A/V Technology and Communication

• Business, Management and Administration

Sixteen Career Clusters (Cont’d)

• Education and Training• Finance• Government and Public

Administration• Health service• Hospitality and Tourism• Human Services

Sixteen Career Clusters (Cont’d)

• Information Technology• Public Safety, Corrections

and Security• Manufacturing• Marketing, Sales and

Service• Science, Technology,

Engineering and Mathematics

• Transportation, Distribution and Logistics

Description of the Sixteen Career Clusters

• For a description of the 16 career clusters you can go to www.careerclusters.org

• This website also has a Knowledge and Skills chart. It shows you the skills and knowledge you will need to prepare for a career in any career cluster that interests you

• Please do Activity 4.1 to match your abilities, interests, values and goals with career clusters

• Please do Activity 4.2 to see the recommended plans of study for career clusters that interest you

OSCAR

• Oscar is an online software program that allows you to assess your interests and preferences and then to match them with occupations

• OSCAR allows you to match yourself to current careers by identifying your transferrable skills

• Activity 4.3 is an online exercise that will require you to go to www.ioscar.org

Work Purpose• Your work purpose is the

effect you want to have through your work

• It will give you motivation to fulfill your potential and to make a difference

• You might fulfill your work purpose in several different careers over your lifetime

• Example work purpose: “Provider of justice”- judge, lawyer, investigative reporter and activist.Activity 4.4 is an opportunity to brainstorm work purposes

Discovering Your Work Purpose

• Identifying problems you want to solve is one way to find your work purpose

• Also ask yourself which purpose would your talents, interests, values and goals best serve?

• Who do you want to serve? Elderly, students, business owners, etc?

• What setting do you prefer? Educational, government, scientific lab, business, etc?

• Please do Activities 4.5 and 4.6.

The Way You Want to Serve• Identify fields of work you want to contribute to as a way

of discovering your work purpose• Your work purpose should be your own and reflect what

you want to express and accomplish• If there are several fields of work that are appealing,

choose the one that you want to focus on for the next several years

• If you still have several left, you can rank them in order of priority

• Please do Activities 4.7- 4.11. Activity 4.12 must be done online

Labor Market Information

• You can find out which careers and jobs will be in demand, stay the same and shrink

• You can look at these projections nationally or locally

• Your state employment office is a good local source

• On a national level you can go to: www.bls.gov or www.online.onecenter.org

Informational Interviewing

• An information interview is you interviewing someone whose job you want to know more about

• This is a great way to follow-up your online and library research to get more information

Information Interviewing (Cont’d)

• It is best to talk with several people in the same career field that interests you

• You can search online and get an idea of questions to ask (also see sample questions in Chapter 4)

• You can find people to interview by asking people you know to refer you or by directly contacting the people you want to interview

• Please do Activity 4.13 which will prepare you to conduct informational interviews

Other Ways to Learn About Careers

• Job shadowing – You can follow someone at work to see and experience what they do

• Student organizations and clubs – For example: Working on the school paper can help you to learn about Journalism

• Course work –Take courses that you will need for a career and to learn about careers

• Internships, Volunteering and P.T. employment – These are excellent ways to get actual job experience

Tips on Choosing a College Major

• Identify careers that match you (which you have been doing)

• Talk with a counselor or advisor• Talk with professors who teach in

departments of interest• Talk with students in majors of interest• Consider degree requirements and decide if

you are willing to meet them

Summary of Main Points

• Find a need to fill that becomes a career you love and do well

• Career clusters contain occupations that require similar skills and are a good place to begin exploring careers of interest

• Your work purpose is revealed by determining the effect you want to have through your work

• Informational interviewing, internships, job shadowing, volunteering and part-time employment can be used as ways to learn more about careers that interest you and to gain experience