Blog | CareerOneStop | Pathway to Career Success

Building career pathways

Posted on February 1, 2018 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Businesses and employers, Career counselors

competency model pyramid for water sector

CareerOneStop is at the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Workforce Development Institute in New Orleans this week. This year’s conference is focused on “Exploring Intersections” and examining the ways that community college workforce and economic development efforts require collaboration across policies, practices, initiatives, partners, and funders.

We’re meeting lots of great education and workforce professionals and we’re hearing a lot about career pathways—specifically about community colleges partnering with industries to understand and create career pathways that can enable individuals to move from entry-level positions to career success.

That got us thinking about what a great resource the Competency Model Clearinghouse is for workforce development professionals. The CMC is a website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) with the goal of informing the public workforce system about the value, development, and uses of competency models. It features great examples, explanations, and instructions for building competency models and career ladders and lattices.

Visit the CMC’s Career Ladders/Lattices General Instructions to learn how to build career ladders/lattices that outline critical experiences individuals need to progress through a career in an industry.

The CMC also offers a range of User Guides such as:

Communicate Workforce Needs
Use competency models to communicate the needs of your organization or industry

Identify Credential Competencies
Develop or update a certification, license, or assessment using competency models.

Develop Curriculum
Use competency models to assess or develop a curriculum.

Perform Human Resources Activities
Measure worker performance, assess training needs, and select or recruit workers using competency models and career ladders/lattices.

Career Exploration and Guidance
View the competencies needed in selected industries to help determine which career is right for you.

Identify your skills—and explore new career options

Posted on January 26, 2018 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Career changers, Career counselors, Job seekers

Wondering what types of careers might be a good fit for your skills? Or need a better way to describe your skills on a resume?

CareerOneStop’s new Skills Matcher has some answers. The Skills Matcher

helps identify the skills you have,
provides career options that match your current skills,
and strengthens your skills awareness as you plan next steps for your career.

How does the Skills Matcher work?

You rate your levels on 40 key workplace skills, then get immediate results: a list of careers that are good matches for the pattern of skills you identified. It typically takes between 10-20 minutes to complete. You can expect to see results that include some great career ideas, some surprises, and some options you aren’t interested in, based on factors other than the skills required.

From there, you can explore the careers on your list of matches. You can learn about average pay, typical education, and the outlook for job opportunities in that field. If you want to dive in to more details, you can follow links to full career profiles in CareerOneStop’s Occupation Profile.

The Skills Matcher is based on skill and knowledge data generated by the U.S. Department of Labor occupational information source, O*NET. The tool uses a statistical formula to compare users’ own skill ratings to the knowledge, skill, and ability ratings associated with more than 900 occupations.

What can I learn from my list of career matches?

You can use your list of occupation matches to explore career ideas that may be right for you. You can also download or print out a list of the skills you rated highest to use for developing your resume and cover letter, or to help you prepare for job interviews.

On your results page, you can see some important information about each of these careers:

Annual wages: See the median salary for each career. Median wage means one half of all workers in this occupation earns less than this wage and one-half earns more.

Education: See the level of education usually needed to enter this career.

Outlook: Indicates whether the career listed is expected to be in demand.

Your results list can be customized

Results can include up to 150 different matches, in order of closeness of match between your ratings and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for each career. To help focus on just those career matches that are most relevant for you, there are several options:

1. You can choose to see only career matches that fit your education and experience level.
2. You can sort your list to check out the highest-paying or fastest-growing careers in your matches.
3. If you aren’t satisfied with your matches, you can revise your ratings and receive different results. You may want to give lower ratings to skills you have, but prefer not to use in your work, such as fitness activities or hobbies.

Tagged with: assessment, career exploration, skills

New career tools in CareerOneStop Mobile

Posted on January 18, 2018 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Career changers, Career counselors, Entry-level workers, Job seekers, Uncategorized

CareerOneStop’s free app for your mobile devices now includes 32 career tools!

Do you predominantly use your phone or tablet to access online tools and information—or do you work with clients who do?

