Career Planning
Occupational Trends—Ohio’s Hot Jobs—Job Outlook to 2014
Identifying occupations that have more favorable job prospects is important in career decision-making. Several factors need to be considered, but two are most important: the employment growth rate and total job openings. In general, jobs with fast growth rates offer good job opportunities. Be sure to look at both the rates of growth and total annual openings to assess future job prospects. Not surprisingly, among the top 100 highest paying jobs, 91 require at least post-secondary training. Service and professional occupations, particularly in the fields of health, business and education, dominate the lists of occupations gaining the most employment or growing the fastest.
Total annual openings result from new job growth and replacement due to job transfers, deaths or retirements. The fastest growing occupations, based on rate of employment growth, offer good employment opportunities and working conditions favorable for wage advances. Over 50% of these occupations require at least a bachelor’s degree. Occupational trends are only one aspect of career choice and education planning. Other factors to consider include wages, job satisfaction, general unemployment patterns, method of obtaining the required education or training, and working conditions.
Refer to the Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services Workforce 411 brochure, or these sites for more details or career inventories: www.ohiomeansjobs.com; www.ocis.org; www.ohioworkforceinformer.org; www.stats.bls.gov/oco
Career Counseling – Are you undecided about your next career move? Career counseling services can help you make a change or find a new direction. Explore careers that match your interests and abilities, your values and your current lifestyle. If you are a resident of Madison County, call MadisonWorks! at 740.852.6058 for the initial assessment. Residents of Union County may stop at the Union County Employment Resource Center, Marysville, OH. These local one-stops are prepared to help you make a choice. The one-stop links can be found under “Employment Resources” in the Student Services section of our
OCIS—The Ohio Career Information System is another valuable tool in trying to determine your next career move.
· The “Interest Profiler” and the “Values: Work Importance” surveys will help you narrow the field in your career choices.
· An individual can search through thousands of occupations on this website.
· It is also a valuable tool in your active job search.
Follow the directions on the attachment to open OCIS and explore your many options. An individual can spend hours using this valuable resource to help them throughout their careers. www.ocis.org Username: tolles Password: ohiocis03
Learning Styles Assessment—Sometimes students struggle in the classroom because they either have poor study habits or do not know how to utilize their strengths in studying. Completing a learning styles assessment, will help individuals determine their own learning style and provide suggestions as to how to implement these strategies as they study and do homework. Take the survey and study the survey results. Share them with your instructor, too. http//www.metamath.com/lsweb/dvclearn.htm