Career Development
Selected Virginia Government Sites
- Career Clusters in Virginia
This site from the CTE Office of the Virginia Department of Education provides sample plans of study for the career pathways and links the viewer to career exploration, self-assessment, and job search skills, with a Virginia emphasis. Audience: Secondary education administrators, teachers, librarians, counselors, parents, students
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Virginia Career VIEW
This site presents Virginia career information, continuing education advice and links, and even a section to help those swamped with indecision. It also addresses internships, summer jobs, and financial aid. Audience: Primarily secondary students, teachers, librarians, and counselors, but very useful for any Virginia job seeker
- Virginia Education Wizard
This Virginia Community College System site helps users choose a career, get the information needed to pursue a career, find the right college, pay for college, transfer from a community college to a university, and get answers to questions about students' futures. Audience: Primarily secondary students, teachers, librarians, and counselors, but very useful for any Virginia job seeker
- Trailblazers
Despite the great opportunities they provide, many courses are dominated by students of only one gender. As a result, many young Virginians miss the opportunity to prepare for these promising careers during high school. Trailblazers helps school divisions to increase enrollment and completion rates of underrepresented students in nontraditional CTE programs, according to federal Perkins Act requirements. Audience: Virginia educational administrators, researchers, teachers, counselors, and librarians
- Virginia Employment Commission
The VEC site provides users with easy access to information about job opportunities and the labor market in Virginia, with features such as MAGIC and VELMA. Audience: Virginia employers, job seekers
- VCCS Workforce Development Services
This site is a resource for those interested in beginning or furthering a career in the a Virginia community college. It includes information about apprenticeships as well. Audience: High school and college students and other job seekers
Selected United States Government Sites
- Career Onestop
This site from America’s Career InfoNetwas created to help viewers explore options for work and learning, gain skills to get a job, find jobs, and explore specific careers and other job resources. Audience: Students, job seekers, employers, human resource specialists, and workforce development specialists
- Guide to State and Local Workforce Data
This US Dept. of Labor site is a compilation of many state and workforce data resources. Scroll down to find many useful links.
- O*NET
The Occupational Information Network is a database of comprehensive information on job requirements and worker competencies. O*NET is intended to replace the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, offering a more dynamic framework for exploring the world of work. Audience: Human resource and other workforce personnel, students exploring career options, career counselors, and job seekers
- Occupational Outlook Handbook
This on-line handbook describes “what workers do on the job, working conditions, training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations.” It is revised every two years. Audience: Students and other job seekers
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Career Information Home Page
Career information for middle school students is accessible on this site, which lists and explains many occupations found in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, but uses simpler language. Occupations are grouped by area of interest, such as reading, math, science, or nature. Audience: Students in grades 4–8.
- Career Guide to Industries
This companion site to the Occupational Outlook Handbook provides career information by industry, including the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training/advancement, earnings/benefits, employment outlook, and other information. Audience: Students, job seekers, and employers
- Occupational Outlook Quarterly Online
This on-line periodical provides practical information on jobs and careers. Articles are written in non-technical language and cover a wide variety of career and work-related topics such as new and emerging occupations, training opportunities, salary trends, and results of new studies from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Audience: Students, teachers, counselors, librarians, job seekers, and workforce researchers. The link to Student Resources is suitable for advanced elementary, along with middle and high school students.
- LifeWorks
This interactive health and medical science career exploration Web site offers information on more than 100 careers by title, educational requirements, interest area, and median salary. Career success stories are highlighted. Audience: Middle and high school students and their parents, Health and Medical Sciences educators, and counselors
Other Selected Career-Related Sites
Self-Inventory Sites
- Career Interests Game
Housed at the University of Missouri, this game is designed to help viewers match their interests, skills, and personality with appropriate career paths (with links to the Occupational Outlook Handbook). Audience: Middle and high school students and other job seekers
- Keirsey Temperament Sorter and Temperament Theory
The brief descriptions on this web site are short versions of the descriptions in Please Understand Me and Please Understand Me II, copyrighted by David Keirsey. Along with the Keirsey Temperament Sorter questionnaire are descriptions of the personality temperaments and various links that tie the temperaments to other areas, such as mating, parenting, and the workplace. Audience: High school and college students and other job seekers, human resources personnel, and employers
- Career Tests
The online tests from PsychTests.com assess the viewer’s abilities in career-related areas such as assertiveness, leadership, conflict resolution, sales ability, and meticulousness. Audience: High school and college students, job seekers, and human resource personnel
- Kolbe Corp.
This online questionnaire gives responders greater understanding of their own natural instincts, giving them a tool to begin nurturing their natural talents and maximizing their personal potential, including their career potential. Audience: Kolbe Y™ is for pre-teens and teens and their parents. Kolbe A™ is for older students and adults.
- Know Your Type
This site describes the 16 personality types that can be determined by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® instrument and lists famous persons who fall into each type. Viewers must pay to take the actual test online. Audience: Organizations and businesses, middle/high school/college students, human resources personnel, employers, parents, and others
Career Exploration Sites
- North Carolina Career Clusters Guide
A student and parent guide to educational planning using Career Clusters
- About.com: Career Planning
The Career Choices section of the About.com site is searchable by large career area and describes the nature of the work, employment, working conditions, and other information about each field. Audience: Students and other career explorers
- National Academies Press
This site provides over 1400 free-to-read-online books related to science, engineering, and medicine. Search “Careers” to find titles related to jobs in these fields. Audience: Students and other career explorers
- Georgia Career Information Center
Although some of this site is password-protected, the career exploration section is not. For each career selected, the site gives information on “What I do,” “Best and hardest part of my profession,” and “Overall impression” (or “How I got started”). Audience: Students, including older elementary through high school
- MonsterTRAK
Besides the usual job hunting skills, this site has sections on etiquette and ethics of job seeking, networking, the company visit, and decisions/negotiations. Audience: Students and other jobseekers
- About.com: Career Planning
Click on the left frame menu for a variety of job-hunting skills including resume writing, company research, reference selection, interviewing, and letter writing, as well as career strategies for women and minorities. Audience: Students and other career explorers
- Princeton Review
Search or browse career profiles, take a career quiz, and match college majors to careers. Audience: Students, especially college students
- Job-Interview.net: Interview Library
This site has an extensive library of practice interview questions, searching by career or job. See also the link to Career Guides. Audience: Students and other job seekers, human resources personnel, employers, and teachers
- CareerJet
Careerjet.com is a nationwide job search engine searchable by occupation and/or city and state, and includes capability to customize a personal job box and search box.
