What Job is Best for Me? 2012 Career Decision E-Book Now Available

"What Job is Best for Me? How to make a decision you won't regret," our most popular career decision e-book, has just been updated for 2012, expanded to 97 pages.

In "What Job is Best for Me?" Career Key author Dr. Lawrence K. Jones guides people through their career decision, relying on methods, information and techniques based on the latest research and career counseling practices.

The e-Book includes recommended activities for the critical four steps to choosing the right career:

1. Consider all the Alternatives,
2. Weigh the Consequences of each,
3. Search for Information about each choice, and
4. Make details Plans.

In the 2012 edition, we added two new sections of advice related to education: "Choosing a College Major" and "Learning about Training and Education Options." Readers can take advantage of recent research on personality-major match and learn how it fits in with choosing a career.

You can purchase "What Jobs is Best for Me?" for $8.95 in our eBookstore.  When you add The Career Key career test, you get a 20% total discount over separate purchases: both for $14.95.

Career Clusters, Career Pathways & Our Updated E-Book

"5 Steps to Choosing a Career Cluster, Field, or Pathway" has just been updated. It includes the most recent updates to The Career Key test and the most recent assignments of Career Clusters and Career Pathways found on O*NET OnLine.

Found in our eBookstore, "5 Steps" costs $9.95 with a special discount for purchasing both the Career Key test and the e-Book together.

Career Key's approach is to use its valid assessment of Holland's six personality types to match students to occupations, then to the clusters and pathways related to those occupations.

Our e-book is the only one that matches students' interests in this way. We also have a free online article called "Choosing a Career Cluster, Field or Pathway" with a free downloadable Career Key Map of the 16 Career Clusters.

The 16 Career Clusters and 79 Career Pathways are not organized by interests (but by industries and required skills, knowledge). So it's important to give students a scientifically valid way to match their interests to occupations within those clusters and pathways.

I uploaded to YouTube a video overview of Career Key's Career Clusters and Career Pathways resources, including the new version of the e-book.



If you are interested in Career Clusters and Career Pathways, you might read these related blog posts:
Career Clusters Interest Survey Validity Questioned by Study
NCDA Article on Using Interests to Organize Matching College Majors, Career Clusters and Pathways
NCDA (National Career Development Association)

Please see the related press release, "Career Key's Updated e-Book Enables Students to Choose the Best Career Cluster and Career Pathway."

The Career Key Career Test Adds New Occupations

We just updated the career options and occupations listed in The Career Key career test to keep pace with changes in our economy and the world of work.

For all six Holland personality types (RIASEC), test takers will get to choose from:

• Occupations with a real future, most with a positive job outlook; and
• A variety of occupations with different skill and education requirements.

Here are a few samples of new occupations we added:

Realistic: Railroad Yardmaster
Investigative: Network Engineer
Artistic: Medical and Scientific Illustrator
Social: Nurse Informaticist
Enterprising: Medical and Health Services Manager
Conventional: Production, Planning, or Expediting Clerk

These occupations were also added to our self-scoring, paper-pencil version of The Career Key test, found in our eBookstore.

Other related and helpful Career Key articles:

• Getting Started Choosing a Career
• Career Change, Changing Careers
• Identify Your Skills
• Military to a Civilian Career
• Choosing a College Major or Training Program
• How Parents Can Help

Here is the full PRWeb press release announcing the new career options in our career test...

Green Careers: How to Choose One in this Economy

If you are exploring green careers and care about the environment, try following the tips in our newly updated web article, "Green Economy: Match Your Personality to Green Jobs". In addition to showing you how the green economy impacts you, the article gives you 4 steps to follow in your career decision-making.

It shows nearly two hundred Green Jobs by Holland personality type and recommends you look at other career options that make "green" contributions, like teachers and clergy.

Don't limit yourself to thinking that a "Green Job" only means occupations like "wind turbine technician" and "solar panel installer." If your strongest personality types are Artistic or Social, there are plenty of green contributions you can make.

First, match your interests to occupations, then brainstorm ways your green values can fit in.  What can you do with a nursing degree that might be "green"? What about focusing on public health or occupational health?  For more ideas on how to learn about your career options, visit our Green Jobs article.

Even though the Green Economy has gotten a fair amount of negative press recently, with the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra's bankruptcy and the use of Federal green job training dollars topping the news, I don't think it means green jobs are not promising. Here's one NYT commentator who thinks solar power is more than a "hippie fantasy." The current job market and economy is challenging for just about any industry other than software and Internet commerce.

Regardless of one's politics, global warming and impacts on humans of environment factors are not going away. And I wouldn't wait for a clear job outlook prediction in this politically charged and slow economy.  Besides, you may be living in a nursing home by the time the boxing match between China and the U.S. solar power industries is decided.

Don't wait for others to give you a green light.

My favorite green economy and green career information links:
Government
Occupational Outlook Handbook Green Careers
O*NET Green Economy
CareerOneStop's "Find Education and Training"
Industry (I'll be updating this shortly - but until then, check the industry associations for careers you're interested in, like alternative energy, environmental health, etc.)

