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Finding Career Information
Step 1: Look for a book that covers many careers. Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
This yearly U.S. government publication offers 2-4 pages of information each on many careers, covering careers requiring no specific
training all the way up to those requiring doctoral degrees. These points are covered for each career: nature of the work; working
conditions; employment; training, other qualifications, and advancement; job outlook; earnings; related occupations; and sources of
additional information.
Reference Collection: Ref. HF 5381 U62 date
General Collection: HF 5381 U62 date
Web URL: http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm
To supplement the Occupational Outlook Handbook, you may want to try its companion magazine, the Occupational Outlook Quarterly.
Like the handbook, this quarterly magazine covers many different careers.
Magazine Collection: filed in the O's
Research Databases: Ask a reference librarian how to find it.
Web URL: http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/ooqhome.htm
Step 2: Look for books that cover one career per book.
- Starting with the library catalog's first page, look for the phrase Power Search; it is in blue letters under the
white box. Click on Power Search.
- When the next screen comes up, click on Browse; it is in blue letters in the short list of Catalog Searches on the
right side of the screen.
- Now you are on a screen with a white box and author, title, subject, and series under the box. Type vocational guidance in
the white box but DO NOT hit enter!!! Instead, click on the word subject under the white box.
- Now you are on a screen where you will find see related headings for: Vocational Guidance. Scroll through that list by
clicking on the Next button towards the top of the screen. Continue to hit the Next button until you see the heading VOCATIONAL
GUIDANCE paired with the career field you want.
- For example, the screen that will lead you to books on careers in engineering will have VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE ENGINEERING on it.
Clicking on that heading will then take you to the complete information for each book the library owns on this subject. If you jot
down the call number for each book, you can then go to the shelves to find the books. In this case, the books on engineering careers
will be found in the TA 157 area of the library's general collection.
Step 3: Try CareerInfoNet,
a part of a broader federal-state funded website called CareerOneStop.
On the first screen scroll down to CareerTools and then click on Employability Checkup to understand the career prospects for
your chosen career in a particular state or city. Another option under Career Tools is to click on Licensed Occupations to find
which occupations require licenses and to get contact information for the licensing agencies.
By clicking on Occupation Information, you can find the fastest growing occupations, occupations with the most openings, etc.
By clicking on Industry Information, you can find the same type of information broken down by industry.
The facts for CareerInfoNet are provided by the federal government's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Step 4: Try the Michigan Career Portal,
http://www.michigan.gov
It is a part of the Official State of Michigan Website.
Using the headings at the left side of the screen, first click on Careers, Colleges, & Training. Then click on Education & Training.
On the screen that opens up, look for Lifelong Learning in the center section of the screen; then click on Michigan Occupational Reports
for Exploration. From an A-Z list of pull-down menus, select your chosen career. You will find not only the basic information about
the occupation but also things like activities you should prefer and thinking skills you should be able to demonstrate to succeed.
Additional information on growth outlook and salary potential in the career is provided for all of the U.S. and for Michigan in particular.
The information comes from the Michigan Department of Career Development.
If you go back to the first page of Michigan Occupational Reports for Exploration and read the blurb at the top of the page, you
will find New and Emerging Occupations with the invitation
to click 'here.'
Once you do so, basic information will be available
on these new careers.
Another use of this website is to return to the Education & Training heading and choose Fastest Growing Jobs. The list that appears
is of the top 50 fastest growing occupations in the U.S., 2002-2012, with employment charted for the beginning and end years along
with the projected percentage of employment change over the time period. The information is based on U.S. Department of Labor data.
Click on Careers, Colleges & Training in the left column to get to the Michigan Career Portal.
Step 5: Use the library's Web Resources links for even more career information.
Go to this list directly by visiting the
Counseling web links page.
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