Comparing Jobs Using America's Career InfoNet
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2004-06-15 10:26:59
Have you been thinking about switching jobs at your current employer's? Have you worked in one field for a long time and want to explore other jobs? Are you re-entering the workforce now, after working in one field in the past? Are you curious about other jobs you could do, without learning a whole new set of skills?
Exploring jobs has never been easier, especially on the Internet. You can get online reports of just the job details you want - tailored to exactly what you want to know. How? Use the services of Career One-Stop, a powerful career information partnership between the U.S. Department of Labor and the states. It is very different than the old job service offices that you may have used in the past. All its services to job seekers are free. You can find the Center nearest to you through America's Service Locator.
Career One-Stop Centers have two major tools:
- America's Job Bank - an online tool with millions of job postings.
- America's Career InfoNet - a set of online tools to help you compare jobs to find all the job information you need.
America's Career InfoNet
America's Career InfoNet is a powerful service that is especially effective. It combines national, state, and local facts that would be difficult to gather and cross-reference on your own. Career InfoNet allows you to check out any combination of information on:
- Similar jobs (including videos showing real people at work)
- Similar job families
- Knowledge, skills, and abilities needed
- Education and training needed
- Comparisons of wages and employment trends in the U.S., your state, and your area
- Employer lists and contact details
Getting a Job Comparison Report - Step by Step
There are many different ways to use America's Career InfoNet. You can experiment on your own, or use this walk-through to get started. Let's get started on getting a customized report for two jobs you want to compare.
Current Job: Let's say you now process loan applications for a home mortgage company. Over the past couple of years, rates have been historically low. As a result, business has boomed. You like the work, but are tired of the pressure and all the overtime.
Dream Job: You've dreamed of working in the hospitality industry. Could you get a job using your current skills, working with customers in a hotel or resort setting?
Follow these steps:
- On America's Career InfoNet main page find the square box called "Career Information. "It's on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down to click on" Customized Report "
- The next page is called "Occupation Search." In the Job Families box, click on Office, Clerical and Secretarial.
- On the next page, "Select an Occupation", select "Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks," the job you're wondering about, and click on "search."
- On the next page, "Select a State," click on your state.
- This brings you to the Customized Report page. Here, click on all the boxes except two. Do not click on "Metro Wages" or "Industry Trends." (They let you compare jobs between your area and other geographic areas. If you're thinking about relocating, do this search later.)
- The next page is called Similar Occupations and Local Areas. Here, you can compare the job you're wondering about with your current job. In the box called "Select up to five occupations," click on Loan Interviewers and Clerks. The second box here is called "Then select up to ten local areas." Here, click on the area where you live. There is a state map to help you. (If you ' re thinking about relocating within your state, you can come back later and compare areas.)
- Here is your Customized Report. If you want to print it out, click on Go to the Printer-Friendly Version.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions - Studying your Report
Let's look at the new information you have on your Customized Report.
The first section is Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks. You can also look at an online career video of people working at these jobs. Does this sound like you? Think about your current work. Do you have the same kind of knowledge and skills required for hotel work?
The Tasks and Activities are divided up into Occupation Specific Tasks and Generalized Work Activities. How do these sound to you? How are these similar or different from what you do now? Are you still interested?
Look at Education and Training. Hotel clerk work requires short-term on-the-job training. You wouldn't have an extra education requirement to meet.
Now it's get even more intriguing. The Occupation Report shows you the wages for Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in the U.S. and in your state.
Before you look at the next section on Wage Comparisons, notice the National Trends boxes. Hotel clerk jobs are predicted to grown by 33% during this decade. That could be good news.
But is the bad news next? The Wage Comparison shows that in every state, Loan Interviewers make more money than Hotel Clerks. Maybe switching isn't such a great idea.
What's the last box, though? In the Trends Comparison, you see that Loan Interviewer jobs will decrease almost as much as Hotel Clerks will increase. So maybe switching jobs isn't out of the question.
The State Profile information will let you do more research before you decide.
The Employer Locator tool gives you a contact list of actual employers who hire Hotel Clerks, where you live or in any other geographic area you choose. Find this tool on the main page of Career InfoNet.
You can also go back and play around with many information combinations for your Customized Report on occupations. You're likely to find other jobs in your field that pay as much as, or more than, your current work. Or, you may decide to change jobs for reasons other than money. In any case, you have the information you need in these powerful Career InfoNet search tools. Good luck!
Additional Resources
Find Your Local Career One-Stop Center
Start Here with America's Career InfoNet
Career Guide to Industries
Browse jobs similar to yours. See if similar jobs exist in other industries. If you prefer the book, public libraries have this one in the reference section.
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