Lesson 20 — Activity 2: How to Research a Career



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Choosing a career is one of the most important choices that you will make in your lifetime. Developing a portfolio of your interests and skills is the first step to self-assessment, which is the first step in career research.

Research about your career choices can be done in a library, on a computer, or by visiting a job site. By observing people working at various job sites, you can find out about different types of work. Through casual conversations with people at different jobs, you can gain a better understanding about a particular job.



Here are some more formal ways of learning about various careers.

  • You can volunteer in the field that you are interested in. For example, if you think that nursing might be a good career for you, find out about volunteer opportunities in a hospital.
  • You can interview people about their work by calling, writing, or making an appointment with them to discuss what skills are involved in their particular job.
  • You can do research at local employment centres, school counselling offices, libraries, and on the Internet. An excellent resource that describes over 500 different occupations is the Alberta Occupational Profiles resource, which you will look at in the activity below.
By working through a planning process, you will learn ways to determine the career path that fits you.

Self-check!

In the next lesson, you will be researching a career. To help you get started, think of a career that you are interested in. When you are ready, click on the link below to go to the ALIS website occupation page. This page will give you information on your chosen career, such as details about the duties of the job, working conditions, educational requirements, employment outlook, and salary ranges.

Click here to go to the ALIS website. You can search for your career alphabetically by clicking on the letters at the top of the page (e.g., click on the letter "D" if you are interested in becoming a dental assistant). Then, click on the "View Full Profile" button to learn more about your chosen career.

Next, click here to download the career profile worksheet. Print it off and complete the worksheet based on the information from the ALIS website. You will need this planning sheet for the next assignment.