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Articles by Career OneStop
Discover your work values
Have you ever had a job where you liked the work itself, but the workplace or manager made your life miserable? Or maybe a job where the work was boring but your colleagues and the atmosphere kept you inspired? As most experienced workers have learned, when it comes to a great job fit, the workplace fit may be at least as important as the job itself. Work values are your beliefs about what’s important in a job (and in your life).
Find your best summer job!
Wondering what to do this summer? Thinking about looking for a job? Now is a great time to get ideas for what you could do and put in some job applications! But where to begin? Find ideas for the types of jobs you could apply for, where to find those jobs, and some tips on how to apply.
Second Chance Month: boost your resume with an occupational certification
April is Second Chance Month, an annual time to raise awareness about the challenges people face after incarceration and to highlight opportunities to overcome those challenges and barriers. One huge barrier to employment is the negative impact that a criminal record can have on a person’s job prospects.
Spring job search refresh: Start targeting employers
Looking for a better way to find your next job? Try reaching out to employers directly to uncover potential jobs. Follow these four steps to launch a targeted job search. You’ll find that it’s much easier and more effective than you may expect. Using the Business Finder, enter your location and the name of your preferred job title, industry, or company. You’ll see a list of companies, listing name, address, number of employees, and distance from your location.
Find technical training near you
February is National Career and Technical Education Month and it’s a great time to think about how a technical training program could boost your career. What is technical training? Technical training includes classes or programs that help you learn the practical skills and knowledge required for specific jobs or industries. Courses often include hands-on training on industry-standard equipment, combined with classroom instruction. The goal is to prepare you to do work in the real world.
Ready to explore career options in the new year?
It’s safe to say everyone who works wants a job they like. Something they feel motivated to do, that pays well and offers meaningful rewards. If finding that sounds like something you want to focus on in 2025, how can you start to figure out the right career for you? For most people, it takes two major steps to choose a great career path: 1) Understand your own strengths and priorities for a career, and 2) Learn about the career options you could pursue.
Time for your year-end career review
It’s almost 2025, and the end of a calendar year is a great time for a career review. Sound complicated? It doesn’t need to be. A career review is simply a chance to reflect on your career aspirations and your progress—and to set yourself up to make career goals for the coming year. Get started by moving through the three topics below. Topic 1: This year’s accomplishments Take some time to reflect on the past 12 months.
Navigate the Civilian Job Market with CareerOneStop
The transition from military service to civilian life can be both exciting and challenging. As a veteran, a major challenge you may face is to find a job that aligns with your military skills and experience. Find out how CareerOneStop’s Veteran and Military Transition Center website can help you find a meaningful, “good fit” civilian job. No registration is required to use any part of CareerOneStop.
Explore careers that match your (dis)abilities
It’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), and it’s a good time to highlight a feature on mySkillsmyFuture.org that allows people with certain disabilities to explore career options where they can excel. Get started by visiting mySkills myFuture and entering a career title in the search box. You can enter the name of a job that you’ve worked in before.
Find your job search superpower
Employer research can superpower your job search. It can make the difference between not quite making the grade—and getting hired. It can also help you decide which company you’d like to work for, and to know that the job you accept is one you actually want. There are two dimensions to employer research: 1) Basic information about different companies that hire people in your field.
Looking for short-term training options?
You can now find thousands of short-term training options on CareerOneStop’s Local Training Finder. These include training options provided by public and private non-profits that have been approved for WIOA funding. Gaining a certificate or other credential can be key for entering or advancing in nearly any career field. But the world of short-term training programs can be overwhelming.
Resume tips for 55+ job seekers
Ready to update your resume? For job seekers age 55+, find specific ideas to update your resume, bring it up to speed with current hiring practices, and ensure it’s an effective tool for promoting your strengths. When you send in a resume to a job posting, an initial resume review is typically conducted by an applicant tracking system, or ATS, that machine-scans the resume for a match to the job posting.
Job searching? Time to get cozy with your KSAs!
If you’re currently looking for a job, chances are you’ve ignited your network, polished your resume, and practiced your interviewing skills. But have you spent any time identifying and learning how to highlight your KSAs? Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities, collectively referred to as KSAs, are your unique job qualifications that employers often use to match you to a job opening.
