Discussion 4 Fall 2022
Chapter 11 Using Information to Facilitate Career Development
Things to Remember
The major types of occupational information and the places where they can be found
The potential uses of O*NET
How to select and use educational occupational information with individuals and groups
When I introduced the topic of occupational information to my career development classes, I heard sighs, and the posture of the students signaled a mood of silent resignation. They knew that there is nothing as practical as a good theory, and they think that there is nothing as boring as occupational information. They may be right, but when I asked them, “How many occupations can you describe in detail?” most indicated that their knowledge of occupations was limited. In fact, most students can describe the preparation for and duties of fewer than half a dozen of the more than 1,000 occupations in the U.S. occupational structure, and the jobs they can describe are mostly jobs that require college degrees. Approximately 22 percent of the occupations in this country require a bachelor’s degree. In order to be effective, career counselors must help their clients to choose from among 1,000 occupations, prepare for them, and to find ways to implement their choices. However, occupational information has a more extensive use than facilitating individual choice: It is an also invaluable tool for facilitating the career development of children, adolescents, and adults. Let’s begin with the latter assumption, that career information has important uses, some of which are as follows, categorized by age groups:
Children
To develop an awareness of the diversity of the occupational structure
To develop an awareness of their parents’ occupations and the nature of workers in their community and beyond
To break down racial and sex-role stereotypes and 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 postsecondary 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 private 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 of 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 lifestyle planning
To repeat, occupational and educational information is an essential ingredient in a comprehensive career development program and as a tool in career counseling. The complexity of the occupational structure is staggering. Information can be used to help clients not only understand the occupational structure but also negotiate it in a manner that is beneficial to them and to society. A few editions ago, this chapter focused largely on commercially produced print materials, but that is no longer the case. Much of the focus of the chapter will be on government-produced online and computer-based materials. This chapter also deals with computer-assisted career guidance systems (CACGS), most of which also provide occupational and educational information as well as decision-making assistance. The discussion of assessment using CACGS will take place in the next chapter.
Occupational and Labor Market Information
Occupational information includes educational, occupational, and psychosocial 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 is also generated by government agencies for the purpose of informing both individuals and policymakers. For example, the unemployment rate in a particular geographic area of our country is usually of interest to individual clients because it may be one indicator of the difficulty or ease of their job searches. On the other hand, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Employment Security Commission, the Federal Reserve System, and a host of other agencies are interested in the overall unemployment rate because it may (1) indicate a need for legislation authorizing increases or decreases in funds for training and retraining programs, (2) suggest that the demand for employment placement services will increase or decrease, or (3) signal a positive or negative trend in the nation’s economy.
Labor market information includes data about the occupational structure and the trends that shape it. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau collects and disseminates information about the numbers of people employed in various occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, located in the Department of Labor, collects information about hiring, plant closings, and layoffs, and it uses the data to make predictions about the future of individual jobs (demand for workers) as well as the overall occupational structure. Their predictions also include projections regarding demographic characteristics of the people employed in the labor market (e.g., women in the workforce). The U.S. Departments of Defense, Commerce, the Interior, Agriculture, and the Treasury also collect and disseminate labor market information.
Not unexpectedly, given the differences between occupational and labor market statistics, information is generated in decidedly different ways. Historically, information about specific occupations was generated by using job analysis techniques. Job analysis requires observation of workers on the job to ascertain the functions they perform, the machines and tools required to perform their functions, the materials used on the job, the products produced, the nature of the work environment, and the worker traits (aptitudes, abilities, and temperaments) required to perform the job. The first comprehensive database of jobs in the United States, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), was published in 1939. The information in the DOT was developed using observational strategies known as job analysis, but the architects of O*NET, the replacement for the DOT, asked workers in the jobs included in the O*NET system to rate the nature of work they perform, the abilities needed to perform the job, and the nature of the work environment.
Two Important Sources of Information
Occupational and labor force information are typically produced and distributed in combination with each other. The most important occupational/labor force information databases are available both online and in print. Two of these, O*NET and the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), will be discussed next.
The Occupational Information Network (O*NET)
The Dictionary of Occupational Titles was last published by the United States Department of Labor in 1991; it hasn’t been republished since, because it failed to provide an adequate basis for helping workers who were laid off to locate other jobs in which they could use their skills. The Occupational Information Network (O*NET), which corrected this deficiency, can be accessed by governmental agencies, private and public institutions, and the general public.
The content model adopted for O*NET can be seen in Figure 11.1. It contains some of the same types of data formerly found in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (e.g., general knowledge and education required for job performance). Some of the data in O*NET can also be found in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (e.g., occupational forecasts and wage information) and the Guide for Occupational Exploration (this guide is privately produced and appears in more than one format). Data regarding approximately 906 occupations can be found in O*NET.