Ramsey Library Research Guides
 Entering
the rat race:
Careers and Jobs
Selected Reference Resources
General Guidance
Web Resources
Coin Career Library- Comprehensive information resource for career
and college research. This site allows you to research occupations,
create resumes, provides links to North Carolina jobs data and much more.
Learning Express Library- Provides an interactive online learning
platform of practice tests and tutorial courses designed to help students
and adult learners succeed on academic or licensing tests. The tutorials
provide real test-taking experience, instant scoring, personalized analysis
and individual recommendations. Best of all -- they're free! Practice tests
include the GRE, Praxis, LSAT, GMAT and many more.
UNCA Career Center -
Organizes information and Web links of special interest to UNCA students. If you are a
UNCA student, start here. The site includes unique information related to specific majors
and this geographic area.
Employment Opportunities & Job
Resources on the Internet - Sometimes called the "Riley Guide." For
anyone seeking authoritative guidance, this site is maintained by Margaret Riley Dikel,
an oft-cited authority on online resources.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
- U.S. Bureau of Labor publication for people thinking about pursuing or exploring career
options. Employment outlook, preparation, working conditions, salary range, contact
information. Print version: UNCA REFERENCE HF 5382.5 .U5 O25 (Hereafter "REF" =
UNCA REFERENCE)
JobHuntersBible - Online
supplement to best-selling job hunting guide, What Color Is Your
Parachute? Most libraries, including Ramsey Library also have the printed
version.
REF KF5382.7 .B64 [latest edition]; earlier editions in GENERAL Collection.
Librarian's
Index to the Internet - A nicely organized Web page listing reviewed
resources. Visit the main Librarian's
Index page and enter "jobs" as a search
term.
Bureau
of Labor Statistics Wages by Area- This site provides wage
data for national, regional, state and metropolitan areas.
List of Average
Job Salaries and Wage Comparisons - This page provides a
comprehensive list of the average salaries and wages for the top career
fields in the United States.
Library resources
The books listed in this brief guide are a small sample of what is available. Book
titles are in italics, with links to their records in the online catalog. To find
career-related titles in the WNCLN library catalog,
you can do keyword searches related to your job interest, but we suggest starting
with subject heading searches to get an overview of what is available.
Subject headings
The library system ignores capitalization and punctuation, so you can enter a search
for:
Occupations - Handbooks, manuals
as simply:
occupations handbooks manuals
With that said, here are other suggested subject headings:
Resumes (Employment)
Vocational Guidance
Employment interviewing
Professions
You may use disciplines or professions with the subdivision (subheading) vocational
guidance:
Music - vocational guidance
Teaching - vocational guidance
Psychology - vocational guidance
Browsing
If you want to browse the Reference Collection for books about jobs, careers, and
résumés, look for call numbers starting with HF5381 through HF5384.
Information about places
Places Rated Almanac
- The classic guide for finding your best places to live in America
[UNCA REF HN60 .S284 2007]
Demographics USA
- Demographic and economic conditions of counties in the United States [UNCA
REF HC106.7 .S92]
Web Search Tools
The Internet is a major resource for identifying job
openings. Search Google or other search engines by entering such terms as:
"Job
search"
"Job search tips"
"Government job search"
"Internship search"
Yahoo!
Yahoo! is an organized Web directory with a hierarchy of Web categories to browse.
Every site included in Yahoo! has been seen by a human being and assigned to one or more
categories, depending on how users are likely to search.
Specific resources
There are many services on the Web for job seekers and for employers. The UNCA
Career Center has links to a more organized
selection of sites. This is just a very small sample of what is on the World Wide Web.
Job Search.com
USAJOBS -
Official job site of the United States government.
Career Builder - Database of
70,000+ positions from around the world. Simple search form to specify an exact job title
or employer. Posting your résumé is free, using an online form. Employers pay
nothing to browse submitted résumés, but pay to advertise job openings.
Monster Board - Scans new
postings that match your profile and alerts you via e-mail. Channels organize this huge
site into categories, such as medical jobs, human resources jobs, or entrepreneurial
opportunities. Includes Canadian companies and some companies in other countries.
CareerSite - Job seekers
register and enter a profile that is run against job openings from participating
companies. Employers can also search for profiles that match their job listings. There is
not much information at the site about its sponsors, but the list of employers includes
some well-known companies.
CareerPath.com - Search the
classified job ads from over 40 newspapers in the United States. The Charlotte Observer is
included in this list.
JOBTRAK - Listings of 650
college and university career centers, MBA programs, and alumni associations.
Yahoo! HotJobs
- Search for jobs by occupation and geographical area.
Net-Temps
Professional Organizations
Encyclopedia
of Associations - Annual printed directory of national associations.
[REF DESK AS22 .E5]
Many organizations have Web pages that tell you how to meet educational requirements,
salary ranges, and working conditions. Here are examples of professional organization
pages:
American Psychological Association
American Marketing Association
American Physical Therapy Association
National Education Association
Sometimes organizations have special pages for students. For example, if you are a
biology major, you might visit the Web site of
The American Society of Parasitologists
and look for the "Students" link. Students from high
school through graduate school can get information about careers in psychology from The American Psychological Association.