Find a summer job
Looking for a summer job? Want to earn some money and get work experience? Check out these tips to find a good summer job and be ready to apply when you find one! Assemble all the information you’ll need to fill out an application: home address, phone number, school attended. For previous jobs you’ll need business name/address/phone number/job tasks/dates worked. You can use the Practice Job Application to enter all your information, then download or print it to keep track of it.
Reach out to amp up your job search
Need to amp up your job search? The Business Finder can help you find potential employers. It searches a database of more than 12 million businesses in all 50 states and US territories. You can use the contact information to research businesses and learn about current openings. You can enter the name of an industry to see businesses in your location that do work related to that industry. Or you can enter a job title to see businesses near you that typically hire workers in that field.
4 tips to help you ace a virtual job interview
One legacy of the pandemic is that you’re more likely than ever to be asked to complete a virtual interview as part of your job search. Some employers conduct just the first round of interviews remotely. Others might do all of their interviews via Zoom or another online platform. If you’ve been asked to interview virtually, follow these tips to boost your success. This just means that you should test your technology before your interview. You don’t need to be a technology whiz.
New year’s check-in; revitalize your career
Interested in an entirely new career? You may be able to train in a matter of months, or embark on a longer training program, depending on your goals. Use the Local Training Finder to search for programs in your city, state, or ZIP code. For example, if you’re interested in web design, you can search for programs, then filter by the length of program you want to study for.
Updated Food and Beverage Service Competency Model
Posted in Businesses and employers, Workforce Development Professionals The U.S. Department of Labor has released a newly updated Food and Beverage Service Competency Model based on a review of training standards, feedback from employers, and in-depth interviews with subject matter experts resulting in the addition of new content and overall streamlining of the model.
5 high-pay, in-demand careers that don’t need a college degree
Looking for good job, but not ready to spend four years getting a college degree? There are plenty of careers that offer great job prospects, good pay, and a chance for advancement—and that you can train for in two years or less. Here are five of those options to explore. Wind Turbine Service Technicians If you like working with equipment and troubleshooting errors, this might be the career for you. Inspect, diagnose, adjust, or repair wind turbines.
Updated Geospatial Technology Competency Model
The U.S. Department of Labor has released a newly updated Geospatial Technology Competency Model, which provides a redefined competency framework outlining cross-cutting and sector specific competencies and skills needed by professionals along with the latest industry and related links. Geospatial information and analysis has its own set of competencies that are critical to many industry sectors, including natural resources, energy utilities, environmental management, and supply chain management.
Grow your career connections
Hoping to expand your network? Looking for connections in a new career? CareerOneStop’s Professional Association Finder offers a search of national professional and industry associations that can help you grow in your career and find professional contacts related to your industry or occupation.
How to recruit and hire vets
Veterans Day is Saturday, November 11, and right now is a great time for employers to learn more about recruiting and hiring veterans. Former servicemembers bring proven skills, experiences, and leadership qualities to the workplace, and the U.S. Department of Labor and the public workforce system is committed to matching employers with qualified veterans. Veterans Employment Representatives, located at American Job Centers across the country, can help you meet your hiring needs.
Need a job now? Find seasonal work
Need to earn some money or gain some work experience? A seasonal job can be easier to land than a permanent one, and offer the opportunity to grow your career or fill in an employment gap. Learn about seasonal jobs and how to find one. Seasonal jobs are temporary. They may be part-time or full-time, but last only for a certain length of time, like the summer, or the winter holiday season.
National Entrepreneurship Month
National Entrepreneurship Month is November, a time when the spirit of innovation and enterprise takes center stage in our communities across the nation. The U.S. Department of Labor has released an updated Entrepreneurship Competency Model, providing a comprehensive framework from experienced entrepreneurial experts designed to help job seekers, employers, and educators understand the skills needed to succeed in the workplace and plan their training and development activities accordingly.
5 soft skills employers hire for
Which skills will give you a competitive edge in the job market? Are there specific skills you should emphasize on your resume or in job interviews? What skills should you focus on developing to build your career? To answer these questions, it’s important to understand the importance of soft skills. Business leaders nationwide share a strong emphasis on several core skills, known as “soft” skills.
