SPS Workforce Development Department

RESOURCE LINKS

CAREER WEB-PAGE SITES

Here are some very good web-page sites. If there are some that you use in addition to these, please pass them along to the SOWL STW team.

www.futureworks-now.com
FutureWorks is one of 37 One Stop Career Centers in Massachusetts. FutureWorks provides a wide range of services and resources to job seekers and employers in Hampden County. These include: job postings, free workshops in resume writing, interviewing, salary negotiations, use of computers, FAX machines, phones, copiers; and access to trained professionals to assist members in their job search, career planning and management.

www.nycareerzone.org
New York Career Zone is an interactive site that allows jobseekers to match their interests, skills, preferences, and abilities to job openings. This website is also beneficial for students and those engaged in career exploration. Students can develop a career plan that directly correlates to their interests and abilities.

www.bls.gov/oco
The Occupational Outlook Handbook provides vital resources and information for prospective students and employers with respect to training and education, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions. In addition, the Handbook gives job search tips, links to information about the job market in each state, and more.

http://www.doe.ass.edu/cd
Career Development Education (CDE) can play a key role in promoting student motivation and achievement. This website is home to valuable input from school counselors, teachers, career development specialists and others. This website also provides information regarding the Massachusetts Career Planning Model.

http://masscis.intocareers.org
The Massachusetts Division of Career Services (DCS) is designed to provide occupational and educational information to help people make better-informed career and school choices. DCS holds the Massachusetts license for the Career Information System (CIS), a comprehensive, interactive system developed by intoCareers, a division of the College of Education at the University of Oregon. Thousands of schools, state agencies, and individuals throughout the United States use CIS products. DCS provides the occupational and school information for Massachusetts.

SELF-DISCOVERY & EXPLORATION RESOURCES

Building Brand You
http://www.fastcompany.com/career/brand.html
Fast Company magazine is responsible for this useful resource. Wide ranges of topics are covered, including emotions on the job, office politics, decision-making, mentoring, handling difficult conversations, and burnout. This website helps individuals capitalize on and market their own skills.

Career Development Manual
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infocecs/crc/manual-home.html
The University of Waterloo Career Services created this site that provides detailed information on self-assessment and career exploration. There are six “Steps to Career/Life Planning Success” that are outlined on this site. They are self-assessment, occupational research, decision-making, employment contacts, work, and career/life planning.

Career Planit
http://www.careerplanit.com
This resource is available from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. This site contains information about desirable personal characteristics and skills and what one should have and how one should develop them.

Career Planning Process
https://www.bgsu.edu/offices/careers/process/process.html
This site was designed by Bowling Green State University. This site allows you to explore your abilities, interests, values. Also, this allows people to help you determine if your selected occupational direction is the right one.

The Career Interests Game
http://www.missouri.edu/cppcwww/holland.shtml
The University of Missouri’s Career Center uses a game based on John Holland’s RIASEC model of occupations. To play this game, you need to rank the top three groups that appeal to you out of six groups of people, each group representing one of the RIASEC (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional) types. This will give you your Holland Code. For example, if you select the artistic, social, and investigative groups (in that order of preference), your Holland Code is ASI. Your Holland Code can help you to identify what career path might be suitable for your personality. When you click on each RIASEC type, you will find lists of significant personality traits, likes, and hobbies, as well as career possibilities.

Self-Directed Search
http://www.self-directed-search.com
This site from Psychological Assessment Resources provides an overview of SDS, a career interest test, plus information on John Holland, the person who developed it. There are sub pages for each of the six RIASEC (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional) types. Personality traits are listed for each type, along with related occupations.

The Career Key
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/L/LKJ
Career Key is a vocational test designed to help you explore what career fields you may be suited for. The test can be taken online. You are asked to indicate career fields that appeal to you as well as to rate yourself in various skills, interests, character traits, and values. After you respond to all the statements, you are scored in regard to the six Holland types: artistic, conventional, enterprising, investigative, realistic, and social. You select your top personality type(s) to discover representative occupations, and then choose those jobs that seem most attractive. When you finish you are presented with links-one for each job you selected-the appropriate page in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, where you can read about the nature of the work, required training, earnings, and employment outlook.

NCS Career Assessments
http://assessments.ncs.com/assessments/career/career.htm
National Computer Systems provides assessment tools to professionals in the fields of career counseling, mental health, medicine, and workforce development. While this is a commercial company resource where industry professionals can order assessments, the site also offers descriptions and background information on several tests pertaining to career choice, personality, or other related issues.

Team Technology
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk
This company site presents several useful resources pertaining to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). One section assists you in determining your Myers-Briggs type. Do this by considering your personality in terms of introversion and extroversion, sensing and intuition, thinking and feeling, and judgment and perception.

Futurescan
http://www.futurescan.com
This career guide site for teenagers is packed with fun and useful information. You’ll find all sorts of articles about different career fields, along with some great job advice. For help in researching career fields, be sure to read the in-depth job profiles covering architecture, the environment, law, and veterinary medicine. Though there aren’t many career fields profiled here, the content is extensive. There is information about the industry, the types of jobs available, and necessary schooling, plus links to other resources for further research. Some of the material is presented in a question-and-answer format based on interviews with professionals in the field. There’s also a report on management and business administration.

EMPLOYER SPONSORS

American International College
www.aic.edu

Baystate Medical Center
www.baystatehealth.com

Big Y
www.bigy.com

Caring Health
www.caringhealth.org

Future Works
www.futureworks-now.com

Holyoke Community College
www.hcc.edu

Junior Achievement
www.ja.org

MA Latino Chamber of Commerce
www.masslatinochamber.com

MassMutual
www.massmutual.com

MassMutual Center
www.massmutualcenter.com

Mercy Medical Center
www.mercycares.com