Career/College Planning: O*Net Online

A not-for-profit website that pulls together government data about the jobs in our country and people who are working in them so that you can surf around to learn things like what jobs in the United States.  There’s a page where you can view lists of suggested careers that might be a good match with the skills that you have.  Or, you can research details about specific careers that you are interested in.  And, you don’t even have to know what you want to do!  You can do a keyword search (ex. “legal assistant”), browse lists of careers within an industry (of course, “Health and Counseling” is my favorite!), or you can answer a bunch of questions and let the website make some suggestions about what you might enjoy.

Before you invest your money and time into education or training, wouldn’t it be nice to know details like:

  1. What kind of education or training with I need to get a job in this career?
  2. What can I expect to get paid in a job like this?  (Keep in mind that these numbers are averages so some people make more and some make less.  Part of this depends on how much experience you have, so if you are fresh out of school, expect to make less than average.  Part of this depends on where you live.  Expect to be paid more in areas that have a higher cost of living and less in more remote, less affluent areas.)
  3. Will it be difficult or easy to find a job in this profession?  If it is a “growing” profession, that means that it is expected that there will be more jobs opening up, creating a higher need for people with this training.  If the industry is “shrinking,” then it’s more likely that the job market is already flooded with people who have these skills and it will be tough to find a job.

This website can help you learn all of this and more.