Professions Introduction
Investigating professions may be an important part of educational planning for you, especially if you're designing a professionally-focused degree. There are multiple investigative routes:
- What knowledge does a certain profession expect college graduates to have?
- What skills are important in certain professions?
- What skills are generally important in the 21st-century workplace?
- What education and training does it take to enter into a specific profession?
- What sources of information do practitioners use to remain knowledgeable in their professions?
- What criteria do you need to fulfill, and what knowledge is expected, for external certification in a specific profession?
Use these resources as appropriate to help you investigate professions, and make decisions about elements of your degree.
Researching Professions
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The Occupational Outlook Handbook has information about the nature of work for specific careers, the academic preparation needed, average salaries, and more. http://www.bls.gov/oco/
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The ESC Career Resources Center has links to career self-assessments, articles on career trends, and more.
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Other professionals are good sources of information. Develop a list of questions you might ask when interviewing other professionals. You might ask what skills and knowledge they rely on most in everyday work, what skills they need to advance at work, and/or what college courses best prepared them for their current work.
- Research professional journals, which are magazines written for professionals practicing in a certain field, to find out current trends, issues, and expectations in your field. It's also useful to evaluate a selection of professional journals in your field, to determine which ones are most useful in providing information to maintain currency in your field.
- Research job vacancies, to see the type of knowledge and skills expected for certain professions.
Jacklyn's Investigation
Skills Expected of Professionals
Your Job Skills Portfolio: Giving You an Edge in the Marketplace - offers information and links about creating a portfolio to showcase your skills. https://www.livecareer.com/quintessential/job-search-portfolio
Selling your Liberal Arts Degree to Employers - a comprehensive article from Indiana University detailing the value of a liberal arts education in terms of employment skills. http://www.uni.edu/reineke/sellladegree.htm
10 Transferable Skills you learned during your College Education - one person's brief overview http://timmathisen.hubpages.com/hub/10-core-skills-developed-from-a-liberal-education
It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning & Student Success http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf
Essential Workplace Skills for College Grads - a short but useful article on Monster.com http://career-advice.monster.com/in-the-office/starting-a-new-job/essential-workplace-skills-for-college-grads-hot-jobs/article.aspx
The Challenge of a Liberal Education: Past, Present, and Future - an interesting address that deals with the vocational purpose of higher education, how students need to know themselves and their own goals in order to pursue a vocation, and how colleges can help students in their self-pursuits and vocational pursuits. http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-sp03/le-sp03feature.cfm
Core Abilities, a project of the Wisconsin Instructional Design System, lists skills and compentencies that employers want. See how many employment skills correlate with academic skills as you review this document. https://vulearninordertoserve.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/core-abilities-essential-workplace-skills-learned-in-the-classroom/