Chapter 6: The Role of Information in Career Planning

Learning Objectives Describe the career planning process and how information relates to it Explain the responsibilities of the client and the CDF in this process Describe at least five different kinds of decision-making styles Identify criteria for judging the quality of informational databases

Learning Objectives, continued Define labor market and labor market information Describe three major government and three other sources of occupational information Describe at least three ways occupations can be classified Explain how clients can research occupations and training opportunities

The Career Decision-Making Process

Types of Deciders Planful - step-by-step process, steps 1-6 Painful - steps 1-4 Intuitive - step 5 without much data Impulsive - step 5 without finding alternatives Compliant - letting someone else decide Delaying - putting off decision making Fatalistic - giving up control Paralytic - being too frightened to decide

CDF Role To help clients understand the process To offer activities and resources that may help to identify and clarify alternatives To assist clients to use the information gained in ways that help with making a choice To refer clients for assistance from others if their needs exceed the scope of your work and training

Types of Databases Academic or Training Programs—descriptions of school majors at different educational levels Schools—descriptions of all the schools, by levels, in a given geographic area Occupations—descriptions of hundreds of occupations Jobs—descriptions of available positions

Characteristics of High-Quality Databases Accurate - data contained in them is correct Understandable - meaning can be understood by reader Recent - data are updated frequently Sufficient - enough information to satisfy the needs of the decider Unbiased - do not present an option as better or worse than it really is

Government Sources of Occupational Information Occupational Outlook Handbook Occupational Outlook Quarterly Guide to Occupational Exploration O*Net America’s Career InfoNet

Ways to Organize Occupations Holland System - a three-letter code World-of-Work Map System - 6 clusters, 26 job families GOE System - 14 groups O*Net System - 1166 occupations SIC - grouped by industry, primary activity, and product