If you’re looking for career ideas, and especially if you’re looking for some concrete info to help in choosing a career, here’s an incredible resource.
Inspiring? Not so much. But it’s an unbelievably complete resource for finding out the nitty-gritty facts (presented in a very readable format by the way, not as statisitcal lists) about pretty much every occupation you can imagine–and many you probably never thought about before.
I’m talking about the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. Yes, it sounds like the ultimate cure for insomnia, but it’s actually a way to find out (according to the BLS website):
- the training and education needed
- earnings
- expected job prospects
- what workers do on the job
- working conditions
For people curious about what some jobs entail and the education required, this is very useful. For students just looking to browse through careers to see what might interest them, it’s also helpful but more difficult to use online as there are so many listings that it would be hard to just randomly be clicking around.
In short, this is a wonderful resource. It is no substitute for the internal work you must do to succeed in finding your best or ideal or true career(s). That’s all about understanding yourself, your passions, your values and your skills. Other articles on this blog talk about those elements. This article I just wanted to make sure everyone reading this blog would have access to bottom line information you need to help make realistic career plans.