See also our PRWeb Press release on Green Jobs.

How to Choose an Encouraging College Major Environment that Leads to Success

When you choose a college major, you are also choosing an environment- with surroundings and conditions that an encourage and discourage you.

For you to be successful, research shows that you should choose a college major environment compatible with your Holland personality.

To learn about how professors create this environment, and how to learn more about whether it's the right personality fit for you, visit Career Key's new 3 part series of self-help articles:

1. Personality-College Major Match, Why it is Important - recommendations on matching your Holland personality to majors;
2. The Holland College Major Environments - how they are created and a description of what the six Holland environments are; and
3. Learn More about College Major Environments - practical, concrete steps you can take to investigate the environments that interest you.

Be sure to explore Career Key's other articles on college major advice, like:

Choosing a College Major

Liberal Arts, Humanities, and General Studies Majors

Choosing a Career Cluster, Field or Pathway

and our related free PDF e-books:

Choosing a College Major Based on Your Personality; What does the research say?

Personality-College Major Match and Student Success: Professionals Guide

Love Halloween? Business Opportunities and Self-Employed Side-Career Ideas

If you love Halloween – I mean, really LOVE it – you might consider a self-employed side business centered around the holiday.  According to Value Village (a popular Halloween destination retailer), the average family of four will spend $300 to celebrate the holiday.  To learn more about Halloween economics, both in the U.S. and Canada, check out these links:

About.com’s Halloween Business Opportunities article;

National Retail Federation’s “Big Blog” post on Halloween Econ this year, with a related CNN video

National Retail Federation consumer spending study results

Value Village’s Press Kit for its annual online survey results (Trends and Survey Data)

Top 5 Halloween Businesses, from the Intuit blog

Halloween Industry's Evolution to a $6 Billion Business, from the Huffington Post

If you don’t love Halloween, you might browse the Holiday and Consumer Trends News at the National Retail Federation website for ideas about other holidays.

As you can see from the above photo, I am probably not the best potential customer, encouraging my son’s idea to “make my own [crow] costume.” Being a crow and the wing design were his ideas – not bad for Pre-K engineering. Cost: zero.  Added bonus - his black turtleneck outfit could conveniently convert to a Steve Jobs costume in case of costume malfunction/destruction.

For the record, this year our family spent $30 on Halloween candy, $30 on pumpkins and $30 on two trips through corn mazes.  Shows where our priorities lie: gourds, navigating maps (but you knew that already) and stuffing ourselves with leftover candy….

Happy Halloween!

Promising Conventional Careers 2011: Administration, Health, and Records

If you're a Conventional personality type, employers are looking for your structured, orderly approach to records, numbers or machines in many promising careers. Administrative careers involving mathematical detail or the ability to work well with material or records processing systems are in demand. In the last post of this 6 part series, Promising 2011 Careers that Match Your Personality, we list occupations compatible with the Conventional Holland personality type.

We recommend starting with Part 1, our introduction and tips on how to use this Promising Careers list. To see promising careers for the other five Holland personality types, see our other posts in this series:
Realistic Careers, Investigative Careers, Artistic Careers, Social Careers, and Enterprising Careers.

The world of Conventional occupations has greatly changed in the last 50 years.  Paper handling and filing occupations of the past have disappeared with better computers, information technology, and outsourcing.  But if you combine the needs of a more high-tech world with analytical skills and attention to detail, you will find Conventional jobs that pay well and have a positive job outlook.

Combining an occupation (from any personality type) with a growth industry (health care, information technology (see my previous post on high-tech in particular), energy, and materials moving and processing) is a recipe for more job opportunities.

When researching career information, make sure to use BOTH the O*NET (occupations below link to it) and the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). There is a link to the OOH at the end of each O*NET occupation page. Read this previous post about their different advantages and disadvantages.

Promising Conventional Careers by Career Key Work Group

Holland's Theory of Career Choice and a description of the Conventional personality type

Mathematical Detail

Actuaries

Bill and Account Collectors

Billing and Posting Clerks and Machine Operators

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

Energy Auditor

Computer Security Specialists

Cost Estimators

Database Administrators

Investment Underwriters

Mapping Technicians 

Web Developers

Network Designers

Financial Detail

Financial Analysts

Material and Records Processing

Cargo and Freight Agents

Freight Forwarders

Logistics Analysts

Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Administrative Detail

Clinical Data Managers

Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists

Dental Assistants

Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Web Administrators

Medical Secretaries

Purchasing Agents

Regulations Enforcement

Compliance Managers

Environmental Compliance Inspectors

Government Property Inspectors and Investigators

Licensing Examiners and Inspectors

Quality Control Analysts

Regulatory Affairs Specialists

Risk Management Specialists

For ideas on how to learn more career information about the occupations and jobs that interest you, visit these Career Key website articles:
Learn More About Occupations
Learn More About the Jobs that Interest Me
3 Tips to Finding a Promising Job in High-Tech or Any Growth Industry