Using Information to Facilitate Career Development - Ivonne Ch 11

   After reading chapter 11 I became aware of different sources of information. There is occupational and labor force information that is usually produced and distributed in combination with each other (Brown, D., 2016).

   I first learned of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). The O*NET was used to correct the Dictionary of Occupational Titles published in 1991. The dictionary failed to provide an adequate basis for helping workers who were laid off find other employments, in which they could use their skills. O*NET corrected that and can be used by government agencies, private and public institutions, and the public. Data regarding about 900 jobs can be found on O*NET (Brown, D., 2016).. The content of O*NET has six domains of information:

1.      Worker Characteristics

2.      Worker Requirements

3.      Experience Requirements

4.      Occupational Requirements

5.      Occupation-specific Requirements

6.      Occupation Characteristics.

   On the O*NET database people can review summary reports that include the most important characteristics of the workers in multiple jobs and the requirements of a specific job. Then when jobs of interest are located, related occupations can be found and explored. As for students looking for an occupation they can simply type in the name in the search box, or complete an Interest Profile Work Importance Profiler; which measures that persons work values (Brown, D., 2016).

   The second source of information I read about was the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). This is available online and in print, it provides predictions about the future of both occupational clusters and individual occupations, it provides brief descriptions of the duties performed on the job, the working conditions, salary, and information on how to prepare people for the job. The salaries listed for each job may not benefit an entry level worker because they are based more on people who are close to retiring. But this information could be of much more importance to adults looking for career changes (Brown, D., 2016).

   Regarding the military O*NET and OOH do not provide information to those who are looking as going into the Military as a career. OOH contains a general section on military service and salary, but specific information cannot be found. O*NET may be of some use to people who are transitioning from the military into civilian workforce. It is important to note that armed services do have published handbooks and brochures as well as websites that describe career opportunities within each branch of service. Looking at the Department of Defense is one of many useful websites when regarding to military employment (Brown, D., 2016).

All of these sources are great and can be used in a positive when helping to council adults as well as students.

Reference

Brown, D. (2016). Career information, career counseling, and career development (11^thed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 978-0-13-391777-2.