Learn about cybersecurity certifications
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month—a great time to think about a career in cybersecurity. Demand is high for professionals who can help businesses, government, and other organizations keep their computer infrastructure, networks, and software secure, as well as protect the privacy and confidentiality of data and personal information from cyberattacks and other threats.
Earn career credentials quickly
Are you a working adult who wants to advance in your career? If part of what’s holding you back is a lack of current credentials, good news! There is a multitude of short-term training and credentials available that can help propel your career forward. Short-term credentials include certifications, professional licenses, college-based certificates, and online learning badges. Most of these may be earned in a short time – from a week or two, up to a year. Many are low-cost as well.
Exploring careers? Take a look at career clusters
If you’re just getting started thinking about what kind of career would be best for you, looking at career clusters is a great place to begin. Career clusters are groups of related types of work. They give you an easy way to explore different kinds of jobs within one broad category. Start with one of the clusters—like health care or construction—to learn what it involves, current trends, and the different careers it offers.
Careers for well-organized detail people
Do you naturally like to create order and organize things? Do you tend to notice details and find patterns? Or are you a “numbers person”? These are characteristics of the “Conventional” interest; that’s one of the six interest categories from the Interest Assessment, based on the widely-used Holland career theory. Dr. John Holland proposed that people’s interests and work environments could be classified into six categories.
Job interview tips for older workers
A job interview is your time to shine during the job application process. To many employers, your social skills and your attitude is just as important as your job skills. Here are some tips to help you demonstrate the asset you an be to an employer. Practice describing your accomplishments of the previous several years clearly and without jargon. Prepare one or two stories about how you were able to master a new skill or task to solve an employer’s problem.
Launching or managing a small business? Check out your local SBDC
Small Business Development Centers offer free business advising, mentoring, and training classes to help business owners improve management skills and business profitability. SBDC services are available to all small business owners, with specialized programs for minorities, women, veterans, and others. There are more than 900 local SBDCs throughout the United States.
Employment programs in your neighborhood
In honor of Labor Day 2023, celebrated on September 4, we’re celebrating the U.S. Department of Labor’s commitment to growing the U.S. economy by improving job quality, equity, and accessibility for all workers. The USDOL has more than two dozen internal divisions, focusing on everything from occupational safety to fair overtime pay.
Target your job search like a pro
Looking for a way to bypass the competition for job openings? Targeting a list of companies you’d like to work for is a proven effective job search strategy that puts you in the driver’s seat. CareerOneStop’s Business Finder is a key tool to find prospective employers and target your search; it lets you look up essential information about local employers in your field or industry.
5 stereotypes of older workers-and how you can combat the bias and get hired
Do you think you may suffer from age discrimination in the job market? Hiring bias against any worker age 40 and older is illegal, but some job seekers still experience it. Be aware of these potential stereotypes so that you can address how you present and describe yourself. Your plan: Research typical current wages to confirm that your salary requirements are appropriate. Be ready to communicate your enthusiasm and willingness to tackle the position offered, rather than a higher level position.
Take the Interest Assessment to explore your future
Interests are a great place to start your career planning. Whether you’re a student, a new graduate, or just want some direction for your career, interests are a helpful framework to generate career ideas that fit what you like to do. The CareerOneStop Interest Assessment asks 30 questions about how interested you are in different activities. What if you’ve never had experience with the activity?
Secure employment for justice-involved workers
Are you looking for talented, dedicated, enthusiastic employees? Or are you a returning citizen looking for job opportunities to take care of your family, pay your bills, and regain your life outside of incarceration? Learn about the Federal Bonding Program and how it can benefit you, whether you are part of a business looking to hire employees or an individual looking to get hired.
Introvert or extrovert at work?
How much does your introversion or extroversion preference affect your career choices? The short answer is: it probably depends a lot on how strong your preference is. If you thrive with lots of people around you, frequent changes, do OK with noise and lots of activity, you may be drawn to work environments that support extroverts.
