Helping librarians help job seekers: free resources

Did you know that CareerOneStop.org offers a variety of free, open-access resources for career, training, and job search? Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, CareerOneStop offers simple, streamlined tools and websites for the public to access up-to-date job, labor market, and career information.

Check out these resources to see which might help your patrons—they’re all free and require an account or password (though users can easily create an optional free user account so they can save information and preferences).

• The Job Finder allows users to search job postings, updated daily from several sources, in any U.S. location.
• The Resume Guide provides a step-by-step plan for how to create an effective resume. It includes tips and samples, as well as advice for job seekers on how to market their resumes and themselves.
• The Skills Matcher helps career changers identify new careers that might use their current skills and work experience. Users rate their levels on 40 key workplace skills, and get a list of careers that match their ratings.
• The Occupation Profile lets career explorers create customized reports for any of nearly 900 occupations, including national and state data on wages, employment, knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), education and training, and links to more resources.
• The Salary Finder helps job seekers research median wages for occupations. They can use that information to inform their career planning, focus their job search, or prepare for interviews or job offer negotiations.
• The Business Finder includes a searchable database of nearly 12 million U.S. employers.  Job seekers can use it to explore their local business community and plan for informational interviews.
• The American Job Center Finder, which locates the closet American Job Center. Nearly 2,300 AJCs located across the United States provide free employment assistance to the public.

CareerOneStop also offers specialized information on these websites:

• Veterans ReEmployment is a one-stop resource for career, training, and employment assistance for veterans and transitioning service members.
• Job Search Help for Ex-Offenders offers information, tips, and resources specifically for job seekers with criminal convictions.

We’d love to hear your feedback if you use any of CareerOneStop’s resources with your job seekers, and we’d also love to know what other job search resources you use.  Leave us a comment below, or, if you’ll be attending ALA 2023 in Chicago, come by and visit CareerOneStop at Booth 1611!