CAREER INFORMATION CAN AID IN:

Learning which job targets, industries, and employers bet fit with one's values, interests, skills, family 
situation, and time available for training and education. 

Assessing what is personally important in making a career choice and learning about it. 

Learning about educational institutions and training programs that will help in preparation for entry into the 
chosen occupation.

Helping prepare for an employment interview. Review the general occupational description, then review 
the recruitment literature, and then consider how your values, interests, and skills relate to the employers 
needs. 
 
 

FOR CHILDREN:

Various entertaining and interactive methods are available for children can begin the process of investigating the multitude of career possibilities based on their specific interests and skills and link their talents to a wide variety of actual professions.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Career Information includes "Jobs for Kids Who Like...." Music/Arts, Science, P.E./Outdoors, Social Studies, Reading, Math. 

Career Discovery for Students provides a printable worksheet to help with career choices including setting goals, dreaming about the future, financial needs, and more.

Career Education: Making Choices can be used independently by students. Topics include "Self Exploration," "Work Exploration," "Career Planning," and "Managing Transitions."

Kids & Careers Website directly links to career-related activities for children and information for teachers.

FOR YOUTH

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that young people of high school age should expect to have an average of fourteen jobs throughout their lifetimes, in possibly six-to-eight different career fields. As a result, individuals should no longer prepare for and expect to retain a single job that will last a working lifetime.

The ASVAB Career Exploration Program is available without cost to schools and is targeted for students in grades 10,11,12 and post-secondary schools. Three basic components are awareness of self; information about occupations, and links to matching occupations.

Apprenticeship Training is a combination of on-the-job training and related classroom instruction in which workers learn the practical and theoretical aspects of a highly skilled occupation. Apprenticeship programs are sponsored by joint employer and labor groups, individual employers, and/or employer associations.

Job Corps is the nation's largest residential education and training program for disadvantaged youth. Since 1964, Job Corps has guided more than 1.5 million young people away from lives filled with poverty, unemployment, crime, and welfare and steered them towards brighter futures filled with self-confidence, independence and productive employment.

School-to-Work is based on the proven concept that education works best and is most useful for future careers when students apply what they learn to real life, real work situations. 

The Youth Opportunity Movement's objective is that is that all youth, particularly those who are out of school, acquire the necessary skills and work experience to successfully transition into adulthood, careers, further education, and training. 

FOR ADULTS

The Career Key is a free public service to help individuals make sound career decisions.

Career Resource Library - America's Career InfoNet provides resources that cover career and salary information. The career guides link to information on occupations and career paths. Reports, guides, and surveys can be used to see how an occupation or industry is doing.

One-Stop Career Center is an integrated, high quality delivery system for an array of employment and training services designed to enhance the effectiveness and coordination of employer and job-seeker services. 

America's Career Kit is the link to training and education programs for improving or updating job skills. 

USACareers provides an interactive process designed for self-assessment, an integrated approach for identifying work-related competencies and career interests, and conducting a targeted job search for Federal employment and other opportunities worldwide. 

Choosing a Career provides links to explore the outlook and trends for all types of careers, the career planning process, career choices and management and much more. 

GENERAL RESOURCES

O*NET OnLine! makes occupational information interactive. The user may select occupations to explore, search for occupations that use his/her skills, find related occupations, and view the most important features of the selected occupation, including characteristics of the worker and requirements of the work. 

Occupational Outlook Handbook is searchable guide that provides data on more than two hundred occupations, It describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects.

Career Guide to Industries provides information on available careers by industry, including the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training and advancement, earnings and benefits, employment outlook, and lists of organizations that can provide additional information. 

Occupational Employment, Training and Earnings enables individuals to compare occupations in terms of employment size, projected employment growth, earnings, education and training requirements, opportunities for self-employment and part-time work, and unemployment rate, which can be very valuable in career decision making. 

Growing Occupations provides information on the fastest growing occupations from 1992-2005 and identifies emerging careers for the 21st century.

LOCAL RESOURCES

The South Carolina Occupational Information System (SCOIS) is this state's career information delivery system (CIDS). Self-assessment, search for options, and occupational information features help identify occupations that fit one's values, interests, and skills, education and training options. 

PEARS is the acronym for Palmetto Economic Analysis and Research System. It is a resource for up-to-date state population, income, labor force, employment, and related economic data. 

Carolina Careers is many things: career days for elementary school students, job site field trips or career research projects for middle schoolers, and job shadowing days or community service projects for high schoolers. It brings together all the people and organizations that help young people prepare for rewarding careers after high school or college.
 
 

This page is a project for the College of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina.  If you have comments, please e-mail Vicki Merritt. 11/27/2000.