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| What is Career Directions?
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Thinking about what to do after high school |
Career
Directions contains practical information to help you think
about what to do after high school. Use Career Directions
to explore your skills and interests, to investigate a variety
of occupations, and to think about how to shape your skill
sets to lead you to the work you want to do.
This
guide gives you common sense (and a step beyond common sense!)
information about 186 occupations, ranging from Agricultural
Technician to Welder. It focuses on six paths for continued
learning: community college, CEGEP, trades/technical training,
apprenticeship, on-the-job training and other specialized
training. It points out some of the paths that different occupations
can lead to. If you're worried about making the "wrong
decision," you'll find out there is always something
to move on to.
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Each
occupation starts with a description of what the work is really
like - what your typical day might be like. The section "Work
conditions and training" tells you where you're likely to
work and what kind of work conditions to expect. Is there
shift work? Are you likely to earn hourly wages or an annual
salary? What sort of on-the-job training can you expect? Is
the work right for you? Are you right for it? Will your heart
be in it? Many occupations require specific skills, like computer
expertise or good visual sense; others require qualities like tact
or discretion. Read the section "Who's the right person?"
carefully, and imagine yourself in that position. Could you be the right
person?
What are employers looking for in applicants for this type of work?
The "What does it take?" section will give you information
about work requirements. Will you need formal training or
a high school diploma? Do you need a community college background?
What experience would be an asset? Also find out what high
school subjects would be an asset to you in preparation for
this occupation.
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Each profile gives you a list of related occupations
- if a specific occupation interests you, maybe you'll find
something of interest in the related occupations as well.
All occupational profiles have tips on where you can go to
find out more about the work. Some provide contact information
for professional associations. If you are interested in working
for the government, you should contact the local office of
the federal Public Service Commission or its provincial/territorial
equivalent.
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Salaries
are provided to give you an idea about the wages to expect.
Salaries provided for the occupations represent: the average
of all workers in the occupation or occupational group; the
average of the top 10% of all workers in the occupation or occupational
group; and the average of the bottom 10% of all workers in the
occupation or occupational group.
Important
reasons you need to do some investigating and check out salaries
for yourself are:
•
The low salaries may seem extremely low because
the salaries of self-employed people who have
lost money are included in the averages
• Some of the salaries given for a particular occupation
are the salaries for a group of similar occupations
and
one occupation in the group may be pulling the
average up or down.
•These averages are national and the salaries may vary
in different regions. Working in a rural vs. urban
setting may have different salary implications.
•The size of the organization you work for may have
salary implications - e.g. small independent vs.
large
national or international organization/chain.
• Some organizations with lower salaries may offer
non-monetary benefits that compensate
for this lower salary (e.g. health benefits, extra
holiday
time, flexible hours, etc.).
• Educational background and previous work experience
can affect salary levels.
• Some positions offer employees the opportunity to
supplement income with commission and gratuities.
The source
for the salary information is Statistics Canada, Census, 1996.
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How to find interesting occupations |
You can
find occupational profiles that interest you in two different
ways:
Alphabetically:
Finding occupations Alphabetically organizes all the occupational
profiles in alphabetical order.
If you want to find a specific occupation quickly, this
is the list to use.
By
Field of Work:
Finding occupations by Field of Work lets you quickly
identify the occupations within each field.
The Field of Work is important because in today's changing
world, occupations can change quite quickly.
However, work fields change much less quickly, so it's worth
paying attention to the fields that interest you.
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There
are a few things to keep in mind as you use Career Directions:
Think
overview:
There
are over 40,000 occupations in North America. Remember that
Career Directions provides a sampling of occupations. Make
sure you explore occupations related to the ones that you
read about, and talk to people in the fields you're interested
in.
Think fields of work:
Occupations
change every day. What's hot one month can be cold the next.
What changes less quickly are fields of work. For example,
you know the Arts, Culture and Communication field is going
to be around for a while, even if occupations within it
change. If you find out about the field - the skills that
are common to several occupations, the different types of
companies that hire, the related occupations, etc. - you'll
have an idea of where else to look in the case where you
face major changes in your work.
Think
pathway:
In
a world of rapid change, you'll likely be doing many things
throughout your life. So, instead of looking at the occupations
in Career Directions as endpoints or destinations, look
at them as starting points for your own pathway. Ask yourself
these questions about occupations that interest you:
Will
this occupation launch me into a field that interests me?
There
are very few "dead-end" occupations in this world.
You can look at any occupation as an entry-point or launch
pad into a field of work. For instance, you are interested
in working in tourism. Buss person may not be your first
choice, but what if it leads to food and beverage server,
which leads to maitre d', which leads to restaurant manager,
which leads to restaurant owner in Banff? Buss person turns
out to be a great launch into the field of tourism.
Will
this occupation help me learn about other work that might
be interesting?
Is
it a gateway to the world of work? Think about the work
that you're doing for its ability to show you other kinds
of work. For example, doing service work (e.g., pumping
gas, selling jeans, serving tables, filling vending machines,
driving delivery) can be a terrific way of getting to talk
to people about the work they do and the field they work
in.
Will
this occupation be a bridge to a field I'm really interested
in?
You
can't always get what you want the first time. You may be
really interested in the area of entertainment in the Arts,
Culture and Communication field, but nothing seems available
in your community. A scan through Career Directions might
help you find an occupation (like skin care/make-up consultant,
fashion buyer, interior designer) that is in a different
field (like Sales and Service) that could bridge you to
the area of entertainment.
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Following
are explanations of how terms are used in Career Directions.
The meaning of the terms may be slightly different in other
resources.
Occupation:
What
a person does (e.g. accountant)
Industry:
Where
a person performs the occupational work
(e.g. an accountant in the shoe manufacturing industry,
or in the health care industry or in the agriculture industry).
Occupational
Profile:
Description
of an occupation
Field
of Work:
Name
for a group of closely related industries
(e.g. the Agribusiness, Environment and Natural Resources
Field of Work includes occupations in forestry, fishing
and farming among others)
Sector:
Industry
(for our purposes - may differ in other resources).
Sector
Council:
An
association responsible for providing human resources information
about a field of work, an industry or a group of similar
occupations - (e.g. Software Human Resources Council or
the National Seafood Sector Council). The councils may be
a very good resource for anyone interested in a certain
industry or occupation within that industry. Contact information
can be found in the profiles.
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