Career options for people who like to help, teach, or connect
Are you naturally helpful and interested in caring for people or the broader community? Like to teach or provide guidance to others? If your answer is an enthusiastic “yes”, you may thrive in a career related to the Social interest. “Social” is one of six interest categories featured in the Interest Assessment. This assessment matches your interests to careers that have work environments related to your interests, providing good options for career satisfaction and success.
Partner with public training resources for your employees
Need to develop training for your employees? Looking for resources to help build it or take training to scale? Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) facilitate connections between businesses, community colleges, workforce agencies, and others to maximize the productivity and success of businesses in their region. What are Workforce Development Boards (WDBs)?
NIIT leverages competency models for new Talent Hub
Read how the NIIT leveraged competency models to support apprenticeships, competency-based hiring, and our nation’s businesses and job seekers. The Competency Model Clearinghouse (CMC) serves as an information hub that supports and promotes the use of competency data in workforce development strategies.
Expecting a job layoff?
A layoff notice can be life changing. While many laid-off workers ultimately find a better job or career direction, a layoff is a stressful event that comes with a lot of uncertainty. A looming lack of income and health insurance, grappling with painful feelings about the past job while developing a new path—all add up to a big challenge. You don’t have to wait for a formal layoff notice to start exploring resources that may be of help.
How to navigate a job interview when you have a disability
National Disability Employment Awareness Month is ending, but it’s still a great time to find a job if you have a disability. As employers have ramped up hiring following the pandemic, they’ve increasingly added workers with disabilities to their payroll. The latest Current Population Survey, from the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that the share of disabled adults who are working has risen much quicker than the rate for people without disabilities over the past two years.
How to hire and retain older workers
With the national unemployment rate remaining well below 4 percent, the U.S. labor market is tight. If you’re an employer trying to fill positions, you probably already know this. You’ve likely also heard that it’s a great time to reach out to workers aged 55 and older—a historically under-employed group. The benefits of including older workers in your workforce are many.
Employment documents: what you’ll need and where to find them
Need to find some documents for a job application or new job? Throughout your job search you’ll probably need to access some or all of the documents below. What you’ll need for applications and resumes School and employment records. Almost every job application will ask for your job and education history.
Polish your job application skills
Have you ever started filling out an online job application and dropped off partway through? Maybe you were at a kiosk at a major retailer. Or maybe you were at home working under a time limit. Either way, online job applications can be very frustrating. A few years ago, CareerBuilder published a startling statistic: 60 percent of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of the length or complexity.
How to discuss your disability in a job interview
Wondering if, when, or how to disclose your disability in a job interview? Bringing up a disability in a job interview requires thought and planning. You may feel uncertain about disclosing your disability at all. But ultimately, it’s up to you to decide the time, the setting, and the degree of information to share. Are you required to tell an employer about your disability? No. Disclosure of a disability is not required.
Employment help for homeless veterans
Posted on February 25, 2022 by CareerOneStop Posted in Career counselors, Librarians, Uncategorized, Veterans In 2014, the Department of Veterans Affairs set a goal to end homelessness for all veterans. Since that time, a number of veterans have gained permanent, stable housing, and the program has expanded to include additional services to help ensure veterans’ ongoing financial stability. A key area to help veterans exit homelessness—or to avoid it—is employment.
3 online tools for finding job openings
Posted on February 17, 2022 by CareerOneStop Posted in Uncategorized CareerOnestop.org offers a wealth of tools and resources for job seeking. You’ll find information on planning your job search, networking, polishing your resume, and more. But when you’re ready to get down to the work of identifying employers and places to apply, here are three tools you can focus on.
Top careers in 2022
It’s always exciting to see what U.S. News & World Report posts as the best jobs each year and this year is no exception. To develop the list, analysts first had to define what makes a job a good one. So let’s start by understanding how a career earns a spot on the list. A career must have a very strong employment outlook projected for the next 10 years as well as a high average salary (both according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Should you add your vaccination status to your resume?
With the September announcement of a new federal vaccine mandate that covers up to 100 million employees, you may be wondering if you need to address your vaccination status in your job search. Will employers be asking if you’re vaccinated? Should you address the issue before they ask, or wait until they ask? Read on for updates on the new mandate and some thoughts on how employers are handing the issue. Who’s required to be vaccinated under the new federal mandate?
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