Next Step: Research!

In the last few posts, I’ve been focusing  on websites and resources that help you identify your interests, values and skills. These are important things to start with but my guess is that, by now, you are ready to move on to the next step: Research.

Yep, that’s right…you’ve got to research. I know that research can sometimes feel like a pretty tedious endeavor, but researching a potential career is generally really exciting and fun! Many times, you’ll discover occupations you never knew existed or get excited about a job you had never envisioned yourself in before.

 To start with, I’d recommend  revisiting those self-assessments, as many of them provide you with a list of potential occupations that match your personality and skills. Some of those will give brief job descriptions, but otherwise you can also use a Google search to get some more basic information on any occupation out there.

Another thing to look at is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, specifically their Occupation Outlook Handbook, which you can find here. This will give you some information on where the job market is headed for many different occupations.

Here are some other sites to check out for job descriptions:

• O*Net Online
• Career Coach, which can also be found in the bottom left corner of the WWCC homepage
• The Career Project 

When you find a job you think you may be interested in, you should continue to browse these sites (and look for more if you like) to find information on potential salaries, necessary education and anything else you feel is important to know. Basically, the more information you gather, the better!

Most importantly, don’t get discouraged. This is still the preliminary stages of the job search and you don’t need to have it all figured out now. Just know that all of the information you are taking in by doing research is setting you up perfectly for the next step in the job search: Informational Interviewing. (Come back next week to learn about that!)