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Career Exploration

The best careers are those with purpose, where you can combine your values, strengths, and skills to impact something you care about. How do you discover your purpose? By exploring — yourself! Identify the things you value and love to do; then, you can find a career to put those values and skills to work.

You can use different strategies to explore your skills and strengths and how you might apply them to a career.

Reflection: Our career journey begins with knowing ourselves. Self-assessment is discovering and prioritizing your motivations, needs, interests, values, and skills. Once you get some insight into yourself, then you have a clear starting point. You only need one for the journey to begin! Need a place to start? Take Career Coach Assessment to learn about yourself and career suggestions based on your interests. Assessments can provide you with personal insights that can be helpful in considering your career and professional development, but they should not be seen as prescriptive or directive.

Research industries online: You can find many job roles across industries. In the Labor Market Insights, you can discover which industries are in demand, have the largest employment, are experiencing declining employment, pay the most, growth rate, and more.

Gain Experience: There are various opportunities to explore a job role, industry, or organization. Understanding the day-to-day and experiencing employer culture first-hand is an invaluable way to make more informed decisions.

  1. Complete a Virtual Experience
  2. Shadow a professional in the field
  3. Request an informational interview
  4. Applying for a part-time job or internship.

3 Ways to Find a Mentor in the Skilled Trades

Starting out in a skilled trade can be both exciting and daunting. On one hand, you’re entering a field with high job security, good pay, and plenty of opportunities for advancement. On the other hand, you might feel overwhelmed by …

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3 Ways to Find a Skilled Trade Mentorship For Beginners

If you’re looking to start or grow your career in the skilled trades, a great mentor can be an invaluable resource. They can give you guidance and advice as you navigate your career and offer valuable insights and networking opportunities.

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What Is a Blue-Collar Worker? Understanding These Essential Roles

When you hear the term “blue-collar worker,” you might picture construction workers, electricians, or mechanics—people who work with their hands and keep essential industries running—and you’d be right. But what does blue-collar actually mean, and where did the term come …

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Resources

Candid Career+ Video Library

Whether you’re a student looking to explore career paths or a faculty/staff member at SOWELA researching content for your curriculum, …

Help job seekers learn about careers in the most in-demand industries! Ready for Industry provides you with knowledge that introduces …

Ready for Industry: Students

Learn about careers in the most in-demand industries! Ready for Industry provides you with knowledge that introduces the careers, common …

Work Design Magazine

Work Design Magazine is a thoughtfully curated digital publication with a global reach. We focus on the innovative design of …

Labor Market InsightsIn partnership withLightcast logo

Find Career Data with Job Market Insights
- Salary Data
- Emplpoyment trends
- Top Employers
- Skills & competencies
1. search keywords- search using keywords such as skills or job title
2. filter- filter by industry and occupation

Make informed career decisions with live employment data.

First, choose an industry of interest, then filter for occupation. (If you'd like to see data for a specific location only, filter by state.)