The Occupational Outlook Handbook: All The Information You Need And More

There are a few milestones in life that prompt us to think about our careers. Choosing a major or graduating from college are obvious markers, but there are other, less happy ones. If you’ve been passed over for promotion, or worse, lost your job, it may be time to think about a career change. Similarly, if you just feel “stuck” or directionless at your current job, maybe a change is something to consider.

Regardless of the motivation, one of the core challenges in choosing a new career is the lack of reliable information. What change or growth is projected in an industry over the next 10 years? What kind of credentials and experience make you stand out in a field of applicants? What, at a basic level, does someone in a certain occupation do on a daily basis? What level of income can you expect to earn at each step along the way? These questions are critical to matching your interests, strengths and salary needs with the career path of your dreams, but the answers are frequently difficult to obtain.

There is one place to find them all: the Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH).  This is a huge repository of information on every career the Department of Labor has identified. You can search for occupations by keyword, or browse them based upon educational requirements, salary or a number of other features.

Perhaps most interesting is the growth outlook. The Department of Labor’s economic modeling gives each profession a projection of job growth over the next 5 years. It bases this projection on a variety of factors, including changes in investment, projected changes in demographics and level of innovation within the field. For someone in college, this should provide an idea of fields that won’t leave you high and dry come graduation time. For those in industries experiencing layoffs, this should help you narrow your choices when picking a new industry to enter.

The biggest challenge to navigating the website is the sheer volume of information. The handbook contains data on several hundred occupations, so finding a specific one can be a chore. Fortunately, the handbook provides several indexes. You can explore clusters of jobs in fields, see just the fastest-growing industries or search for jobs by keyword.

There are limitations to this dataset, of course. The job descriptions are written in very generic broad strokes. For example, high school teachers “prepare students for life after graduation.” While accurate, that provides little detail about the day-to-day struggles of teaching in a high school.

Instead of thinking of the OOH as a one-stop shop, think of it as a jumping-off point. Each occupation in the handbook contains links to association websites and other resources that provide more information on career prospects. Use the OOH to narrow your search down to one or two fields or careers, and use the resources available to you to research from there.