Then you’ll find CareerOneStop Mobile an easy way to access career, training, and job search resources from CareerOneStop. The free app collects 32 of our tools into one convenient spot.

Download your free app on Google Play™ and the App Store℠ to check out any one of these tools:

Career Tools

Interest Assessment
Occupation Profile
Fastest-Growing Careers
Careers with Most Openings
Careers with Largest Employment
Careers with Declining Employment

Training Tools

Local Training Finder
Scholarship Finder
Professional Association Finder

Job Tools

Job Finder
Veterans Job Finder
Business Finder

Wage Tools

Salary Finder
Highest-Paying Careers

Industry Tools

Fastest-Growing Industries
Highest-Paying Industries
Industries with Declining Employment
Industries with Largest Employment

Local Help Tools

American Job Center Finder
Apprenticeship Office Finder
Employment Networks Finder
Farmworker Jobs Program Finder
Job Corps Center Finder
Native American Program Finder
Older Worker Program Finder
Refugee Social Services Finder
Community College Finder
Job Club Finder
Library Finder
Workforce Development Board Finder
Youth Council Finder
Unemployment Benefits Finder

Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

Tagged with: mobile apps

Mentoring makes a difference

Posted on January 11, 2018 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Businesses and employers, Entry-level workers, Older workers, Students

by Kelly Tenner

Is the impulse to help others an innate human trait? It’s a question debated by sociologists and anthropologists, but there is no doubt that helping others through mentoring has been around as long as human relationships have existed.

Mentoring is most often defined as a formal relationship in which a person with skills, knowledge, or experience supports the personal or career development of a usually younger and less-experienced person. Mentees—those at the receiving end of mentoring—and mentors may be young or old, and range from entry-level workers to CEOs. Mentoring can be focused on developing a mentee for a particular career path, improving communication skills, or just helping them through difficult life transitions or decision making.

The mentor role is similar to a teacher who listens, encourages and inspires, while also providing guidance and insight.

Some benefits of being a mentor include:

Mentoring promotes altruism—more than likely you’ll feel good just from being able to help others.
When you share your skills, expertise, and experience with others, you both enhance your own understanding of your strengths, and you model knowledge sharing for others.
Mentoring affirms you that you are always capable of learning more. Being a mentor promotes lifelong learning and opens your mind to new ideas and opportunities.

A mentee is similar to a student who is willing to learn and has the desire and ambition to improve themselves using the mentor as their guide.

Some benefits of being a mentee:

You’ll get to be part of an important relationship, which can enhance your sense of community, help you network, and increase your job satisfaction.
You can get help as you navigate a transitional period of your life—such as starting a new job or dealing with a job loss, facing a difficult life situation, or even needing help handling a family problem.
You’ll learn new skills, get to practice your soft skills, and improve your communication skills with feedback.

How can you find a mentoring program to join?

Companies, academic organizations, and non-profit organizations have known about the benefits of mentoring for years. Many have established programs—some are open only to a targeted audience, while others are open to the public. Some examples include:

Employer-based programs. Many employers have mentoring programs already in place to support their employees’ professional development. Corporations like Boeing and Caterpillar have well-established, effective programs for both career and leadership mentoring that can serve as models for organizations looking to start up a program. If you are employed, try contacting your human resources office to find out what types of programs they offer, or consider suggesting your employer start a mentoring program for employees.
Academic mentoring. You can also be a part of an academic mentoring program. Large organizations like MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnerships, and the Corporation for National and Community Service support students in schools across the country at all grade levels. There are also many smaller local organizations that work with schools. Try searching “school-based mentoring in (your city)” in your browser to find local programs.
Youth mentoring. Several national organizations focus on after-school mentoring programs, including: Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, the YMCA and YWCA and 4-H. These programs focus on educational development and building communities. Again, search your local area for available programs.

So, whether you are in school, looking for a job, 20 years into your career, or already retired. . . mentoring connects people who want to share their wisdom with those in need of receiving encouragement and support. It changes lives. Consider giving it a try!

And if you’ve been involved in a mentoring relationship, remember to thank your mentor on January 25, 2018 #ThankYourMentor Day.

