Discover: This program is designed to help the student make career decisions and develop rational strategies for attaining occupational goals. It includes modules on: Clarifying Values, Values and Occupations, Effective Decision Making, Decision Making in Careers, Organization of the Occupational World, Browsing Occupations, Reviewing Interests and Strengths, Making a List of Occupations to Explore, Getting Information About Occupations to Explore, Narrowing a List of Occupations, and Exploring Specific Career Paths.
Guidance Information Systems (GK): This is a comprehensive career information system designed for use by anyone involved in career planning. It helps the user get information about 850 different primary occupations, sources of financial aid, etc. It contains five national data files and various regional and state files.
Computerized Vocational Information System (CVIS): Another combined system, CVIS allows the student to enter data on grades, abilities, and interests, etc. as well as levels of training and responsibility desired and categories of interest. Consistency is checked and qualifying occupations are presented by the computer. Information on more than 400 occupations, 1600 universities and colleges, and 170 national and local sources of financial aid is contained in the system.
Choices: Developed by a branch of the Canadian government, this system has one of the most extensive occupational listings of the major career placement computer systems (700 primary occupations and 3000 related occupations). After entering data on interests, aptitudes, and occupational information, the computer presents a list of occupations meeting the desired criteria The student can ask that detailed information on any three occupations be provided for comparison. The system will also identify why any specific occupation is not listed based on occupational characteristics.
Career Information System (CIS): This system, developed in Oregon, is an occupational information system that focuses primarily on in-state rather than national occupational information. It is particularly useful for helping older students who are seeking new careers. It provides information concerning required skills, licenses, education and training and in-state institutions, programs that meet occupational training requirements, pertinent occupational publications, in-state exploratory clubs, and a contact listing of individuals active in prospective occupations. Adaptations of this system have been developed in several states under different names.
Consult a career librarian or career counselor for computer programs specific to the state where you are planning to find work.
Using Computerized Resources
Research additional information on specific career fields which you identified in the last chapter. Try to access the computer systems mentioned in this section and seek help if needed from impropriate library or career planning and placement personnel.
People Resources
Another way of collecting information about the type of work in which you are interested is to talk with those who are currently doing or supervising such work. This is a way to build on your research of printed and computerized resources and evaluate your impressions of specific kinds of work in which you have an interest. You can learn how others became qualified for their occupations and positions, what a typical day is like for them, and what skills they feel someone entering the field must possess to get hired. Besides learning more about specific career fields and occupations, researching your ideal career in this way also gives you a chance to know more about specific employers and their work environments.
Instead, there is an exchange of information that is usually open and candid in an atmosphere that is non-threatening.
Your purpose is to collect additional information that will assist you in making a career decision. Your requests to talk with people should be based on your genuine need to know more about a career field before you definitely decide what you want to do and where you want to work.
This method of research is not a scheme or a trick to get you in the door to talk to a potential employer about a job.
Gathering information from people in the field can help you to overcome career planning obstacles that many individuals encounter.
- Applying Your Background. Talking to people allows you to learn more about the positions, duties, qualifications, and personality traits of people in the field of your interest. You can obtain specific job titles and information about career paths. This information will help you to know how you can best apply your background within your field of interest. For example, a sales representative might describe a certain "sales personality" that leads to success within her organization. She could describe how she spends a typical day on her job. She could tell you what her next likely position would be if she succeeds at her job. She could describe the longer range career paths for sales representatives within the organization and how many of the executives previously had sales backgrounds.
- Suggestions for Experience. If you feel you lack relevant experience to get the career position you want, you can ask for specific suggestions on how to acquire such experience. This might include suggestions for additional coursework, internships, part-time positions, etc. In addition, a lack of experience can often be compensated for by knowledge of an organization's structure, services and problems. Having this knowledge will enable you to uncover urgent needs within the organization that you might wish to address with your current skills.
