Career Cruising

Career Cruising is a career aid available through WorkSource. You'll find it here. (Unfortunately, you have to login in order to set up an account, so you won't be able to see anything when you go there.) Let's look at some of the services available through Career Cruising.

Here's what the front page looks like:

We'll start with the Assessments tab. Here is where you'll find the Matchmaker, information about the Ability Profiler, and a Learning Styles Inventory.

The Matchmaker asks you questions and then suggests careers based on the answers. You start with 39 questions that you rate on a scale from "Dislike Very Much" to "Like Very Much." Your results show why that career was a match. You can see an overview of the career, the average payscale (by area), the working conditions, required education, career paths, related careers, and even interviews of people in the field. Other resources include things like links to professional organizations and Occupational Outlook.

The Ability Profiler is designed to assess your abilities and see how they relate to careers that match your interests. This test must be scheduled with WorkSource.

Learning Styles Inventory asks questions about how you do different things. Here's an example:

When concentrating on something, I am more likely to:

• be distracted by movement or clutter around me
• be distracted by noise near me
• have difficulty sitting still 

Once you've completed the Inventory, you'll see what your learning style is -- visual, auditory, tactile, or a combination. You'll learn about your learning style, and see tips on making use of it, such as writing things down if you're a visual learner, reading aloud if you're an auditory learner, and acting out material with a study partner if you're a tactile learner.                 

In the Careers tab, you can search for careers by first letter or keyword in the Index. You can also look at school subjects and see what careers might be suited to people who enjoy a particular subject. Or, you can look at "Career Clusters" -- groupings of careers such as Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources, Business Management & Administration, and Transportation, Distribution & Logistics. Finally, there is a separate section devoted to military careers. You can use the Index, look at Job Families (Career Clusters), or Service Branch (including the National Guard and Coast Guard).

In the Education tab, you can search for shools and majors by state, compare schools, and use a school selector tool to find a school with the right atmosphere for you (a private, co-ed, 4 year school in Montana that offers a geology major and has a badminton program, for example).

In the Financial Aid tab, you can search for aid, or submit information about yourself and see financial aid opportunities that might apply to you.

The Employment tab has a resume builder, a place to enter work experience, and hints for your job search -- writing the resume, looking for employment, job interviews, etc. Then there are tips for when you get a job offer. Finally, there are tips for after you've landed the job -- getting to the job site, addressings supervisors, introducing yourself to your co-workers, office etiquette, friendships, and much more.

The last tab is My Inspire Community. This has a place to correspond with career coaches (people working in the field), find work-based learning opportunities (for example: job shadows, internships), and find employers and career activities (for example: employer information, career fairs). This is the least developed of the interest areas. Once it is developed, it will be a good place to find out more information about local employers and life on the job.

While you're here, check out Inspire Washington.