Kelly Tenner is CareerOneStop’s outreach manager. She is an experienced career development professional specializing in the areas of marketing and outreach, including website and e-tool development and administration. Kelly is a life-long learner and most recently received her Doctorate in Business Administration.

Tagged with: career advice, Students

Time for a career change?

Posted on January 4, 2018 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Career changers

Is this the year you’re going to make the leap to a new career?

Sometimes a career change is inspired by the realities of the job market: salaries, demand, technology or any number of factors can be big motivators for a career change. Other times career changes are inspired from within: we get burned out, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, or just feel like it’s time to try something new.

Whatever your motivation for thinking about a career change, CareerOneStop’s mySkills myFuture is a great place to get started. The website is easy-to-use, free, and includes unbiased career and employment information. The best part? You can get started exploring your new career in five minutes or less.

mySkills myFuture takes your past or current job and shows you a list of careers that may use similar skills or work experiences. The list may include some jobs you’ve already considered . . . and some you’ve never even thought about it. From your list, you can choose to learn more about one or many careers, and you’ll find information on typical wages, job duties, and education requirements as well as links to local training programs and job listings.

The site is easy to navigate on your own, but here are a few simple steps to help you get started building a bridge to your new career.

1) Visit mySkills myFuture and enter the name of your current job—or one you’ve held in the past.

2) Click “FIND MY CAREER MATCHES” to see a list of careers and job titles that use skills and knowledge you may already have from your current or past job.

3) Scan your list of career matches and the information provided for each one. You might be interested in:

Which careers are labeled as “Bright Outlook” (occupations that are expected to grow quickly or have many job openings in the coming years)?
Do the typical wages meet your salary requirements?
Is the typical education in line with your education level or goals?
Are there many job postings?

4) Follow the links to find details about careers you’re interested in. At any time, enter your city, state or ZIP code and click on “See Job Listings” or “Find Training” to view opportunities in your local area.

Have fun exploring your next career move! And once you’ve visited mySkills myFuture, leave us a comment below to tell us what you like—or don’t like—about the site.

Tagged with: career changer

Build 2018 goals on a solid foundation

Posted on December 28, 2017 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Uncategorized

With the beginning of a new year, you may invest time in imagining what your future could hold. Unquestionably, that’s a crucial step to achieve your goals. At the same time, there is a lot to be said for learning about trends that influence our collective future, so that your dreams are built on a solid foundation.

Recently, our colleagues at the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published their 10-year forecasts for the fastest and slowest growing jobs from 2016-26 (the most up to date authoritative data available.)

The BLS ten fastest growing occupations projected for 2016-26:

What do these projections mean for the changing landscape of jobs in the United States, and how can you use them for your own career planning? We’ve summed up their findings to create a strong base for your imagination to take off from, and help you set a course for your career in 2018 and beyond.

1) Health care industry careers continue to dominate growth trends

Economically speaking, the aging of America’s workforce and population has an enormous influence on both the demand for workers in particular jobs, and the overall supply of available workers to fill open jobs. Our very large population of baby boomers increasingly depend on health care to maintain their health and lifestyles, creating a huge demand for a variety of health care workers.

Add to that – longer life expectancies and increasing rates of chronic health conditions, and you can see how solid the demand is likely to continue to be in health care. Not surprisingly then, of the ten fastest-growing jobs, five are in the health care and personal care sector: personal care aides, home health aides, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physical therapist assistants. These five occupations alone are projected to make up about 20% of the new jobs created by 2026.

2018 Career Tip: If you’re most concerned about job security, or just interested in a helping profession, consider exploring what it would take to train for one of these careers. Health care jobs are also generally hands-on, person to person, so while you may hear about automation as a threat to eliminating other types of jobs, it’s not a large issue in health care. You can expect the stability of demand to continue to be strong.
Resources: Explore a variety of health care careers on CareerOneStop’s Occupation Profile to learn about typical tasks, education and training requirements, salaries, and projected demand. You can also link from the profiles to look for training or job openings in your local area.

