Assignment: occupational information
Assignment: occupational information
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Assignment: What are the Importance of occupational information
Approximately 22 percent of the occupations in this country require a bachelor’s degree.
Occupational information has a more extensive use than facilitating individual choice. It is an essential ingredient in a comprehensive career development program.
Occupational information is an invaluable tool for facilitating the career development of children, adolescents and adults.
Important uses by category:
Children
To develop an awareness of the diversity of the occupational structure
To develop an awareness of their parents’ occupational and the nature of works in their community and beyond
To break down racial and sex-role stereotypes about people with disabilities
To develop an appreciation for the link between education and work
To develop economic awareness of the relationship of occupation to lifestyle
Adolescents
To sharpen their focus on personal identity as it relates to work
To help provide motivation to complete high school and enroll in post-secondary education and training programs
To begin reality testing by contacting and observing workers
To provide a basis for lifestyle planning
To eliminate stereotypes
To compare career opportunities in the provide and public sectors as well as in the military
Adults
To provide information about training opportunities that will enhance their current occupational performance
To provide information that allows them to evaluate their earnings related to others with similar jobs
To enhance skills that will allow them to conduct job searches across the nation and the world
To develop employability skills that will allow them to apply and interview for other jobs
To provide information about the rights workers who are disabled, older, female or minorities and how to lodge grievances when those rights are abridged
Retirees
To identify part-time or full-time job opportunities if they decide to return to work
To help them use the skills they have developed as workers or as volunteers
To assist them to continue lifetime planning
Occupational and Labor Market Information
Occupational information includes educational, occupational and psychological facts related to work.
This type of information comes almost entirely from governmental sources and for the most part focuses on individual jobs.
Labor market information includes data about the occupational structure and the trends that shape it.
The first comprehensive database of jobs in the U.S., The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), was published in 1939. The information was developed using observational strategies known as job analysis. DOT was last published by the U.S. Department of Labor in 1991.
O*NET, the replacement for DOT, asked workers in the jobs to rate the nature of work they perform, the abilities needed to perform the job and the nature of the work environment.
The content model of O*NET contains 6 domains of information:
Worker characteristics—individuals’ enduring characteristics that influence their motivation and capacity to function in an occupation. Three types included in O*NET: (abilities; occupational values and interests; work styles).
Worker requirements—individuals’ attributes that influence occupational performance across a range of activities (basic skills; cross-functional skills; knowledge; education).
Experience requirements—pre-requisite experiences in various types of jobs, specific job preparation, on-the-job training and certification and licensure requirements.
Occupational requirements—job requirements established for individuals across domains of work: (generalized work activities; organizational context; work conditions).
Occupation-specific requirements (occupational knowledge; occupational skills; tasks; duties; machines, tools and equipment).
Occupation characteristics (labor market information; occupational outlook; wages
Examples of Using O*NET
Not developed for use in print form, but print copies of 3 of the online assessment inventories used in conjunction with O*NET are available for sale from U.S. Government Printing Office (the Ability Profiler, Interest Profiler and Work Importance Locator)
Students and adults may view summary reports that include the most important characteristics of the workers in various jobs and the requirements of a particular job.
Can be used by an employer who wishes to write job descriptions
High school or college students can either type in an occupation of interest in the search box or complete the profiles.
Rehabilitation counselors can search for occupational options based on physical characteristics.
Educational policy makers may look at the skills and knowledges to set standards for jobs in their institutions
Business leaders can look at the data on work and organizational context to ascertain information about high-performance workplaces.
Additional Occupational Resources
The Occupational Outlook Handbook
Is available in print and online
Provides predictions about the future of both occupational clusters and individual occupations
Also includes brief descriptions of the duties performed on the job, working conditions, average salary data and information of how to prepare for each job listed.
Information about the Military
The Department of Defense has developed a website that provides an overview of jobs available in all four branches of the military ()
Computer Assisted Career Guidance Systems
State Systems
Other Types of Occupational Information
Simulations – range from simple role-playing exercises (client assumes role of the worker )to the use of highly sophisticated programs (training of airline pilots)
Games
Interviews with Experts
Direct Observation
Job Shadowing
Career Days
Career Conferences
Work Experience Programs
Career Fairs
Children’s Materials
Educational Information
Educational Institutions
Apprenticeships
Post-High School Opportunity Programs
Chapter 12
Virtual and Brick and Mortar Career Centers
Design and Implementation
One-Stop Career Centers
In 1994, The Department of Labor Employment and Training Agency (DOLETA) responded to the criticism that their services overlapped and in some instances were difficult to access by developing the One-Stop Career Centers
They are located throughout the country in U.S. Employment Services offices as well as online.
