Careers

Once you have heard of a potential career, you may have a lot of questions about what someone in that career does, how to get a job in that area, how many jobs are available, and more. This section has resources to help you find those answers.

We recommend the "Career Articles" section of this encyclopedia because it gives an overview of different occupations, including: 

• what you do on the job
• employment outlook 
• required education and training 
• normal earnings
• a list of professional associations for learning more

Use the Table of Contents

To go directly to the Career Articles section to look through them, use the Table of Contents button located to the bottom right of the title.  

The United States Department of Labor operates or sponsors a number of valuable websites related to career information.

Image credit: Seal of the United States Department of Labor, image in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Occupational Outlook Handbook

Operated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is an incredible source of basic career information.

Covers

• Typical job duties
• Required education and training
• Salaries
• Employment numbers and job growth
• What industries those in the career work in

You can browse occupations in the OOH by category, education, average pay, and projected job growth.

O*Net Online

O*Net Online is a great site for learning about occupations.

Covers

• Typical work activities in a career
• Beneficial skills & work styles
• Necessary education and credentialing
• Similar careers

O*Net lets you search for careers based on criteria such as areas of the economy, amount of preparation needed, growth outlook in the field, and more. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

CareerOneStop

CareerOneStop is a great, quick guide to all aspects of the career search. 

Covers

• What you would do in a career
• Educational and licensing requirements
• Necessary skills and competencies
• Job outlook and salary information, including comparisons between national information and that on a state or local level

CareerOneStop is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

Books and videos can provide good, in-depth overviews of  careers.  

Search the Catalog

Search our catalog for books, ebooks, and videos on various occupations and career paths. The MOBIUS Catalog can help you find print books and DVDs from other colleges. 

Add these terms to improve your search

• Jobs
• Career
• "Career path"
• "Vocational guidance"  

Search Streaming Video Databases

Our two streaming video databases contain videos overviewing different careers. Films on Demand has a slightly larger collection of career videos, but you should try both.

Use news articles to find

• Current events in a profession
• Up-to-date employment trends

Use research articles to find

• Systematic research on employment issues in a profession
• Research on important topics to that profession

Search Article Databases

The article databases search for both news articles and research articles.

Tips

• Use extra search terms to focus on what aspects of your career you want to look up, such as salary, employment, job outlook, professional development, job satisfaction, career development, etc. 
• Use the publication date limits to find up-to-date information.
• Consider looking at articles in trade publications or trade journals, which are news sources that focus on particular professions or industries. 

Search General Article Databases

Use these for a mix of popular news sources, trade news sources, and research articles in all subjects. 

Search Specialized Article Databases

You can also select a database on a subject that is connected to your career using the Databases by Subject page. Subject databases may have more professional publications, reports, and scholarly research related to careers related to that subject.