2) There will be many more new jobs in the service sector than the production sector

About 90% of new jobs are projected to be added in the service-providing sector, resulting in more than 10.5 million new jobs over the ten year period. The goods-producing sector is projected to add 219,000 jobs over the same time period. Overall, the production occupations group is projected to decline by 4.1%.

The service industries that are projected to add many new jobs include social service, education, hospitality, transportation, and financial. There will be some growth in goods-producing industries such as mining and construction, but economists expect jobs in the manufacturing industry to decrease.

2018 Career Tip: Knowing an industry or occupation is growing is only part of the process for effective career planning. It’s important to understand your own preferences and relate those to a career you plan to pursue.
Resources: Check out the Interest Assessment on CareerOneStop to identify some service sector careers that fit your interests.

3) Jobs that require higher education will grow faster than jobs requiring a high school diploma only

Compared to jobs that require a high school diploma, jobs that require a bachelor’s degree, or an associate’s degree, or just some college (like a certificate program) are projected to grow twice as fast. Graduate degree jobs will grow quite a bit faster still.

2018 Career Tip: Education beyond high school creates more options for almost all workers. It doesn’t necessarily mean a 4-year degree; many jobs open up with a certificate or certification earned in an in-demand field. That said, it can sound as if all the jobs in the next ten years will require a degree, which isn’t true. There will continue to be openings for positions requiring a high school education only, as people in those jobs retire, relocate, or leave for other jobs, but there will be fewer new jobs created at that level than for higher education-level positions.
Resources: Look for training in your local area in a field that interests you on CareerOneStop’s Local Training Finder; it includes short-term training, 2-year and 4-year degree programs. You can also check out the certifications available in your field on the Certification Finder.

4) People interested in clean energy have some promising options

Clean-energy workers, like solar-panel installers and wind-turbine technicians, are the only occupations that are expected to double by 2026.

2018 Career Tip: While these fields are growing quickly, the total number of people working in these fields is relatively small. Also, job openings are not evenly located across the country; there are more openings in states and regions that are better-suited to these forms of energy, and that are investing in developing them.
Resources: Check out the detailed profiles on solar panel installer or wind turbine technician, or watch a video on solar photovoltaic installers. Find training programs around the country for wind turbine service technician, and solar panel installers, and narrow down to your local area on the Training Finder.

5) If you ever said “I’ll never use this” in math class, surprise! Math skills are in big demand

Other occupations projected to experience fast employment growth in the ten-year period are statisticians, software developers, and mathematicians.

2018 Career Tip: Mathematicians and statisticians work in many more fields than most math students ever imagine, including education, marketing, psychology, sports, computer programming, and many other fields that require the collection and analysis of data. Software developers create new applications and programs for almost every industry.
Resources: Take CareerOneStop’s Skills Profiler to generate a list of careers that use your level of math, computer, operations analysis, and programming skills.

Tagged with: career planning, employment trends, job outlook

Over 50 and overqualified?

Posted on December 14, 2017 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Businesses and employers, Career changers, Job seekers, Older workers, Uncategorized

The job market is improving for older workers, but many still deal with the concern that they may appear overqualified to a prospective employer. While the issue comes up for younger job seekers, too, it’s particularly common for job seekers over age 50.

To mount a defensive against this assumption, job seekers can best begin by putting themselves in the employer’s shoes.

What the employer worries about

Hiring an employee is a costly event for a company; the longer a new, effective employee remains in a job, the better able the employer is to achieve its HR goals and avoid further hiring costs.

If you appear overqualified, the employer may believe it’s more likely you could become bored in the job and look for a new position. Or plan to just get a foothold in the company at the hired position, and quickly work your way to a higher level. Or maybe even assume the position is capable of offering the greater complexity that you might crave and are capable of, but again, the employer needs this job filled, not the higher level one you may imagine it to be.

Speaking of expense, employers often also assume candidates who appear overqualified for a position are likely to expect the highest end of the salary range, or expect the employer to extend the range.

In addition, they are likely to wonder how comfortable and amenable you will be to taking direction from a (probably) younger and less-experienced, less-knowledgeable (possibly) manager.

