Learn about career options

Learn More about Career Options
that Interest Me

After taking assessments and learning more about yourself, you likely identified a few career options that interest you the most. Consider that list as a first draft - one that changes over time as you gather new information. You may even have to scrap your first draft and start over! Take comfort knowing that it’s better to shift direction earlier, before you’ve made a final decision and financial commitment to training.

The more time you spend now on narrowing and adjusting your focus, the clearer your choice will be. To make a more informed decision, you want answers to questions like these:

  • What is this job like?

  • What will my co-workers be like?

  • What will the job demand of me?

  • How much will it pay?

  • What kind of education and training is needed?

To do that, dive deeply into online resources but also arrange experiences for yourself to test out some of your assumptions. Just like “armchair traveling,” where you read about a place is not the same as being there, you want to understand and experience as much as possible what a career is really like before making a decision. Here are the best ways to do that:

Dive deeply into online research

  • Look closely at online assessment results you have taken. For example, all the jobs you identify when taking Career Key Discovery have a great deal of information. We also link each one to the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), which has even more details. On each occupation's page, make sure to click on the "How to become one" tab to get education and training information.

  • The Occupational Outlook Handbook gives accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive information on occupations. It describes approximately 250 jobs, covering 90% of all workers earnings, training and education needed, working conditions, skills required, advancement opportunities, projected growth, related jobs, and sources of additional information.

  • America's Career InfoNet provides extensive information for the nation and specific states.  For example you can learn about wages, job market trends, and the skills needed for specific occupations. Salary Finder will help you find local salary information. If you are interested in moving to a different state, the same section has more information about cost of living and things to consider before moving.

  • Your state unemployment agency website (sometimes called employment security) is a good source for more local information. To find the one nearest you, use the “Find a One-Stop Career Center” search box at the national CareerOneStop website.

As outstanding as these websites are, do not rely solely on them for information. Government data is relatively slow to update and of course, cannot anticipate current events. For example, they did not forecast the 2008 Great Recession, COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 Recession.

Communicate one-on-one with people

  • Interview people in the work you are considering. Most people are happy to talk about their work. This is called Information Interviewing, and you want to learn how to do it.

  • Go to the public library and ask the librarian for help. It has excellent online and offline resources.

Participate in experiences (experiential learning)

  • Volunteer to do work in your area of interest. Most communities have volunteer action centers that will help you.

  • "Job Shadow." Follow and observe a person as he or she works. This a valuable way to learn about an occupation. People you meet for informational interviews might be open to hosting you. There are some non-profit organizations and schools that organize job shadows.

  • Participate in internship or cooperative education programs through your school or college.

  • Take on a part-time or temporary job in your area of interest.