But the Skills Matcher isn’t just for exploring a new career. It also helps job seekers and current employees looking to advance in their fields by creating a detailed list of their current skills. To find this list, users take the Skills Matcher assessment and create their list of best match careers. To the left of their list (or at the bottom if on a mobile device), they’ll see a link to “see your full list of skills.” This brings them to a page listing the 40 key skills broken into three categories:
The personalized list of 40 skills is a vital tool for job seekers. Here are a few tips for leveraging Skills Matcher results:
New Online Practice Job Application
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. Many career counselors weren’t surprised—they’ve been noting the frustrations around job applications for years. The online forms can feel cumbersome, filling them out can sometimes take a half hour or more, and most applicants don’t have quick access to the details requested.
CareerOneStop’s new Practice Job Application aims to help ease those frustrations. By taking the time to fill out a practice application, job seekers can feel more confident and prepared to complete real applications. The Practice Job Application includes prompts for most details requested on standard job applications, including the job seeker’s contact information, employment and education history, and their schedule and other preferences. It also includes tips for answering some standard-but-sometimes-tricky questions such as whether they have a criminal record.
Those tips and the practice of filling out this practice application are useful—but the real value of completing it is that job seekers can download or print their final Practice Job Application. Then they have a hard copy of all the names, dates, addresses, phone numbers, and other details needed when filling out a real application. Please note CareerOneStop does not save any personal information entered by users.
In addition to the Practice Job Application, CareerOneStop offers tips for filling out job applications.
Back to school time... for counselors
It’s that time of year when students and teachers of all grades head back to the classrooms. And right down the hallways, the guidance, career, and college counselors are also gearing up for the new school year.
If you’re a school counselor looking for resources for your students, check out CareerOneStop’s GetMyFuture. The website is free, mobile friendly, and full of interactive tools and information for students and the intermediaries who work with them on career, education, and employment goals. Look for these key features:
- A quick 30-question Interest Assessment, based on the Holland code system (RIASEC), that provides immediate results linking students to detailed career information.
- Free occupation profiles with key points about employment demand and wages in your local area, education required, tasks, a career video, and more.
- A Scholarship Finder, letting soon-to-be college students easily search more than 8,500 scholarships, fellowships, and grants.
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Apprenticeship and short-term training resources for students looking for alternatives to a 4-year degree.
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Job search and work readiness content, including first jobs information, work documents, and preparing resumes and applications.
New! How-to Guides for career explorers and job searchers
CareerOneStop’s brand new
How-to Guides offer simple step-by-step pathways through CareerOneStop resources to help users achieve any of the following three goals:
How to find career ideas
For the career explorer wondering what type of job would fit them best. This guide will help users learn about their interests, skills, and work values, gather information about different careers, and narrow their career list to the best options.
How to find a job now
For job seekers ready to plan and execute a job search that will boost their success rate, this guide will walk through targeting a resume, finding job openings, looking up local employers, applying for jobs, and more.
How to switch careers
For those looking for a new career that builds on their past work experience and offers more pay, new challenges, or better working conditions, this guide can help identify a new career focus and prepare them to search for jobs in a new field.
Each guide is also available as a downloadable and printable PDF:
CareerOneStop resources for Spanish speakers
Did you know that all CareerOneStop resources are easily translatable into Spanish? Here’s how to translate:
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From a computer, click the Español link at the top of any page
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From a phone, tap the ES button next to the social media icons near the top of the screen
If you have Spanish-speaking clients who could use this information, send them to
Para hispanohablantes .
Looking for outreach or teaching materials for Spanish-speaking clients? Visit CareerOneStop’s Spanish-language outreach materials .