So it can be a fraught prospect for an employer, despite the appeal of hiring someone who appears capable of hitting the ground running, who might even bring a terrific boost to the competence of a position and work group.

Be clear about your purpose

With a clear understanding of the employer’s potential assumptions, you have the opportunity to address them head on, while defining the strengths you bring to the position.

To begin with, it’s important that you are clear with yourself about why you might want a job with less responsibility than you’ve previously held. You might need to bring better balance to accommodate family demands, or personal life issues. This opportunity might represent a new beginning in a different location, role, or industry. Perhaps you missed working with customers or having a greater hands-on role in your work, or found managing people wasn’t a good fit. Or you might be in a situation where you need income right away.

Communicate from honesty and enthusiasm

Beginning with your cover letter all the way through interviews and salary negotiation, it’s important that you confront an employer’s likely assumptions, sincerely. If you send your well-polished resume with high-flying job titles—without an explanation—your application may not even make it past the first step.

Put the focus on what you want to do in the position, and how your background and skills can help the employer: How does this position fit you, your goals, skills, and interests? For example, you may want a stable schedule without travel while you care for family members, in a position that doesn’t demand the amount of responsibility you had previously. Even if need is driving your application, look for and articulate the aspects of the job you’re excited and curious about.
Research the position’s typical current wages in similar industries to confirm that your salary requirements are appropriate. To head off the assumption that you’d reject their offer, you can acknowledge you’re OK knowing the pay will be lower than you’ve had.
Be ready to communicate your willingness to tackle the position offered, rather than a higher level position. It’s helpful to state a desire to learn from the position and add value from that role, even if you hope to work your way up in the company. Taking this position seriously and making your contributions there count, is a good foundation.
Caution: Arrogance in the interview could easily undo all your other efforts. Practice interview responses to avoid coming across as having all the answers and being more experienced and knowledgeable than the hiring manager. Focus on how you operate as part of a team, and your openness to learning.
Some strategists recommend that a very experienced candidate offer a “temporary try out” to reassure the employer of your interest and demonstrate your ability to contribute quickly. Or you might offer to work for a specific time, with the understanding that you’ll move on once a project or goal has been completed.
You can also ask your references to address the overqualification issues in any conversation with the employer.

For more tips, check out CareerOneStop’s Older Worker.

Tagged with: career advice, job search

Careers in video-game design

Posted on December 7, 2017 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Audience, Career changers, Entry-level workers, Job seekers, Uncategorized

Think you have what it takes to be a video-game designer?

Video-game design jobs require a mix of artistic creativity and technical skills. Game design can be a fun and rewarding career field. And, this emerging career is expected to grow and have job openings in the future.

What do video-game designers do?

As a video game designer, you might do all or some of the following:

Design core features of video games
Specify innovative game and role-play mechanics, story lines, and character biographies
Create and maintain design documentation
Guide and collaborate with production staff to produce games as designed

What kind of education do video-game designers need?

Most people entering this field have a bachelor’s degree. It may be in a liberal arts field, or in one of these specialized fields:

Information Technology Project Management
Computer Science
Information Science/Studies
Data Processing and Data Processing Technology/Technician
Cyber/Computer Forensics and Counterterrorism

You can locate local training programs that can help you prepare for this field.

How much money do video-game designers make?

The average salary for the range of computer fields that video-game designer is part of is about $86,000 a year. Learn about average salaries in your state or local area.

Want to learn more?

You can watch a video about video-game designers and learn more details at CareerOneStop’s Video Game Designer Occupation Profile.

Tagged with: IT careers

Career and Technical Education

Posted on November 30, 2017 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Career counselors, Parents, Students

High school students programming a robot

If we told you that high school students can earn high school credits while taking hands-on skill training that prepares them for high-wage, high-demand careers, would you say that sounds too good to be true? It’s true, it happens in every state, and it’s called “career and technical education,” or CTE.

CTE programs provide training in a wide variety of fields. They are offered in high schools, community and technical colleges, career centers, and four-year colleges. Programs are developed within a framework of 16 different career clusters:

Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
Architecture & Construction
Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
Business Management & Administration
Education & Training
Finance
Government & Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
Manufacturing
Marketing
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

When students complete programs and their high school education, they may go on to work right away, but many pursue further technical training, certifications, or a two- or four-year degree.

