LibGuides: ENG 114 Oakley: Resources for Current Issues in Various Careers

What's SWOT?

Just as companies use SWOT analysis to look objectively at where they stand, so you can use SWOT to take a critical look at the field you have targeted for your career.

Strengths - What positive features draw you to this career? Do your personal goals, skills and interests correlate well with this type of work?
Weaknesses - What does this field lack that you want? What other careers might suit you better?
Opportunities - Are jobs in this career growing in number? What positive trends are happening in this field? Is it featured positively in the news?
Threats - Are jobs in this career shrinking? Are there more competitors, changing public attitudes? Is it featured negatively in the news?

Get Basic Career Information

Career Guidance Center (Ferguson's) This link opens in a new window
Explore careers and best practices for job searching, take a career interest assessment, write better resumes & cover letters, and research schools that offer the programs/credentials you need.
Job-Hunting and Workplace Skills: guidance on the essentials of getting a job and keeping it—establishing a career path, honing interview skills, writing résumés, and more

Career and Industry Resources: more than 55,000 searchable, browsable resource entries, divided into convenient categories on fellowships, organizations, internships, scholarships, and awards

School Searches: four comprehensive, current databases, provided by Peterson's Nelnet, LLC, covering undergraduate, graduate, nursing, and vocational and technical schools in the U.S. and Canada; search for schools by type, region, areas of study, and a variety of other characteristics

Career Interest Assessment: ranks users' work interest areas and suggests related occupations and industries

Links to Current Job Opportunities: access to live job postings.

Choose Browse Professions. You can browse "Highest Paid" or "Fastest Growing" lists, or use the search box to find the career you want to explore.

Read the "Overview" of the field, and pay particular attention to "Outlook," "Employment Prospects," and "Advancement Prospects" to get ideas about trends, opportunities and threats.

try

Keywords

Try a combination of the name of the occupation or field with keyword terms such as:

controversies
trends
"current issues"
"the future"

Search Tips

CREATE PHRASE SEARCHES

If your career name is more than one word--social worker, dental hygienist, computer programmer--put quotation marks around the words to create a "phrase search."

USE TRUNCATION

Put an asterisk after the main part of the career name to include alternatives--engineer* will find the words engineer, engineers and engineering.

CHOOSE THE BEST "CONTENT TYPE"

"Journal Articles" and "Trade Publication Articles" are sources that people already working in the field are reading.

LIMIT to RECENT PUBLICATION DATES

Use the date presets, calendar, or sliding bar to get only current articles.