The provide a full range of virtual resources and face-to-face services to job seekers
Brick and Mortar Career Centers
Have been established in community colleges, vocational technical schools four-year institutions, U.S. Employment Security offices, libraries and businesses.
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Establishing a Career Center (CC)
Basic Criteria for Locating and Designing a CC
Accessibility
For people with visual disabilities (well lighted areas, tactile directions, signs and elevators, closed caption videos, alternatives to keyboard and mouse use, audio versions of graphics)
For people with hearing disabilities (rooms equipped with alternative emergency notices, available telecommunications devices for the deaf [TDD])
For people with mobility issues (wheelchair accessible entrances, registrations desks telephone and restrooms; easy access to buildings)
Attractiveness
Ease of operation
Covers a variety of areas including the filing system used, storage and display of material, policies about checking out materials and nature of assistance provided to users of the CC
Responsiveness
Reflect diversity
Renovating or developing a CC
The first step is to select a coordinator who understands technology and it application
Enlist the support of organization’s leadership
Establish a steering committee that can assist in setting objectives and designing the program that will be offered to client groups
Basic Technological Competencies
Use available software to develop web pages
Use web-based systems to provide outreach and education programs
Identify and evaluate web-based career decision-making programs and assessment packages that can be used in the CC
Help clients search for career-related information via the Internet
Help clients prepare and post online resumes and conduct virtual job interviews
Apply the legal standards and ethical codes that relate to career services on the Internet
Design social networking support groups that support job hunters
Design and deliver ethically and legally sound web-based career counseling programs
Evaluate the quality of a web-based career center
Evaluate the efficacy of Internet-based job listing and placement programs
Criteria for Collecting Materials
The group that will make major use of the materials
The nature of the community
The staff who will use the materials
How the materials will be used
Auxiliary local resources
Critical CC resources
Who Can Benefit from Self-Directed Online Offerings (virtual CC’s)?
CC’s need to establish procedure for screening potential users of web-based tools to ascertain who can take advantage of self-directed experiences and who cannot
Users should have the verbal ability necessary to use the systems in the CC
Students with goal instability or low self-efficacy may not benefit from the system and may need to engage in traditional career counseling
Poorly motivated clients are unlikely to benefit
Students (clients with low self-esteem or negative thinking) are unlikely to benefit
Anxiety and depression are barriers
Lack of information or misconceptions about web-based tools
People who have significant should not rely solely on web-based tools.
Using the Internet to Provide Career Counseling and Assessment
Two major factors dominate the decision of whether to offer web counseling
Meeting students and counselor comfort with the process
Several options available to counselors
May use email to correspond with their clients
May use chat rooms
Webcams open the possibility of “face-to-face”
Guidelines to guide practitioners who provide web counseling
Obtain parental permission when providing services to minors
Make sure information obtained from clients is stored in a secure place
Ensuring quality of services is the same quality provided in person
Getting permission from clients when releasing information
Making clients aware that technical difficulties may interrupt the service from time to time
Informing clients that miscommunication can occur when nonverbal cues are not available
Finding out whether clients can contact the service provider at times other than when services are being provided
Providing clients with hyperlinks to licensing boards and professional associations so that ethical complaints can be lodged if necessary
Maintaining a list of referral sources in the client’s locale in the event that the online counseling becomes inappropriate or nonproductive
Discussing cultural or language differences that might impact the counseling process
Utilizing Websites as Adjuncts to Web Counseling
Before linking the CC website to another website, a careful evaluation of the site should occur by answering the following questions:
When was the site last updated? Useful sites are updates regularly
Who developed and maintains the site? Can this person or agency be contacted via email to answer questions?
Are the sources of the information on the website reputable?
Is the reading level of the material appropriate for your clients?
Can the material on the website be accessed easily?
