Researching Careers

Investigating the world of work is a crucial step as you begin to decide on a career. You need to explore career areas of interest for a number of reasons:

• First, unless you are already an expert in the career area, you do not know enough to make an educated decision.
• Second, you cannot decide to pursue a career that you don’t know exists.  
• Third, by researching areas of interest, you can find which occupations match your interests, values, skills, and personality.  You also can learn if the career area is simply a “bad fit.”

Oakton’s career counselors will be glad to help you locate and use resources to learn about careers. As you begin your search, you should be aware of all the ways you can obtain career information.

Getting Started

Logon to a computer at either the Des Plaines or Skokie Campus

Click on start.

Move the cursor to All Programs.

Move the cursor to NAL Explorer.

Move the cursor to W. Career Services.

Under W. Career Services you will find links to Career Information Systems, SIGI 3, Chronicle Career Library of Occupational Briefs, and Vocational Biographies.  These programs appear to be simply Websites; however Oakton leases these programs annually.  Therefore, you will not gain access to these sites off campus.

Career Information System has information on more than 500 occupations.  It is unique because the salary and outlook information is usually specific to Illinois.  You can view a list of the occupations in the database in alphabetical order or by career clusters.  Career Information System also provides information on majors including an overview, program admission, typical coursework, and a searchable data base of which schools offer specific majors and programs.

SIGI 3 describes hundreds of occupations by answering 27 specific questions about each one.  Questions cover work description, preparation, income, personal satisfactions, and much more.  One really nice feature enables you to view alternative title names if the job title you are looking for is not on the list.  You can also develop a list of occupational titles by searching for occupations by major.

Chronicle Career Library of Occupational Briefs
Chronicle Occupational Briefs present information on more than 2,000 occupational titles, including 650 comprehensive occupational descriptions.

Vocational Biographies provides access to 1,001 career biographies.  With our lease the College receives a username and passcode.  When you access this site from campus computers the login screen is bypassed.  If you need to visit www.VocBiosOnline.com from off campus contact your career counselor for the username and passcode.

Gathering Career Information Online
These web pages provide links by major and to general career information sites.

What Can I Do With This Major?
This website helps you connect majors with careers.  Learn about typical career areas and the types of employers that hire people with each major, as well as strategies to make you a more marketable candidate.  Continue you research on majors and careers through the websites provided.

It is very important that you connect to this resource through the link on this page.  If you bookmark the page or type in the address directly you will be redirected to an information page.

Job Choices
Job Choices is brought to you by the National Association of Colleges and Employers and Career Services.  The Job Choices newsletter provides up to date career information.

My Next Move
My Next Move is created for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, by the National Center for O*NET Development.

Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2012–13 Edition