CTE program results

The statistics for participants are impressive—high school students involved in CTE are more engaged, perform better and graduate at higher rates:

Graduation rates for students in CTE programs is 93 percent; the average for all students is 80 percent.
More than 75 percent of CTE students pursue higher education or training shortly after high school.
About 30 percent earn college credit and/or an industry certification while they’re in the program.

How does it work?

Program designs vary, but students might spend two afternoons each week in a training class, and three afternoons a week in a real work setting, learning technical and employability skills in the career field of their choice. Students typically have a mentor or supervisor on site to guide their skill development.

Frequently, CTE programs find corporate business partners that provide projects, equipment, and supervision for the hands-on component of CTE. Projects could include volunteer service, internships, job shadowing, presentations, or creating an event. There might be guest instructors from professional fields, and tours or site visits to a variety of work settings. In addition to developing technical and employability skills, students gain knowledge that helps to determine their future career preference or direction.

Examples of CTE activities

Students in CTE programs across the country have:

Earned a culinary arts and restaurant management certification
Studied for, practiced, and earned, Red Cross certification
Obtained a certification for CNA, EMT, or basic firefighting
Operated a radio station and created a cable television program
Staffed a greenhouse and livestock facility
Developed a marketing plan for a small business
Managed a school store and run a coffee shop
Designed and built a house
Gained work experience and training in physical therapy, dental care, radiology, and veterinary services
Wrote computer code to program robots for a manufacturing process
Learned blueprint reading, metal varieties, and cutting tools for machinist training
Studied aircraft maintenance and flight electronics
A few programs even own their own fleet of aircraft and offer a pilot training program approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Learn more about the CTE programs in your state, or about the career and technical education cluster system.

To explore careers in each of the 16 career clusters, check out CareerOneStop’s Occupation Profiles or Career Videos. You can also find information on professional certifications for a wide variety of occupations, and research your local training resources.

The Association for Career and Technical Education is the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of CTE programs. CareerOneStop will attend their annual conference, CareerTech VISION 2017, December 6-9 in Nashville, TN. If you’ll be at the conference, please stop by our booth #143 for a visit.

Tagged with: apprenticeship, education and training, first job, Students, young adults

National Apprenticeship Week: apprenticeships for veterans

Posted on November 16, 2017 by

CareerOneStop Posted in Entry-level workers, Veterans

This year National Apprenticeship Week (Nov. 13-17) comes right on the heels of Veterans Day. And that couldn’t be more appropriate. The goal of the annual apprenticeship celebration is to give apprenticeship sponsors the opportunity to showcase their programs, facilities and apprentices in their community—and also to highlight the benefits of apprenticeship in preparing a highly-skilled workforce to meet the talent needs of employers across diverse industries. Coincidentally, apprenticeships are one of the best ways that the federal government and private employers can address the shared goal of helping veterans enter high-skill, well-paying jobs.

What are apprenticeships?

Apprenticeships combine a training with a full-time job—and prepare people to enter specialized fields. Apprentices are trained by master craftsmen, who are experts in their field. Apprentices also take classes to make sure they master all aspects of the job.

The Registered Apprenticeship program is a way to enter about a thousand careers, including these top occupations:

Automobile Mechanic
Electrician
Pipefitter

Apprenticeship programs are sponsored by employers, labor unions, and associations. Programs last between one and six years, with apprentices earning wage increases as they gain work experience. CareerOneStop’s Apprenticeship Finder lets anyone search for employers and other sponsors of apprenticeships in any state.

How can veterans enter an apprenticeship program?

The U.S. Department of Labor has gathered several Registered Apprenticeships resources for veterans,

If you’re a veteran interested in an apprenticeship, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the VA. The VA provides a comprehensive list of employers, by state, that offer apprenticeships (note that on this page you will need to select “on-the-job training/apprenticeship” next to “Program type.”)

Tagged with: apprenticeship, veterans