Before you start your job search (or get any farther with the one you’re in the midst of), take some time to put your search in a larger context. Every job seeker should know the “lay of the land” for his targeted industry or profession.
Start by asking yourself these questions:
• Do you know the titles or descriptions of positions you should be applying for?
• What is the current outlook for the jobs you’re seeking in your geographic region?
• Do you have the appropriate qualifications for the level and type of job(s) you’re searching for?
• Are there other industries or positions you might be qualified for that you should include in your search?
• And finally, if the outlook for your targeted industry/positions is not good, can you find a different profession that might be easier to be hired into? If so, what will it take?
“If you read the odds of your resume getting you an interview, it’s depressing. Statistics are always against you—but just keep at it. Your qualifications will be a perfect match for a job somewhere, and they’ll find you, if you just do the homework.”
— Bernice Kao, job/career specialist and job service outreach librarian at Fresno County (California) Public Library
You can improve your odds of finding great jobs that match your qualifications by starting out with a broader search. As you research the job market and review job postings, look at all types of jobs within your targeted industry or industries, and see what is available. If this becomes too overwhelming, you can begin to narrow your search by eliminating certain positions or other criteria from your search.
Occupation/Career Listings Online
The Riley Guide's Career Research Center
“This library includes job descriptions, salary data and employment statistics, and education information for over 160 occupations!”
The Vocational Information Center’s offers lots of valuable links to sites with employment trends, state-by-state labor market information, economic statistics, and more.
Job-posting aggregator Indeed.com adds statistics for a dozen industries each month, providing at-a-glance information on where the jobs are. Click on “trends” from the home page to get started.
Get an Industry Snapshot
So what do you need to learn about your industry in order to shape your search? Your industry or profession snapshot should include
How is the industry’s overall economic health? What is the forecast for job growth in the field? What is the unemployment rate within the industry? Are the companies that are major players doing well in the stock market?
What’s happening in your neighborhood? Which organizations are located in your city or county? Are they hiring? Is growth in your area increasing or decreasing? What’s on the horizon in DC? Is there any pending legislation that will affect your industry’s trends or economic health? (For example, the First-time Homebuyer’s Tax Credit in 2009 gave real estate a short-term boost.)
What are the trends? What does the business press have to say about your industry? Are there new technologies, new organizations, or changes in the business world that will affect your career?
Your First Stop: The Library’s Information Counter
“Right now, we’re seeing more interest in career planning. As jobs are disappearing, people are seeking new industries with better demand.”
— Bonnie Easton, librarian at the Career Center of the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library
Public libraries serve their communities — and if your community’s needs include help with job searching, your library should be able to provide information and resources to help with your research. Check your library’s website for job or career pages, and stop by the reference desk to see what type of help is available. You may find that a librarian has already created a ready-to-use list of Internet resources you can use to get started, or you may be able to access the library’s information databases to gather information.
Hit the Books (Online)
The federal government compiles industry information every year in volumes that are now available online for free. These are absolute “musts” to include in your research:
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)
Published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this guide is available online and may be available at your library in print. Revised and updated every two years, it includes detailed career information for all types of occupations, including a description of what workers do on the job, training and education needed, expected job prospects, salaries or wages, and working conditions. You’ll also find links to information on state-by-state job markets, job search tips and more.
Career Guide to Industries (CGI)
A companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, this BLS publication is only available online. It is similar to the OOH, and provides information on careers by industry, including occupations in the industry, expected job prospects, training and advancement, earnings, and more.
Occupational Outlook Quarterly
An online quarterly magazine published by the BLS that covers a variety of career topics, such as new and emerging occupations, training opportunities, salary trends, and results of new studies from the BLS.
O*NET Online
Browse the O*NET OnLine database of occupational information. The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, and the database is a user-friendly resource with information on nearly one thousand occupations. Browse by occupation or by skills. (How can I use my teaching skills and desire to help people?) There is a lot of information and a lot of ways to search or find it—so take some time to click around O*NET.
Five More Resources
There are other outstanding sources for up-to-date information. Check these additional online and print sources for details on your industry and/or career:
1. Wetfeet.com offers its own insights and information on trends, major players, and job descriptions in major industries, as well as career information.
2. The Career Project is a site that provides a brief description of thousands of jobs—from the workers themselves. Select an industry, and see comments from actual people working in it. Better yet, you can ask any of these “mentors” a question via e-mail if you want more information on the kind of work they do (or money they make).
3. Another place to check is the listing of “Best Jobs in America” at CNNMoney.com. You won’t exactly find the “best” jobs, but you can see those with the most growth, highest pay, and highest rated quality of life.
4. The websites or member publications of any professional associations related to your chosen work. Associations will report—either directly or indirectly—on trends, pending and current legislation, and other factors that influence jobs in the field.
5. For general business information that may impact your chosen industry, browse these well-known publications online or in print at your public library:Wall Street Journal , Fortune Magazine, Fast Company, and Forbes.
“Do your own research. It’s in the newspaper every single day.”
— Bernice Kao, job/career specialist and job service outreach librarian at Fresno County (California) Public Library
You should know:
• Major players in your industry and/or region – the organizations and perhaps the people who run them.
• Any recent changes to those major players. Mergers, moves, new products introduced, or headline-making news.
• The latest trends. By monitoring professional associations’ websites and publications, relevant news sources, blogs and LinkedIn groups, you’ll see patterns emerge—those are the trends.
• Industry lingo, acronyms, and jargon. Want to write websites? It’s easy enough to find out what SEO stands for—and you’ll need to know!
News Delivered to Your In-Box
You can stay up-to-date on industry news with daily or weekly e-mail alerts by setting up a Google News Alert. From Google.com, click on “About Google” and select “Google Services and Tools” to find “Alerts.” Type in specific phrases and words on what you’d like to see. For example, you may choose to see news items (and blog entries, discussions, and videos) on “property management.” If you then find that you’re seeing too many items that aren’t relevant, you can refine your search criteria to “property management,” “condominiums,” and “Florida.”
Get the Inside Scoop
If you feel you need some specific insights into the state of your chosen industry, try for one or more information interviews. These are one-on-one meetings that you set up with established professionals in your field.
The Last Word
The time you spend researching your chosen industry will pay off. Not only will it help you set parameters for your job search now, but you can draw on the information you find when you’re in an interview—to demonstrate your knowledge and insights in your field—as well as once you get a job. In fact, staying abreast of what’s happening in your industry, including hiring trends, is always a good idea, even when you are employed. So make this type of research a habit!
This article is adapted from the book How to Get a Great Job: A Library How-To Handbook by Editors of the American Library Association published by ALA Editions.
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An initiative of the New Jersey State Library with funding through a grant from the National Telecommunications Administration. Design by Matthew Schmidt Design.