Interactive Career Exploration Pages

TAKE OUR ONLINE CAREERS TEST

It can be very helpful to complete our careers test if we're not sure how to get started, or would like to explore multiple alternative careers based on our preferences. Our 60 question survey asks how much we'd enjoy performing very specific work tasks - and provides results with career recommendations that might be most appealing to our needs. Our Careers Test page also provides job listings, career preparation details and updated career-specific web resources to help us secure a job:
Careers Test - 2-Minute Helper Video

CAREER CHANGE PORTAL

Due to layoffs, burnout or determining that we no longer find our existing career meaningful, we may be searching for a new career path. If we would like to change careers, how can we get moving? Use our Career Change Portal - it starts with searching thousands of specific job titles, and ends up providing active job listings and details for any of several related career paths and jobs:
Career Change Portal - 2-Minute Helper Video

If we prefer not to take a careers test, or use the career change portal, how can we move forward without getting overwhelmed? Simple - we just need to choose the most appropriate starting point. Use our career pages (below) to explore the career(s) of choice. 4-minute Helper Video

Do you know what job title you seek?

If we already have a good idea about which specific job title(s) we seek, we may start our preparation with a search using keywords, and then diving into how to prepare for career(s) matched to the job(s):
Keyword Search Job Titles - More Detailed 3-Minute Helper Video

Would you like to discover careers that relate to a specific academic discipline/major?

Selecting an academic major (over 100 are listed) can help us to identify specific types of careers. Some degree programs are very specific regarding employment opportunities, while others offer a multitude of career choices. Please select an academic major for details:
College Discipline, Degree and Academic Major Careers - More Detailed 3-Minute Helper Video

Would you like to explore careers by level of academic achievement – in other words what you qualify for now or in the near future?

Browsing careers based on various levels of educational achievement can help us to discover careers that we might never have considered. This may help us to identify careers/jobs that we qualify for now, or in the near future. We can also identify careers that are related to our job choices, which allows us to fully explore our passions. We can explore careers and jobs predominantly filled by those with various academic degrees and levels of work experience:
Careers Based on Various Levels of Education and Work Experience

Would you like to identify careers by examining job categories (SOC)?

Browsing careers based on categories (SOC Codes) can also help us to discover careers that we might never have considered. This tool provides a great way to explore careers from general to specific - using Standard Occupational Codes (SOC) as filters:
Explore Careers based on Category (SOC) - More Detailed 3-Minute Helper Video

Do you need a virtual or work-from-home career/job?

Here is a page to help you identify, prepare, apply for, and obtain a "virtual" or "stay at home" job:
Virtual & Work From Home Jobs - More Detailed 3-Minute Helper Video

Do you just need to see active job listings, without career preparation, based on educational requirements?

This page allows you to search for active job listings immediately, by educational level requirements and/or level of experience required. You can browse job listings that require a specific level of educational achievement - you can also specify the U.S. city location (your city is the default), specify the distance from location, and specify when the job was posted:
Search Active Jobs Listings

Do you just need to see active job listings, without career preparation?

This page allows you to search for active job listings. You simply specify the title of the job you seek ("sales" is the default). You can also specify the U.S. city location (your city is the default), specify the distance from location, and specify when the job was posted:
Search Active Jobs Listings

Information Provided

Core and Supplemental Duties: Lists the worker-related tasks performed for the job.
General and Specific Work Activities: Summarizes the broad and more specific types of job behaviors related to the job.
Knowledge Required: Represents the necessary acquisition of facts and principles about types of information
Skills Required: Provides basic skills and cross-functional skills for a job.
Preparation Required: Provides a summary of the required experience and education for a job.
Educational Requirements: Detailed breakdown of the prior educational experience required to perform in a job.
Work Experience Required: Detailed breakdown of the prior work experience required to perform in a job.
Local Salary Information: Provides national and local salary ranges for the job.
Certifications: Provides government and private-sector certifications and/or credentials required for a job.
Professional Associations: Provides professional associations related to the job(s) you chose.
Links to Find a Job: Links to current and active job listings.
Job Listings: Provides current job listings for the job selected along with multiple similar job titles - this helps to truly explore the field.
Related Careers to Consider: Lists up to 20 careers that might be of interest to you (related to your initial choice - what they do, what they know, and what they're called), ranked by best fit.

Data Resources

We use a variety of data sources to provide updated information specific to careers and jobs.
These pages include information from the O*NET 27.2 Database (Updated quarterly - most recently in February 2023) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. ConsultaPedia.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

These pages also include certification and professional association data from CareerOneStop.org.

Our proprietary web search resources include specific links that never get old – always updated … The resources you see in the afternoon may be different than the resources you saw this morning. Accessing continually updated informational resources is vital in today’s rapidly changing environment.

This information includes:
Videos: Provides video resources that will introduce you to the chosen occupation.
Resumes: Sources for resume materials and techniques. This can help to get you started.
Job Descriptions: Sources that provide job descriptions, which are vital to resume and interview preparation.
Interviews: Provides links that can help you to prepare for and successfully complete the job interview.
Step by Step: Provides links to resources that can help to organize the career search and development process.
LinkedIn^®: One of the best professional social media sites that provides links, opportunities, and networking specifically for careers and career development.

Get your dream job

Once we have identified career(s) of interest and noted how we will need to prepare (in detail), we will need to take action. Here is a brief list to get us started:

Start to Prepare

Use any of the links in the "Explore Careers Without Getting Overwhelmed" section (above) to identify a career. Once one is selected, and we scroll down the results page, we will see the "Prepare for a Career" Result areas.

• Begin to develop experience performing the key job duties and work activities. Examine the areas of Core Duties, Supplemental Duties, Work Activities, and Specific Work Activities.
• Develop the required knowledge, skills, and abilities. Examine the areas of Knowledge Required and Skills Required.
• Choose jobs that are appropriate to our current level of educational achievement and prior work experience. Examine the areas of Education Required and Work Experience Required.
• Obtain the appropriate certifications and credentials. Examine the area of Certifications
• If starting our career - prepare a list of occupations that have similar general capabilities and interests. Examine the area of Similar Occupations - Start a Career
• If changing our career - prepare a list of occupations that have similar general skills and experience. Examine the area of Similar Occupations - Change a Career

Take Additional Action

As above, once we have selected an occupation, and we scroll down the results page, we will see the "Job Specific Resources" Result areas. Spend time using each of the areas to properly prepare, as below:

• View an introductory video about our chosen occupation.
• Use the links to prepare our resume (or C.V.)
• Prepare a generic cover letter and prepare customized versions for each job application. Please see Qualifications Briefs for more details on how to do this.
• Begin to prepare for our interview (use our interview web resources)
• Conduct informational interviews and coffee chats (use LinkedIn^® and other professional social networks for contacts)