Federal Government
USA Jobs - "The U.S.
Government's official site for jobs and employment information provided by the United
States Office of Personnel Management."
State Governments
Almost every state has a Web site that includes a link to employment opportunities
or
job listings. Sometimes individual state agencies have their own job Web listings (such as
the North Carolina State Library). Ramsey Library is also a selective depository for North
Carolina government publications.
North Carolina Employment Security
Commission - See available positions listed with this state office. Search by
occupational group or job category and region or for a job title and educational level.
North Carolina Office of State
Personnel Job Vacancies - Jobs with the state government are listed by major
category.
America's Job Bank - Search
approximately 750,000 job listings not locally filled offices of the State Employment
Service. The Career InfoNet
button leads to State Profiles,
including North
Carolina's.
Cities or other geographical areas
NC Jobs - Service of the Asheville
Citizen-Times. Search classified ads and more.
Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Select the "work" tab and search by type of business or visit member links. The printed Asheville
Area Chamber of Commerce Directory is also
available at [REF DESK HD5068 .A8 A8]
Other countries
The easiest way to find official country Web pages is go to Yahoo! directory and select
the Regional, countries link
on the main directory page.
Visit the Riley Guide's
Resources
for International Job Opportunities. We could not do any better.
Information about industries and companies
Industries
Web Resources
North American Industry
Classification System, 2007- You may need the NAICS code (formerly
the SIC code) in order to search some of the Web or printed directories. The
print version of the NAICS is located in the library's reference collection.
[REF HF1042. N67 2007]
Economic
Census
- The Economic Census consists of several series of publications on specific
sectors of the economy. Issued in years ending in "2" and "7."
The Economic Census provides a detailed portrait of the United States
economy every five years.
Statistics of U.S.
Businesses - Data by:
- Industry - two-, three-, and four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
- Geography - state, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and county
- Legal Form of Organization - corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and
non-profit organizations
- Enterprise Size - employment and receipts size
Click on a state to get an area report.
Library Resources
LexisNexis Academic
-
News and wire services; company, industry
and market information; resources for legal and political research; medical news;
government information.
Business Source Premier - Business research database with full text
for 8,000+ publications from 1965+ and searchable cited references from
1998+. EBSCOhost
ReferenceUSA - Detailed residential, business, healthcare and
technical company listings.
Small Business
Profiles - Start-up information for the new small business owner.
[REF HD62.7 .S53 1994]
Standard
and Poor is the corporate author of many reference series on finance and corporations.
For an overview of 52 major industry groups see:
Standard
& Poor's Industry Surveys - [REF HG4501 .S633]
Value Line
Investment Survey - Ratings & Reports of key industries. Each section is updated at
13-week intervals. [REF DESK HG4501 .V26]
Almanac
of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios - [REF HF5681.R25 T68]
Companies
Web Resources
SEC's EDGAR Database -
Search for 10-K rerports and related information filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. EDGAR is an acronym for "the Electronic Data
Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system."
BigBook - Directory information
only, but a quick way to build a list of companies by geographic area and type of
business. Each entry is accompanied by a map.
Fortune 500
- Basic information and comparisons of the Fortune 500 corporations. Links to company Web
sites and related articles in Time-Warner's Pathfinder database.
Thomas Register of American
Manufacturers - Standard directory of manufacturers. The Web version requires
registration but it's free.
Library Resources
Value Line
Investment Survey - Ratings & Reports of key industries. Each section is updated
at 13-week intervals. [REF DESK HG4501 .V26]
North
Carolina Business Directory - Four sections: Businesses by city; by yellow page
category; major employers; and manufacturers by city and product. REF C107.N8 N7525
North
Carolina Manufacturers Directory - Organized by county, but also includes an
alphabetical directory and SIC list. Additional features include statistics and
information on foreign trade. REF HF5065 .N8 .H37
In the library catalog you can also search by
subject or keyword to find titles
about specific companies, such as:
Creative or unusual professions
Visit Web pages that showcase the work of individual entrepreneurs or artisans to find
out how other people are making a living doing what they love. Here are a few "off
the wall" links:
Employment Services for
Librarians - This is a library Web page, after all. ;-)
ECO - Environmental Careers
FiberArt.com - Fascinating
links. See: The
Woad Page and The Sheep Page
Summer jobs, internships, and post-graduate service
CoolWorks - Easy to
navigate. Many jobs in recreation and national parks.
AmeriCorps Peace Corps
Peterson's
Internships - [REF LC1072 .I58 P48]
Be careful out there!
The Web is a very large forum of communication for profit-seeking individuals and
companies as well as more altruistic endeavors. Apply the same standards of credibility to
Web pages that you do to printed works.
- Examine the URL for clues as to it's origin. Is it a government site (has
".gov" in the URL)? A college or university site (.edu)? An
organization (.org)? Or a personal Web page?
- Do the links on the page include external links to other sites, or are they mostly
internal, on the same site? All internal links may indicate an insular, closed viewpoint.
- Does the page include an address, telephone number, background information, e-mail
address?
- Can you tell when the page was last updated? Currency is extremely important for job
seekers.
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Updated 15 April 2009 |