Careers Information on the Internet
The internet can never be a substitute for a young person discussing their career interests and information needs with a professionally qualified careers adviser. As a parent or carer you have a vital supporting role and, speaking from personal (and sometimes painful) experience, timing can be everything! However, I am sure you would agree it’s never too soon for a young person to begin exploring their own ideas, and the internet is a great place to start. (See also Ellie Stevenson’s Getting Help with Careers: where to start.)
Surely we can just Google what we need?
It’s true that Google is brilliant and can instantly meet a specific information need. However, despite sophisticated use of analytic tracking software, the results are still based on promoting the most popular or paid ads rather than professionally recommended or evaluated careers information. The best may not even appear!
So where do we start?
A career can be explained as a ‘pathway through life’ and, like any journey, there are transitional periods, milestones and even crossroads. So, we have taken the opportunity below to list a wide selection of recommended and reliable sources of general as well as specific careers information sources, beginning with the national careers sites supporting young people and/or parent interests:
Careers Service Northern Ireland
National Careers Service - England
My World of Work for parents - Skills Development Scotland
icould.com
Extensive and inspiring videos explored by subject interest, job type or life decision. The site is aimed at young people, but many of the films are suitable for all ages. Includes a popular mini interest guide called the Buzz Quiz which can be helpful for generating early ideas based on personality type.
Prospects
This site is an excellent resource for anyone thinking about going to university, or job seeking after graduation. There is a helpful Career Planner to give young people ideas as to what they may be suited to, as well as information on work experience, internships and postgraduate study. It may be helpful too if uncertain as to what career opportunities are possible after almost any degree subject.
16 Personalities
You could call this the curve ball to traditional approaches to personality testing, and yes it from the US, but it can offer some very helpful additional insights into your personality. It's suitable for adults too, and can be very encouraging if facing or looking for a career change.
Occupational sectors
An interesting recent trend is where large employers are also using personality tests to help individuals explore their ideas among so many career choices. The following examples include NHS Map Your Career Engineering Meet the Future Your TechFuture Careers Quiz and Social Care. This is very helpful if your child is already interested in a careers sector, but unsure what job role appeals. The following sectors represent hundreds if not thousands of careers, so we have selected particularly informative sites representing a broad range of different occupations.
- Leisure, Sport and Tourism
- Manufacturing and Production
- Marketing and Advertising
- Media, Print and Publishing
- Performing Arts
- Personal and Other Services (Hair & Beauty)
- Retail Sales and Customer Services
- Science. Mathematics and Statistics
- Security and Armed Forces
- Social Work and Counselling Services
- Transport and Logistics
Extra web gems
To keep up to date, don’t miss the carousel of general and specialist parent support sites from the Parental Guidance home page.
Hot tip
Encourage your son or daughter to check out what careers software, including psychometric matching programs, may be available at their school or college. Most have excellent careers information to complement their results, and some programs may be accessible from home through the school or college’s intranet, VLE/MLE platform.
© Hilary Nickell, December 2020